Tax and Accounting for Retirees

Retirement tends to bring more tax slips. CPP, OAS, a workplace pension and a RRIF each send their own, and a few credits only open up at 65.

The slips to expect

• CPP: a T4A(P) slip.
• Old Age Security: a T4A(OAS) slip.
• Workplace pension: usually a T4A slip, sometimes a T3.
• RRIF payments: a T4RIF slip.

If your CPP or OAS slip goes missing, you can view it in your CRA account or get it from Service Canada.

Credits that start at 65

These figures are for the 2025 tax year, the return filed in spring 2026.

• Age amount. If you were 65 or older on December 31, 2025, and your net income was under $105,709, you can generally claim it. The full federal amount is $9,028 if net income was $45,522 or less, and it shrinks above that. BC has its own version: $5,799 at net income of $43,169 or less.
• Pension income amount. Up to $2,000 federally and $1,000 in BC on eligible pension income. What counts as eligible depends partly on your age.
• Pension splitting. You and your spouse or common-law partner can jointly elect on Form T1032 to move up to 50% of eligible pension income from one of you to the other. See pension income splitting.

The OAS clawback

If your net world income is over the threshold, you repay 15% of the excess out of your OAS. The threshold is $93,454 for 2025 income, recovered from your monthly OAS payments from July 2026 to June 2027, and $95,323 for 2026 income.

RRIF withdrawals

From the year after you open a RRIF, you have to take at least a yearly minimum, based on your age (or your spouse's, if you elect that). You can take more, never less. Drawing down an RRSP earlier on purpose is covered in the RRSP meltdown strategy.

Medical costs, disability and instalments

• For health costs, see claiming medical expenses and the disability tax credit.
• If not enough tax comes off your pension payments, you may end up paying instalments. If your net tax owing is more than $3,000 for 2026 and was also over $3,000 in 2025 or 2024, you have to pay tax by instalments for 2026.

Planning ahead for the estate

It helps to know what your executor will face on your final tax return while you can still plan around it. An RRSP or RRIF that doesn't pass to a spouse or common-law partner is generally taxed on that return.

How we help

We file personal returns and explain what we did in plain English. Pension splitting, medical claims and the disability tax credit take extra work, so they're quoted on top of the base price. Planning for retirement and estate planning are part of our consulting work.