You can use the Service québécois de changement d'adresse to notify the Régie des rentes du Québec of your change of address. Thanks to the Service québécois de changement d'adresse, you can notify many government services of your new address in a single, secure operation.
A single notice to the Régie des rentes du Québec is sufficient to make your change of address for a retirement pension, a surviving spouse’s pension, an orphan’s pension, a death benefit, a disability pension or a pension for a disabled person’s child.
A disability pension is paid by the Régie des rentes du Québec to a worker under 65 if he or she becomes disabled. A temporary incapacity preventing a person from working is not covered by the Act respecting the Québec Pension Plan .
A pension for a disabled person’s child is also paid by the Régie.
Being recognized as disabled by an insurance company does not automatically entitle a person to receive a disability pension from the Régie. The disability must be recognized by the Régie.
Worker over 65 who becomes disabled
A worker who becomes disabled after turning 65 is not entitled to a disability pension, but instead to a retirement pension.
Worker in Canada outside Québec
A worker who leaves Québec to move to another province or a territory of Canada retains the full value of the contributions paid to the Québec Pension Plan.
A worker from another province or a territory who moves to Québec after contributing to the Canada Pension Plan retains the full value of the contributions paid to that Plan.
If a worker becomes disabled, his or her disability benefits will be calculated taking into account the contributions paid to both the Québec Pension Plan and the Canada Pension Plan.
However, contributions cannot be transferred from one plan to another. The worker’s last place of residence in Canada determines which plan will pay benefits.
Worker who has contributed to both plans
A worker who has contributed to both plans and who lives in Québec at the time of filing an application will receive benefits from the Québec Pension Plan.
A worker who has contributed to both plans and who lives in Canada outside Québec at the time of filing an application will receive benefits from the Canada Pension Plan.
Worker who has contributed to only one of the plans
A worker who has contributed to only one of the plans will receive benefits from that plan, regardless of where the worker lives in Canada.
Note
The plan to which a worker contributes (the Canada Pension Plan or the Québec Pension Plan) depends on where the worker works, not where the worker lives. A worker working in Québec contributes to the Québec Pension Plan; a worker working in another province or a territory contributes to the Canada Pension Plan.
Exceptions
A person working as a member of the Canadian Forces or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is subject to the Canada Pension Plan, even if the person’s place of work is in Québec.
Clientele
Any worker under 65 who has sufficiently contributed to the Québec Pension Plan and has been declared disabled by the Régie des rentes du Québec.
Conditions
The Régie considers a disability to be severe where a person is unable, because of the person’s state of health, to do any type of work for which he or she would earn more than $14,225 in 2012. It is not considered serious if the person can do work that, making allowances for the person’s limitations, would enable him or her to earn more than that amount.
Conditions of eligibility
To be eligible, a person must have sufficiently contributed to the Plan, that is, the person must have paid contributions for at least
- two of the last three years in the contributory period;
- five of the last ten years in the contributory period;
- half of the years in the contributory period (for a minimum of two years).
Additional conditions of eligibility based on age
A contributor to the Plan age 18 to 65 must be unable to regularly do any type of paid work that would enable him or her to earn more than the amount fixed for the year ($14,225 for 2012).
A contributor age 60 to 65 must no longer be able to regularly do the paid work at which the worker was employed at the time he or she stopped working due to the disability.
A person who has received a retirement pension from the Québec Pension Plan for less than 18 months may receive a disability pension if the person shows that he or she became disabled no later than six months after the first payment of the retirement pension. The amounts the person received as a retirement pension must then be repaid.
The contributory years under the pension plan of a country with which Québec has entered into a social security agreement may also be taken into account in determining whether a person has sufficiently contributed to be entitled to a disability pension.
Entitlement to a disability pension ceases where a person
- ceases to be disabled;
- performs paid work for more than three months;
- receives a full income replacement indemnity from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail for more than 15 consecutive days for a given month.
The monthly amount of a disability pension comprises a basic amount plus a variable amount determined based on the person’s employment earnings before he or she became disabled.
Basic monthly amount at January 1, 2011: $445.47
Maximum monthly amount at January 1,2011: $1185.47
A disability pension is payable from the fourth month following the month in which a person is declared disabled by the Régie des rentes du Québec (waiting period). Pensions are taxable and are indexed annually.
Pension of a disabled person at age 65
When a person receiving a disability pension turns 65, the pension is reduced by 0.5% for each month for which the person received a disability pension from age 60 to age 65. This measure applies only for persons who became disabled after December 31, 1998.
Conditions of payment
Pensions are paid by direct deposit or by mail (in Québec and in the United States) on the last day of the month or on the first working day preceding the last day of the month if it falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a statutory holiday. In 2012, pensions will be paid on
- January 31;
- February 29;
- March 30;
- April 30;
- May 31;
- June 29;
- July 31;
- August 31;
- September 28;
- October 31;
- November 30;
- December 28.
Partition of contributions paid under the Québec Pension Plan
Partition of contributions paid under the Québec Pension Plan is possible, subject to certain conditions, following
- a divorce;
- a legal separation;
- dissolution or annulment of a civil union;
- annulment of marriage;
- a de facto separation.
Income replacement indemnity of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec
Special rules apply to the payment of a disability pension if a person is receiving an income replacement indemnity from the Société.
Indexation
The amount of the pension received by a beneficiary increases each year based on the Consumer Price Index for Canada.
Tax treatment
All pensions are subject to income tax.
