Canada CPP & OAS Retirement Pension Calculator

About the Canada CPP & OAS Retirement Pension Calculator

Canada’s two public pensions work differently. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) retirement pension depends on what you paid in while you worked. You can start it at any age from 60 to 70: it is 0.6% lower for each month before 65 and 0.7% higher for each month after, so 36% less at 60 and 42% more at 70. Old Age Security (OAS) depends on how long you lived in Canada after 18: 40 years give the full pension and fewer give years ÷ 40 of it. Each month you wait after 65 adds 0.6%, up to 36% at 70, and from the month after you turn 75 the pension is 10% higher.

Enter your CPP estimate at 65, your years in Canada and the ages you plan to start. The calculator shows both pensions at every start age, the total paid by an age you choose, and the age at which waiting pays off. It also shows the OAS recovery tax (the “clawback”) on higher incomes, and whether your income may be low enough for the Guaranteed Income Supplement. Everything is in today’s dollars and stays in your browser.

CPP: start any time from 60 to 70

You can take the CPP retirement pension from 60 if you have made at least one valid contribution, and you do not have to stop working (who can get it). Each month before 65 lowers the pension by 0.6%, and each month after 65 raises it by 0.7%, up to 70; there is no gain from waiting past 70 (when to start).

Your amount at 65 depends on your contributions: the base CPP leaves out up to 8 years of your lowest earnings, and the enhanced CPP uses your best 40 years (how much you could receive). Service Canada publishes the maximum and the average for new pensions at 65; the average is far below the maximum, so use your own estimate if you can. Once it starts, the pension is indexed to the cost of living every year (Canada Pension Plan, s. 45).

OAS: years in Canada and waiting

• Who qualifies: people 65 or older who lived in Canada for at least 10 years after 18, or 20 years if they live abroad when the pension starts (eligibility).
• Partial pension: complete years in Canada after 18 ÷ 40 of the full pension; part of a year does not count (Old Age Security Act, s. 3).
• Waiting: 0.6% more for each month after you first qualify, up to 36% at 70 (delaying your OAS). With fewer than 40 years, the years you keep living in Canada while you wait can count instead: the law pays the higher of the delayed pension and the pension worked out again with the extra years but without the increase (s. 7.1). The calculator pays you the higher one.
• At 75: the pension rises by 10% from the month after your 75th birthday.
• Inflation: Service Canada reviews OAS every January, April, July and October (payment amounts); type the current full pension if it has changed.

The OAS recovery tax (clawback)

When your net world income for a year is above the recovery threshold, you repay 15% of the amount above it, up to all of your OAS. The repayment is taken from your monthly OAS payments from the following July to June (recovery tax). The Canada Revenue Agency raises the threshold with inflation every year (indexed amounts); the calculator shows the threshold it uses. Net income counts the CPP and OAS themselves, so the calculator adds them to the other income you enter. Delaying OAS raises the pension, but if most of it would be clawed back, waiting gains you little.

Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)

OAS pensioners with a low income who live in Canada can also get the GIS (who can get it). It uses last year’s income without the OAS pension, and the first $5,000 of employment and self-employment income plus half of the next $10,000 do not count (Old Age Security Act, s. 2). The income limits depend on whether you have a spouse or partner and what they receive (payment amounts). If you qualify, there is no point delaying OAS: the GIS is not paid while OAS is deferred, and it does not grow when you wait.

Limitations

• Amounts are in today’s dollars before income tax. CPP and OAS are both taxable and indexed to inflation; the estimate adds no inflation and no tax.
• Your CPP at 65 is what you enter: the calculator does not rebuild it from your earnings history, and starting later only applies the 0.7% a month to that amount.
• If you worked only in Quebec, or you live in Quebec, your pension comes from the Québec Pension Plan, which has its own rules (Retraite Québec).
• OAS assumes you live in Canada. With the box ticked, the time you keep living in Canada after 65 is added to your years month by month, and only complete years count. People who live abroad need 20 years, and non-resident tax rules apply to them.
• The post-retirement benefit, survivor and disability pensions, pension sharing and the Allowance are not included. The GIS check tests the income limit only; Service Canada’s OAS Benefits Estimator gives the amount.

Privacy

Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.