VA Bilateral Factor Calculator
Preloaded with a case where the bilateral factor changes the paid tier: a 30% and a 20% rating, plus both knees rated 20%. Edit the ratings and body location to test your own combination.
The four rules
“…the ratings for the disabilities of the right and left sides will be combined as usual, and 10 percent of this value will be added (i.e., not combined) before proceeding with further combinations…”38 CFR § 4.26
- Eligibility (§ 4.26(c)): a compensable rating on both sides of a pair — both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles. A 0% rating on one side doesn’t qualify.
- Grouping (§ 4.26(b)): if both arms and both legs qualify, all four extremity ratings combine as one group. An unpaired limb (left leg only) stays outside the group.
- Compute: combine the group with Table I, add 10% of the result, and round to a whole number. That result becomes a single rating that’s sorted in with the others.
- Most favorable (§ 4.26(d)): VA also computes the rating without the factor and keeps whichever is higher. The calculator above always shows both paths.
30%, 20%, and 20% for each knee
Four ratings: 30%, 20%, and 20% for each knee. Without the bilateral factor, sorted high to low, they combine to 64, which rounds to 60%.
With it: the two 20% knee ratings combine first (20 + 20 × 80/100 = 36), then VA adds 10% of that (3.6), rounding to 40. That 40 now sorts in with the remaining 30% and 20%: 40, then 30% of the remaining 60 (18) reaches 58, then 20% of the remaining 42 (8.4, rounds to 8) reaches 66 — which rounds to 70%, a full tier higher. At 2026 rates for a veteran alone, that’s $1,808.45 instead of $1,435.02, or $373.43 more per month.