Knowing when you get paid is important. Typically while serving in the military you are paid on the 1st and 15th of every month. However, due to weekend and holidays, the actual military pay dates may vary.
If you are a planner, you will want to know the exact dates you are going to get paid. As you can see below, some of these paydays are on Mondays, some on Thursdays and even one on a Friday. Some pay periods are only 14 days long, and others a bit longer. It is important to be aware of how long you will have to go, so you know how long your pay will need to last.
Military Pay Dates 2018
Scheduled Military Pay Date
Monday, October 1st
Monday, October 15th
Thursday, November 1st
Thursday, November 15th
Friday, December 14th
Monday, December 31st
MyPay and DFAS
MyPay is run by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and is an online pay account management system that provides information about paychecks and tax information. This is for military service members, retirees, annuitants, and federal civilian employees.
On Mypay you can get your LES (Leave and Earnings Statement,) get your end of the year W2 Wage and Tax statements, SLRP tax forms, change or begin your direct deposit, change your tax witholdings, stop or start hard copies of your LES or W2, enroll in TSP, and change or cancel contribution percentage for TSP.
Your LES should be available on MyPay a week before payday. You should check your LES to make sure everything looks the way that it should. If there is a problem with your pay, the earlier you take care of it, the better.
You can also give your spouse access to MyPay which will is a good idea if they are the ones in charge of figuring out the bills or if you are deployed. Following your LES and being aware of what is going on in MyPay is one way to make sure your finances are on point. Mistakes can happen and you might not notice if you are not paying attention to your income statements.
Early Pay Dates
Members of financial institutions such as USAA and Navy Federal Credit Union can have funds made available even earlier with direct deposit. Check the following to see when funds are made available.
As a service member, you also have the option to get paid once a month, instead of twice. If you choose to do so, you would receive your full pay on the first payday of each month.
