(a) General. In determining your entitlement to, and the amount of your monthly benefit (or lump sum death payment) based on your wages while on active duty as a member of the uniformed service from 1957 through 2001, and for establishing a period of disability as discussed in §404.132, we add wage credits to the wages paid you as a member of that service. The amount of the wage credits, the applicable time periods, the wage credit amount limits, and the requirement of a minimum period of active duty service for granting these wage credits, are discussed in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section.

(b) Amount of wage credits. The amount of wage credits added is—

(1) $100 for each $300 in wages paid to you for your service in each calendar year from 1978 through 2001; and

(2) $300 for each calendar quarter in 1957 through 1977, regardless of the amount of wages actually paid you during that quarter for your service.

(c) Limits on wage credits. The amount of these wage credits cannot exceed—

(1) $1200 for any calendar year, or

(2) An amount which when added to other earnings causes the total earnings for the year to exceed the annual earnings limitation explained in §§404.1047 and 404.1096(b).

(d) Minimum active-duty service requirement.

(1) If you enlisted for the first time in a regular component of the Armed Forces on or after September 8, 1980, you must complete the shorter of 24 months of continuous active duty or the full period that you were called to active duty to receive these wage credits, unless:

(i) You are discharged or released from active duty for the convenience of the government in accordance with section 1171 of title 10 U.S.C. or because of hardship as specified in section 1173 of title 10 U.S.C.;

(ii) You are discharged or released from active duty for a disability incurred or aggravated in line of duty;

(iii) You are entitled to compensation for service-connected disability or death under chapter 11 of title 38 U.S.C.;

(iv) You die during your period of enlistment; or

(v) You were discharged prior to October 14, 1982, and your discharge was—

(A) Under chapter 61 of title 10 U.S.C.; or

(B) Because of a disability which resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated during your enlistment which was not the result of your intentional misconduct and did not occur during a period of unauthorized absence.

(2) If you entered on active duty as a member of the uniformed services as defined in §404.1330 on or after October 14, 1982, having neither previously completed a period of 24 months' active duty nor been discharged or released from this period of active duty under section 1171, title 10 U.S.C. (i.e., convenience of the government), you must complete the shorter of 24 months of continuous active duty or the full period you were called or ordered to active duty to receive these wage credits, unless:

(i) You are discharged or released from active duty for the convenience of the government in accordance with section 1171 of title 10 U.S.C. or because of hardship as specified in section 1173 of title 10 U.S.C.;

(ii) You are discharged or released from active duty for a disability incurred or aggravated in line of duty;

(iii) You are entitled to compensation for service-connected disability or death under chapter 11 of title 38 U.S.C.; or

(iv) You die during your period of active service.

[45 FR 16464, Mar. 14, 1980, as amended at 52 FR 29663, Aug. 11, 1987; 70 FR 11865, Mar. 10, 2005]