SMC (Special Monthly Compensation): Eligibility Categories and Current Rates

Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) is a set of statutory rates under 38 U.S.C. § 1114 and 38 CFR § 3.350. SMC-K is an add-on. The basic rates from L through S are paid instead of the schedular 10–100% table. On the December 1, 2025 VA.gov table, the veteran-alone SMC R-2/T amount is $11,271.67 per month. The veteran-alone 100% schedular rate is $3,938.58. On that veteran-alone comparison, the published R-1 and R-2/T rates are more than double the 100% rate. L through O are higher than the 100% rate and less than double it.

38 CFR § 3.155(d)(2) says that once VA receives a complete claim, VA adjudicates ancillary benefits that arise as a result of the decision, including SMC under § 3.350. The claimant may, but need not, assert them. The notes below describe what each cited section says, with the 2026 veteran-alone amounts. They do not decide whether a record meets a section. Ask an accredited representative how a tier applies.

The SMC levels, 2026 veteran-alone rates

This article covers K, L, M, N, O, R-1, R-2, S, and T. VA’s December 1, 2025 rate table also lists intermediate half-steps and a protected SMC-Q rate of $67 that has not been awarded since August 19, 1968. K is the flat add-on in § 1114(k). L through O are the conditions in § 3.350(b) through (e). R-1 and R-2 are the additional aid-and-attendance allowances in § 1114(r). S is the housebound rate in § 3.350(i). T is the traumatic-brain-injury allowance in § 1114(t), added by Public Law 111-275 on October 13, 2010. The dollar amounts are the December 1, 2025 rates for a veteran alone.

• SMC-K — $139.87/mo for each qualifying loss in § 3.350(a) and § 1114(k). The list is one hand, one foot, both buttocks, one or more creative organs, blindness of one eye having only light perception, deafness of both ears with absence of air and bone conduction, complete organic aphonia with constant inability to communicate by speech, or, in the case of a woman veteran, loss of 25% or more of tissue from a single breast or both breasts in combination (including loss by mastectomy or partial mastectomy), or radiation treatment of breast tissue. VA’s rate table adds this amount at ratings from 0% through 100%. The combined rate is capped. See the SMC-K section.
• SMC-L — $4,900.83/mo — § 3.350(b) and § 1114(l): anatomical loss or loss of use of both feet, or of one hand and one foot; blindness in both eyes with visual acuity of 5/200 or less; or being permanently bedridden or so helpless as to be in need of regular aid and attendance. This basic rate replaces the schedular table.
• SMC-M — $5,408.55/mo — § 3.350(c): anatomical loss or loss of use of both hands; both legs at a level, or with complications, preventing natural knee action with a prosthesis in place; one arm at a level, or with complications, preventing natural elbow action with a prosthesis in place, together with one leg preventing natural knee action with a prosthesis in place; blindness in both eyes having only light perception; or blindness in both eyes leaving the veteran so helpless as to be in need of regular aid and attendance.
• SMC-N — $6,152.64/mo — § 3.350(d). Amputation is a prerequisite except for loss of use of both arms and blindness without light perception in both eyes. The regulation lists both arms preventing natural elbow action with a prosthesis in place, both legs so near the hip as to prevent use of a prosthetic appliance, one arm so near the shoulder and one leg so near the hip as to prevent use of a prosthetic appliance, and anatomical loss of both eyes or blindness without light perception. Section 1114(n), as amended by Public Law 111-275, describes anatomical loss or loss of use of both arms with factors preventing natural elbow action with prostheses in place, anatomical loss of both legs with factors that prevent the use of prosthetic appliances, and anatomical loss of one arm and one leg with factors that prevent the use of prosthetic appliances, along with anatomical loss of both eyes or blindness without light perception in both eyes.
• SMC-O — $6,877.12/mo — § 3.350(e): anatomical loss of both arms so near the shoulder that a prosthesis cannot be used; conditions entitling the veteran to two or more of the rates in § 1114(l) through (n), with no condition considered twice; bilateral deafness rated at 60 percent or more (with the hearing impairment in one or both ears service-connected) plus service-connected blindness with bilateral visual acuity of 20/200 or less; service-connected total deafness in one ear, or bilateral deafness rated at 40 percent or more with the hearing impairment in one or both ears service-connected, plus service-connected blindness of both eyes having only light perception or less; or paralysis of both lower extremities together with loss of anal and bladder sphincter control. Section 1114(o), as amended by Public Law 111-275, describes the arm loss as anatomical loss of both arms with factors that prevent the use of prosthetic appliances.
• SMC R-1 — $9,826.88/mo is the veteran-alone total on the VA.gov table, not the allowance by itself. Section 1114(r)(1) and § 3.350(h) add a regular aid-and-attendance allowance for a veteran already at the maximum rate under § 1114(o) or (p), or at the intermediate rate between (n) and (o) plus a rate under (k), who needs regular aid and attendance. The allowance is payable during periods the veteran is not hospitalized at United States Government expense.
• SMC R-2 — $11,271.67/mo is the veteran-alone total on the VA.gov table. Section 1114(r)(2) pays a higher-level aid-and-attendance allowance in lieu of the regular (r)(1) allowance, for a veteran at those same (o), maximum (p), or intermediate (n)/(o) plus (k) rates, who needs regular aid and attendance and a higher level of care. Section 3.352(b) defines that care as personal health-care services provided daily in the home by a person licensed to provide them, or by a person under the regular supervision of a licensed health-care professional. Without that care, the veteran would require hospitalization, nursing home care, or other residential institutional care. Section 1114(r) says the higher-level need is determined by a Department physician or, where none is available, a physician under contract or fee arrangement, based on an examination by that physician. That allowance is payable during periods the veteran is not hospitalized at United States Government expense.
• SMC-S — $4,408.53/mo veteran-alone rate — the housebound basic rate in § 3.350(i) and § 1114(s). It replaces the schedular table. It requires a single service-connected disability rated 100 percent, plus either additional service-connected disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent that are separate and distinct and involve different anatomical segments or bodily systems, or permanent housebound status.
• SMC-T — the VA.gov table lists T with R-2 at $11,271.67/mo for a veteran alone. Section 1114(t) and § 3.350(j) cover regular aid and attendance for service-connected traumatic brain injury residuals when the veteran is not eligible for § 1114(r)(2) and, without that aid and attendance, would require hospitalization, nursing home care, or other residential institutional care. Section 3.350(j)(1) describes the amount as the § 1114(o) rate, or the maximum rate under § 1114(p), plus the § 1114(r)(2) allowance, in lieu of the (r)(1) allowance.

SMC-K — the $139.87 amount in § 1114(k)

Section 1114(k) pays a rate for each qualifying loss, independent of compensation under § 1114(a) through (j) or § 1114(s). A 0% rating is not one of those subsections. The basic rate at 0% is $0, and VA’s December 1, 2025 rate table states that SMC-K is added to basic disability compensation for any rating from 0% to 100%. The 2026 amount on that table is $139.87 for each such loss.

The same statute caps the combined amount. The printed text of § 1114(k) still shows older dollar ceilings from the last time Congress wrote figures into that subsection. Those printed figures are not the 2026 caps. Section 3.350(a) states the ceilings that apply now. When SMC-K is paid with a rate under § 1114(a) through (j) or (s), the combined rate of compensation may not exceed the monthly rate in § 1114(l). The 2026 veteran-alone § 1114(l) amount is $4,900.83. When there is entitlement under § 1114(l) through (n), or an intermediate rate under (p), the additional SMC-K allowance is payable for each listed loss that exists in addition to the requirements for that basic rate, and the total may not exceed the monthly rate in § 1114(o). The 2026 veteran-alone § 1114(o) amount is $6,877.12. The same loss is not counted twice. Those limitations do not bar additional compensation for dependents under 38 U.S.C. § 1115, or the aid-and-attendance allowance under § 1114(r). VA’s rate table also states that SMC-K is not added to SMC-O, SMC-Q, or SMC-R, and that a veteran may receive one to three SMC-K awards.

One listed basis is anatomical loss or loss of use of one or more creative organs. Current Diagnostic Code 7522 rates erectile dysfunction, with or without penile deformity, at 0%. SMC-K is a separate question under § 3.350(a) when loss of use of a creative organ is shown. Secondary service connection, if that is the theory, is § 3.310. A diagnosis, a prescription, or a theory does not establish the loss.

Some genitourinary diagnostic codes also carry a schedule footnote that tells the rater to review § 3.350. DC 7543 (varicocele/hydrocele) is one example. The footnote is a review instruction, not an award.

Veterans sometimes research erectile dysfunction as secondary to a service-connected condition. Examples that come up in that research include PTSD, diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer or its treatment, lumbar spine injury or radiculopathy, and medication taken for a service-connected condition. Whether any of those is proximately due to or aggravated by a service-connected disability is a § 3.310 question for the evidence and for an accredited representative. The Secondary Claims Flow Builder can help you research possible secondary leads from conditions that are already service-connected. It does not determine secondary service connection, and it does not determine whether SMC-K applies.

The rest of the § 3.350(a) list, beyond a creative organ, is one hand, one foot, both buttocks, blindness of one eye having only light perception, deafness of both ears having absence of air and bone conduction, and complete organic aphonia with constant inability to communicate by speech. In the case of a woman veteran, the paragraph also covers loss of 25% or more of tissue from a single breast or both breasts in combination (including loss by mastectomy or partial mastectomy), or following receipt of radiation treatment of breast tissue.

SMC-S — the housebound rate in § 3.350(i)

SMC-S is a basic rate. It replaces the schedular table. It is not an add-on stacked on the 100% rate. Section 3.350(i) has two paths, and both start with a single service-connected disability rated as 100 percent:

1. The rating path in § 3.350(i)(1). Additional service-connected disability or disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct from the 100 percent disability and involving different anatomical segments or bodily systems. This path does not require a separate finding that the veteran is confined to the home. A combined 100 percent built from several disabilities does not meet the single-disability requirement.
2. The housebound path in § 3.350(i)(2). The veteran is permanently housebound by reason of service-connected disability. The regulation says this requirement is met when the veteran is substantially confined, as a direct result of service-connected disabilities, to the dwelling and the immediate premises or, if institutionalized, to the ward or clinical areas, and it is reasonably certain that the disability or disabilities and the resulting confinement will continue throughout the veteran’s lifetime. VA publishes VA Form 21-2680 for an examination of housebound status. The form is evidence. The legal test is the regulation.

A pattern that uses the words of § 3.350(i)(1) is one disability rated 100 percent and additional disabilities, in a different body system, independently ratable at 60 percent. Whether a rating decision meets that paragraph is a question for the decision and for an accredited representative. The citation is 38 CFR § 3.350(i).

SMC-L through O — separate lists, not one ladder

Sections 3.350(b) through (e) are separate lists. SMC-L includes anatomical loss or loss of use of both feet, or of one hand and one foot; blindness in both eyes with visual acuity of 5/200 or less; or being permanently bedridden or so helpless as to need regular aid and attendance. Section 3.350(b)(2) says 5/200 visual acuity or less in both eyes meets § 1114(l), and that an evaluation of 5/200 based on acuity better than that but less than 10/200 under § 4.83 does not. Concentric contraction of the visual field beyond 5 degrees in both eyes is treated as the equivalent of 5/200. Loss of both hands is an SMC-M condition under § 3.350(c), not L.

M, N, and O are the anatomical-loss, blindness, deafness, and paralysis combinations quoted in the list above. They are not a single aid-and-attendance ladder. Read the subsection that matches the loss. When aid and attendance is the issue, § 3.352(a) is the criteria section: inability to dress or undress, or to keep ordinarily clean and presentable; frequent need of adjustment of a special prosthetic or orthopedic appliance that the veteran cannot adjust without aid; inability to feed oneself because of loss of coordination of the upper extremities or extreme weakness; inability to attend to the wants of nature; or physical or mental incapacity that requires care or assistance on a regular basis to protect the veteran from hazards of the daily environment.

Section 3.352(a) says it is not required that all of those disabling conditions be found. The particular personal functions the veteran is unable to perform are considered in connection with the condition as a whole. It is only necessary that the evidence establish that the veteran is so helpless as to need regular aid and attendance, not that there be a constant need. A determination is based on the actual requirement of personal assistance from others. It is not based solely on an opinion that the veteran would need to be in bed. “Bedridden,” for this paragraph, means a condition which through its essential character actually requires that the veteran remain in bed.

VA Form 21-2680, Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance, is the form VA publishes for that examination. The form is a way to submit findings. It does not award a level. For the higher-level allowance, § 1114(r)(2) says the need is determined by a Department physician or, where no such physician is available, by a physician under contract or fee arrangement, based on an examination by that physician. Section 3.352(b) says the higher-level provisions are strictly construed.

SMC-T — § 1114(t), added in 2010

Public Law 111-275 added 38 U.S.C. § 1114(t) on October 13, 2010. Section 3.350(j) is the regulation. The allowance is for a veteran who, as the result of service-connected disability, needs regular aid and attendance for the residuals of traumatic brain injury, is not eligible for compensation under § 1114(r)(2), and in the absence of that regular aid and attendance would require hospitalization, nursing home care, or other residential institutional care. Section 3.352(b)(2) adds that the traumatic brain injury residuals must also require a higher level of care than regular aid and attendance, as that paragraph defines it.

Section 3.350(j)(1) says the veteran is entitled to the amount equal to the compensation authorized under § 1114(o), or the maximum rate authorized under § 1114(p), and, in addition, a monthly allowance equal to the rate in § 1114(r)(2), during periods not hospitalized at United States Government expense. The allowance under § 1114(t) is paid in lieu of any allowance under § 1114(r)(1). VA’s rate table lists that published total with SMC R-2, at $11,271.67 for a veteran alone. The veteran-alone SMC-L amount on the same table is $4,900.83.

How SMC is considered

SMC is not paid because a diagnosis appears in a chart. 38 CFR § 3.155(d)(2) says that once VA receives a complete claim, VA adjudicates ancillary benefits that arise as a result of the adjudication decision, including SMC under § 3.350. The claimant may, but need not, assert entitlement to those ancillary benefits. Ask an accredited representative how a tier applies before you rely on a particular sentence.

1. SMC-K — § 3.350(a) and § 1114(k) list the losses, the per-loss amount, and the caps. The 2026 per-loss amount on the VA.gov table is $139.87.
2. SMC-S — § 3.350(i). The rating path in paragraph (i)(1) is the single 100 percent disability plus the separate 60 percent combination. That path does not require Form 21-2680. The housebound path in paragraph (i)(2) is the confinement test. VA publishes Form 21-2680 for a housebound examination.
3. Aid and attendance, R-1, R-2, and T — the criteria are § 3.352(a) for regular aid and attendance and § 3.352(b) for the higher level of care. VA Form 21-2680 is the published examination form. Section 1114(r)(2) states who determines the higher-level need.

If a decision addresses SMC and the veteran wants it reviewed, the lanes are described in HLR vs Supplemental vs Board. Under 38 CFR § 3.2601, a higher-level review is limited to the evidence of record as of the date VA issued notice of the prior decision. The reviewer does not consider additional evidence, and the review of the specified issues is de novo. Under 38 CFR § 3.2501, a supplemental claim is readjudicated when new and relevant evidence is presented or secured. New evidence was not previously part of the record. Relevant evidence tends to prove or disprove a matter in issue. Neither section is limited to SMC, and neither section predicts the result of a review.

Readings that do not match the regulation

1. Treating 100% as the top statutory rate. SMC-K is an add-on under § 1114(k). L through S are basic rates under § 3.350 that replace the schedular table. The published 2026 veteran-alone R-1 and R-2/T rates are more than double the veteran-alone 100% rate of $3,938.58.
2. Treating a diagnosis as SMC-K. Section 3.350(a) lists the losses, including loss or loss of use of a creative organ. DC 7522 rates erectile dysfunction at 0% and points the rater to § 3.350. The footnote is a review instruction.
3. Missing the separate-and-distinct requirement in § 3.350(i)(1). The rating path is a single service-connected disability rated 100 percent plus additional service-connected disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct, and involving different anatomical segments or bodily systems. It does not require a separate confinement finding. A combined 100 percent from several disabilities does not meet the single-disability part of the rule.
4. Treating Form 21-2680 as the legal test. The form is the examination VA publishes for housebound status or a permanent need for regular aid and attendance. The criteria are in § 3.352(a). It is not required that every condition listed there be present. The functions the veteran cannot perform are considered with the condition as a whole, and the evidence has to show a need for regular aid and attendance, not a constant need.
5. Reading SMC-K as an unlimited stack of $139.87. Section 1114(k) pays a rate for each qualifying loss and caps the combined amount. Section 3.350(a) states the cap as the § 1114(l) rate when K is paid with § 1114(a) through (j) or (s), and as the § 1114(o) rate when K is added to § 1114(l) through (n) or an intermediate rate under (p), only for a loss beyond the basic rate. VA’s December 1, 2025 rate table states that K is not added to SMC-O, SMC-Q, or SMC-R, and that a veteran may receive one to three SMC-K awards.
6. Picking a review lane without the evidence rule. Higher-level review under § 3.2601 looks only at the evidence of record when VA issued the decision. A supplemental claim under § 3.2501 is the request that brings new and relevant evidence. The choice depends on what is already in the record. It does not depend on the type of benefit.

Quick answers

Educational content only. This is not legal, medical, or financial advice. Always consult an accredited VSO or VA-accredited attorney for claim-specific guidance. CFR: 38 CFR § 3.350 (Special monthly compensation ratings), § 3.155(d)(2) (ancillary benefits, including SMC), § 3.352 (aid and attendance and higher level of care), § 3.2501 (supplemental claims), § 3.2601 (higher-level review), § 4.115b Diagnostic Code 7522 (erectile dysfunction, with or without penile deformity, 0%, footnote 1: review § 3.350). Statute: 38 U.S.C. § 1114(k)–(t), including § 1114(t) as added by Public Law 111-275 (Oct. 13, 2010). 2026 rates are the VA.gov special monthly compensation table effective December 1, 2025, reflecting the 2.8% COLA. That table lists SMC-Q at $67, a protected rate VA has not awarded since August 19, 1968.