myPay W-2 and 1099-R Release Dates for Tax Year 2026: Last Year's Schedule by Branch and When the 2027 Dates Post

Retiree 1099-Rs went up on myPay on December 17 in each of the last two tax seasons, and active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force W-2s followed on January 17, 2025 and January 21, 2026. Those dates come from the DFAS press releases of December 10, 2024 and December 4, 2025. The settled part: the IRS deadline for your 2026 W-2 is February 1, 2027. The unsettled part: as of November 8, 2026, DFAS has not published the myPay schedule for 2026 tax statements. Every date below for the coming season is last year's pattern, not this year's announcement.

The last two schedules, line by line

DFAS publishes one table each December under the heading "myPay Tax Statement Schedule." The two most recent ones, set side by side:

Three things hold across both years. Retirees, former spouses and annuitants get their 1099-R first, in mid-December, before the tax year has even closed. Guard and Reserve W-2s for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force come out in the first full week of January. Marines, active and reserve alike, get theirs on a Friday in mid-January.

The active-duty line is the one that moved. In 2025 it posted the same Friday as the Marine Corps; in 2026 it came five days later, on a Wednesday. Nothing in either release explains the order, so plan on the later of the two: the third or fourth week of January.

The schedule has no Coast Guard line. A Coast Guard member should not read these dates as theirs.

The deadline DFAS has to meet

The IRS General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (2026) say employers "must furnish Copies B, C, and 2 of Form W-2 to your employees by February 1, 2027." January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, which is why the date slides to Monday. The same next-business-day rule in the IRS General Instructions for Certain Information Returns covers the 1099-R, which the IRS chart lists as due to recipients January 31.

Paper copies follow their own clock. Both releases say statements "sent through the U.S. Postal Service will be mailed no later than" January 31. The online copy is usually weeks ahead of the envelope, and DFAS's Tax Documents page recommends opting out of mailed copies in myPay to keep your SSN out of the postal system.

Where to find it, and how to get a reprint

On myPay, accept the Terms of Use, select Tax Statement from the homepage, and use the Printer Friendly link to save or print. DFAS's Tax Documents page says myPay holds "current and past tax documents (from the last four years)." A mailed copy of a current or prior year W-2, 1099-R, 1095-B or 1095-C can be requested through AskDFAS "beginning in February," and DFAS says it typically prints and mails within 7 to 10 business days.

The Form 1095 line confuses people every year. The 2025 release says Forms 1095-B and 1095-C "are not required when filing tax returns" and are available only through myPay or AskDFAS. Do not hold your return waiting for it.

What Boxes 3 to 6 should say, by rank

You can check part of your W-2 before it posts. DoD FMR Volume 7A, Chapter 45, paragraph 2.2.1, makes "Basic pay (excluding reduction for educational benefits under the Montgomery G.I. Bill)" the FICA wage for active duty. So for a member who held one grade and one pay column all of 2026, Box 3 (Social Security wages) and Box 5 (Medicare wages) are twelve months of basic pay. Box 4 is 6.2% of Box 3 up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500.00, and Box 6 is 1.45% of Box 5 with no cap. The LES Auditor runs the same check on a single month of your LES.

A promotion, a longevity step during the year, or the MGIB reduction in a first year of service changes the figure, and per-paycheck rounding can move Box 4 or Box 6 by a few cents. A difference of hundreds of dollars is worth an AskDFAS ticket. Monthly rates for every grade are on the basic pay table.

Box 1 is different. It is federal taxable wages, so it can be lower than Box 3 and it can include taxable special pays. IRS Publication 3 lists BAH and BAS among the "Living allowances" that "aren't includible in your gross income," and says Box 1 "shouldn't include military pay excluded" under the combat zone rules; that excluded pay shows in Box 12 with code Q, "Nontaxable combat pay." The combat zone tax exclusion calculator estimates how much of a deployment year leaves Box 1.

Retirees and survivors: the 1099-R

Retired pay, former-spouse payments under a court order and SBP annuities are reported on Form 1099-R, not a W-2. In both schedules all three versions posted on December 17, the first DFAS tax form of the season. If that pattern holds, retirees will have the 2026 form in myPay before most active-duty members have their last 2026 paycheck. Retirees with a new mailing address should fix it before then, since mailed copies go to the address on file.