Terminal Leave Calculator — Take It or Sell It Back?

Most people frame this as "cash now versus time off." That's the wrong frame. The two options don't pay the same rate. Sold-back leave pays your base pay only — no BAH, no BAS — and the lump sum is taxed. Terminal leave pays your full paycheck, allowances included, and you keep accruing leave the whole time you're on it.

Estimate only, before tax. Daily rates use the military convention of a 30-day month. Withholding varies, and terminal leave has to be approved by your command.

What actually decides it

Per day, sell-back is the weaker instrument: it pays base pay only. An E-6 drawing $1,800 BAH and $460 BAS gives up roughly 33% of the daily value of every day sold, and the lump sum is usually withheld at the supplemental rate, with state tax on top depending on your state of legal residence.

But per day is the wrong unit. With a fixed ETS or EAS date, selling leave does not change when you separate. You keep working, on full pay and allowances, up to that date — and the days you sell are paid at base pay on top. Terminal leave pays the same full pay over the same period, just with those days off. So in cash terms the question is whether you can earn civilian pay during terminal leave: if you can't, selling is extra money and terminal leave is extra time. Leaving earlier than a fixed date needs separate approval.

The cap people forget

You can sell back a maximum of 60 days across your entire career— the statute counts every day already paid out since 1976 against that total. If you sold leave at a previous reenlistment or separation, it came out of the same 60 — which is why the calculator asks what you've already sold rather than assuming a fresh 60 days at every separation. Terminal leave has no equivalent lifetime cap; it's limited by what you've accrued and what your command will approve.

When selling back is still the right call

• A civilian job starts immediately. Double-dipping — drawing military pay on terminal leave while earning a civilian salary — is legal for most separating members, but check your service's rules and any conflict-of-interest restrictions, especially for federal or contractor roles tied to your current command.
• Command won't approve the days. Operational requirements can make a long terminal leave impossible. Leave you can't take is leave you'll lose.
• You're over the carryover ceiling. By statute you can't carry more than 60 days past the end of the fiscal year. Members on deployable assignments can be authorised to retain up to 30 days beyond that in writing by an O-6 or above, and it has to be used within two fiscal years. Everything else evaporates.

Do this before you decide

• Pull your current balance from your LES — don't estimate it.
• Ask your finance office whether you've sold leave before, and how much of the 60 remains.
• Confirm your terminal leave dates with your command in writing, early. This is the step that fails.
• Check what else expires around your separation date — TRICARE and SGLI both run on their own clocks. The transition timeline lays those out against your date.

Sources

• Accrual of 2½ days per month, the 60-day fiscal-year ceiling, and the 30-day excess-leave exception — 10 U.S.C. § 701 (statutory, so it applies to every service) — last checked Aug 23, 2026
• The 60-day career limit on selling leave back, and payment being computed on basic pay alone — 37 U.S.C. § 501 (last checked Aug 23, 2026)
• Service-level implementation — DoDI 1327.06, Military Leave, Liberty, and Administrative Absence
• Leave entitlements, terminal leave and payment for unused leave — DoD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7A, Chapter 35 (last checked Aug 23, 2026)
• Special Leave Accrual and use/lose balances — DFAS

Sources: 10 U.S.C. 701(a); 37 U.S.C. 501(b)(1) and 501(f); DoD FMR Vol. 7A Ch. 35 (as of 2026)