TDIU Eligibility Calculator

The two schedular doorways

Under 38 CFR 4.16(a) (retrieved 2026-07-11), you meet the schedular threshold for TDIU one of two ways:

• One disability rated at 60 percent or more, or
• A combined rating of 70 percent or more with at least one disability rated at 40 percent or more.

The combined rating uses the real VA math, not addition. Ratings combine under 38 CFR 4.25, and paired limbs pick up the 4.26 bilateral factor first. Run the exact figure on the combined rating calculator.

The grouping rule most calculators miss

Before you decide you fall short, note that 4.16(a) treats several sets of disabilities as one disability when checking the 60 and 40 percent figures:

• Disabilities of one or both upper extremities, or one or both lower extremities (including the bilateral factor)
• Disabilities resulting from a common etiology or a single accident
• Disabilities affecting a single body system, such as orthopedic, digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular, or neuropsychiatric
• Multiple injuries incurred in action
• Multiple disabilities incurred as a prisoner of war

This is where TDIU eligibility is won or lost. Say you have a 40 percent and a 30 percent rating in both legs from the same event. Counted separately, your top single disability is only 40 percent and your combined rating is 60 percent, so neither gate is met. Grouped as one lower-extremity disability, 40 and 30 combine to 58, the bilateral factor lifts it to 64, and it rounds to 60 percent as a single disability. That clears the first gate. Same ratings, opposite answer. A calculator that ignores grouping tells this veteran no when the regulation says yes.

One assumption to know about: when this tool combines a group, it expresses the result as a rating rounded to the nearest 10, the way every VA rating is expressed (40 and 30 from a common cause combine to 58, expressed here as 60). The regulation does not spell out that rounding step for the 60 and 40 percent tests, so if your grouped value only clears a gate because of rounding, treat the verdict as a strong argument to raise, not a settled fact.

Grouping is not a free-for-all. Use it only when your disabilities genuinely fit one of the categories above, and be ready to show it. When in doubt, a VA-accredited representative or VSO can confirm whether a grouping holds.

Below the numbers, still unemployable: 4.16(b)

If your service-connected disabilities genuinely stop you from working but you do not meet the 60 or 70/40 percentages, 4.16(b) is the release valve. The rating board must refer such cases to the Director, Compensation Service, for extraschedular consideration. A threshold you do not meet by the numbers is not a closed door, it shifts the case onto the strength of your unemployability evidence.

Meeting the threshold is only the door

The decision turns on whether your service-connected disabilities leave you unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation. Two rules control that:

• Substantially gainful versus marginal. Section 4.16(a) says marginal employment is not substantially gainful, and marginal employment generally exists when your earned annual income does not exceed the Census Bureau poverty threshold for one person. Protected work, such as a family business or a sheltered setting, can also be marginal.
• It is about your disabilities, not the economy or your age. The question is whether the service-connected conditions themselves keep you from real work.

You apply on VA Form 21-8940, and VA usually sends your former employers VA Form 21-4192 to confirm why the work ended. For the full picture, read the TDIU guide.

Next steps

• Get your exact combined figure on the combined rating calculator.
• Read the full TDIU guide, forms, evidence, and the substantially-gainful test.
• See the roads to being paid at 100 percent.
• Denied or undervalued? Review your decision review options.