How to declare pension income

Why read this?

You either:

• receive a government or foreign pension; or
• are withdrawing money from a retirement account.

What to do

1. Report OAS and GIS

• Enter the taxable pension in Box 18 of your T4A(OAS) Statement of Old Age Security on Line 113 of your return.
• Enter the net supplement in Box 21 of T4A(OAS) on Line 146 of the return.
  • If your net income before adjustments is less than $71,592, claim the deduction on Line 250. “In effect, you don’t pay tax on it,” says Sean Marek, founding partner of M Group Chartered Accountants in Winnipeg.
• Add any amount in Box 20 of T4A(OAS) to Line 232 of the return.

2. Report CPP or QPP benefits

• Enter the amount in Box 20 of T4A(P) Statement of Canada Pension Plan Benefits on Line 114 of the return.

3. Report other pension payments

The information appears on T4A Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity and Other Income and T3 Statement of Trust Income Allocations and Designations.

• Enter the amounts in Box 22 of the T3 and Box 18 of the T4A on Line 130 of the return.
• Enter the amounts in Box 16 of the T4A and Box 31 of the T3 on Line 115 of the return.

TIP: You can also list Saskatchewan Pension Plan payments on Line 115 on the T1

4. Report annuity, PRPP, RRIF and LIF payments

Amounts appear on T4A Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity and Other Income, T4RIF Statement of Income From a Registered Retirement Income Fund or T5 Statement of Investment Income.

a. If you are 65 or older on Dec. 31 of the tax year, or you’re receiving payment on the death of your spouse or common-law partner, enter these amounts on Line 115 of the return:

• Boxes 24, 133 and 194 of the T4A;
• Boxes 16 and 20 of the T4RIF; and
• Box 19 of the T5.

b. If you are younger than 65 on Dec. 31 and aren’t receiving death payments:

• enter the amounts in Boxes 24 and of the T4A, and Boxes 16 and 20 of the T4RIF, on Line 130 of the return; and
• enter the amount in Box 19 of the T5 on Line 121 of the return.

5. Report RRSP income

a. Enter the amounts in Boxes 16, 18, 28 of T4(RSP) Statement of RRSP Income on Line 129 of the return

b. If your spouse didn’t contribute to your RRSP, also include the amounts in Boxes 20, 22 and 26.

If your spouse did contribute in the last three years, then the spouse must report the income withdrawn on his or her return. Use Form T2205 Amounts from a Spousal or Common-law Partner RRSP or RRIF to Include in Income to calculate how much income to include on each of your returns.

6. Claim total income tax deducted

a. Calculate all the amounts shown in the “Income tax deducted” boxes of your tax slips and enter it on Line 437 of the return.

TIP: If Quebec tax was deducted from your income, and you aren’t a Quebec resident, include it on Line 437 of the return and attach provincial information slips.

b. If you split pension income, complete Step 5 of Form T1032 Joint Election to Split Pension Income to calculate both your and your partner’s amounts for Line 437.

Sources: CRA; Sean Marek, MAcc., CA, founding partner, M Group Chartered Accountants, Winnipeg, Man.