Add/Edit OAS and CPP/QPP

Quick start: This form is straight-forward, but if you or your spouse are not yet collecting CPP or QPP, you will be directed to enter the CPP/QPP contribution table on the next screen. You can estimate the contributions as a percentage of maximum contributions if you do not have the CPP or QPP table.

The TIME MACHINE will calculate CPP/QPP, OAS and GIS incomes for you. The information that you enter in these pages will be used to determine your eligibility for OAS, GIS and CPP/QPP benefits, as well to determine when you will be collecting those benefits.

If you are already collecting CPP/QPP or OAS, you will be asked to enter the current amount(s) you are collecting in the Additional information input screens of the TIME MACHINE tab.

You will receive maximum OAS benefits if you have lived 40 years or more in Canada, after the age of 18, before applying for the OAS. The normal minimum residency requirement is 10 years to receive OAS in Canada (20 years to receive it outside of Canada), but this number may be reduced if there is an agreement with another country for which you have retirement benefits. Enter the number of years of eligibility for OAS (up to 40 years) at the time of your OAS application. Note that you may need to change that number if you change your age of starting OAS. OAS benefits are reduced by the number of years of eligibility divided by 40.

The program also estimates the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and Allowance pensions (only available within Canada). The GIS and Allowance benefits are supplements to the OAS pensions and must be applied for. They are only available low levels of household income. Low income seniors with or without full OAS benefits should apply to GIS. Allowance benefits are only available to the spouse or widow of a OAS pensioner when they are between the ages of 60 to 64. Although OAS benefits are reduced proportionally to the number of years of eligibility, GIS benefits may be increased to compensate for that reduction in OAS (and it may increase the income threshold to receive benefits). The TIME MACHINE reports the OAS+GIS in total, but will also show you the amount of GIS or Allowance in the detailed yearly reports.

If you delay receiving your OAS pension, your monthly pension payment will be increased by 0.6\% every month that you do not receive it (up to a maximum of 36%, at age 70).

If you do not have a spouse, the program will ask you if you are collecting survivor benefits for OAS and CPP in case you are a widow or widower.

You can take CPP/QPP as early as age 60 (with a 0.6% penalty for every month before you turn 65) and as late as 70 or 72 for QPP (with a bonus of 0.7% for each month that you delay the pension).

If you have collected a CPP/QPP disability pension and wish that the program estimate your CPP/QPP retirement pension, enter the start date of the disability pension and for how many months you received it, or expect to receive it.

The CPP/QPP calculations allow for the Child Rearing Provision, so make sure you have entered all children for whom you (or your spouse) were the primary caregiver in DEPENDENTS (even if not children or dependent anymore)..

The program does not yet estimate CPP or QPP disability pensions.

If you work after 65, you can choose to stop contributing to CPP or QPP. You can enter the age at which you will stop contributions. This only applies if you have employment or self-employment income past age 65. If you work after starting your CPP/QPP and are still contributing CPP/QPP, your benefits will be enhanced by the Post-Retirement Benefit (PRB). That will be considered in the TIME MACHINE if you have entered employment or self-employment INCOMES past your CPP/QPP start age (up to age 70, or 72 for Québec). You will see the amount of the PRB in the yearly reports of the TIME MACHINE.

If you have a spouse, and either of you is collecting CPP/QPP yet, you can set up the TIME MACHINE to implement CPP or QPP sharing by entering the date you started cohabitating. CPP or QPP sharing is a tax saving strategy you can use if one spouse has a higher pension amount and a higher marginal tax rate than the other. You have to apply to the CRA or Revenu Québec once both pensions have started. The portion that can be transferred depends on the proportion of months you have been cohabitating during your joint contribution period at the time of the application. The maximum is 50%, which is reached if you lived together since the older spouse was 18. Your pension calculations do not change, but they will then transfer the calculated portion of your pension to your spouse, and they will transfer that portion of your spouse's pension to you. The net result being a lower taxable amount received by the spouse with the higher pension and vice versa. You can end the strategy once started anytime with permission from both spouses, otherwise it will end at the death of a spouse, separation, or divorce. The TIME MACHINE will implement the strategy once both spouses have started CPP/QPP and end it a death of one spouse. It will show the net transferred amount from the spouse with the higher pension to the other. To remove the implementation, just remove the date of cohabitation on CPP/QPP AND OAS form.

If you are not already collecting CPP/QPP the TIME MACHINE will estimate your benefits for you. It will also estimate your survivor pension if you have a spouse. To allow these estimations, you will need to specify your past CPP/QPP contributions on the next screen.

You can also select to completely ignore CPP/QPP, OAS and GIS by checking the box. In that case, they will not be calculated in the TIME MACHINE. Note that checking the ignore box will not delete or modify your previously entered data for CPP/QPP and OAS. The benefits will just not be calculated for both spouses, and any survivor benefits, PRB, and CPP/QPP disability pensions will also be ignored. Contributions to CPP/QPP will however still be made.

You can also elect to ignore only GIS. CPP/QPP and OAS will still be calculated (unless you also set those to be ignored).

IMPORTANT: We normally have free TIME MACHINE runs and free advisor clients for low income seniors, which is verified by the GIS calculation. Because no GIS will be calculated if this box is checked, the TIME MACHINE run will necessarily count against your free runs. If the account is a free advisor client, payment for the client will then be required.