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.
Anyone who has contributed to the Québec Pension Plan may be eligible to receive a pension from the Régie des rentes du Québec when he or she retires. The amount of the pension depends on several factors, including age at retirement and contributions paid to the Plan.
A person can start receiving a retirement pension from the Régie as early as age 60 if the person has stopped working, is deemed to have stopped working or has reduced his or her work hours under an agreement with the employer and it reduces the person’s salary by at least 20%.
Worker who lives abroad or who has worked outside Canada
Québec has social security agreements with several countries. Under these agreements, a person or the person’s spouse who has worked in another country could be entitled to a retirement pension from that country. Receiving a pension from another country in no way reduces the pension paid under the Québec Pension Plan.
Person working elsewhere in Canada
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.
When a worker retires, his or her retirement pension will be calculated on the basis of the contributions paid to the Québec Pension Plan and to the Canada Pension Plan.
However, contributions cannot be transferred from one plan to the other. The last place of residence in Canada will determine under which plan the person receives a pension.
Worker who has contributed to both plans
If the person lives in Québec on the date of application for a retirement pension, the person will receive benefits under the Québec Pension Plan.
If the person lives outside Québec, but in Canada, on the date of application for a retirement pension, the person will receive benefits under the Canada Pension Plan.
Worker who has contributed to only one of the plans
A person who has contributed to only one of the plans will receive benefits under that plan, regardless of where the person lives in Canada.
Note
The plan to which a worker contributes (Canada Pension Plan or Québec Pension Plan) depends on where the person works, not where the person lives. A person working in Québec contributes to the Québec Pension Plan. A person working in another province or a territory contributes to the Canada Pension Plan.
Restrictions
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
Anyone who has worked in Québec since January 1966, is 60 or over and files an application is entitled to a retirement pension.
Conditions – Persons between 60 and 65 years of age
To be entitled to a pension, persons 60-65 years of age must:
- have contributed to the Québec Pension Plan for at least 1 year;
- have stopped working, be deemed to have stopped working or have reduced their salary by at least 20% under a phased retirement agreement with their employer;
- not be entitled to a full income replacement indemnity from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail;
- not be entitled to an indemnity from the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec and not be deemed disabled by the Régie des rentes du Québec for the same reason.
Note
Persons aged 65 or over can begin receiving a retirement pension even if they have not stopped working.
Calculation of the retirement pension
The amount of the retirement pension is calculated on the basis of the pensionable employment earnings recorded under the contributor’s name since 1966 or since the contributor’s 18 th birthday if it was after December 31, 1966. The amount varies based on the age at which the contributor retires; however, a certain number of months in which pensionable earnings were at their lowest may be excluded from the contributory period, thereby increasing the amount of the pension.
The amount of the pension is calculated at the time retirement is taken and varies thereafter based solely on:
- the annual indexation of pensions;
- the annual pension adjustment based on new contributions paid by pension beneficiaries who start working again.
Maximum monthly retirement pension amounts in 2012 (for new beneficiaries)
60 |
$690.07 |
70% |
61 |
$749.87 |
76% |
62 |
$809.07 |
82% |
63 |
$868.27 |
88% |
64 |
$927.47 |
94% |
65 |
$986.67 |
100% |
66 |
$1,045.87 |
106% |
67 |
$1,105.07 |
112% |
68 |
$1,164.27 |
118% |
69 |
$1,223.47 |
124% |
Actuarial adjustment of the pension amount based on age at retirement
The amount of the pension is adjusted based on the age at retirement, 65 being considered the normal age for taking retirement. The pension amount is adjusted as follows:
- If a person retires between the ages of 60 and 65 (except for contributors born before January 1, 1954)
A pension that starts being paid before age 65 will be reduced by 0.5% for each month included between age 60 and age 65 (6% per year).
As of January 1, 2014, the actuarial adjustment factor will vary between 0.5% and 0.6% and increase progressively between 2014 and 2016.
The actuarial adjustment factor will increase proportionally to the amount of the pension, remaining at 0.5% for a person who receives a very low pension, but gradually increasing to 0.6% for a person who receives a maximum pension.
- If a person retires at age 65
The pension paid is based on the standard calculation with no adjustment for age.
- If a person retires after age 65
A pension that starts being paid after age 65 will be increased by 0.5% for each month included between the age of 65 and the month in which the payment of the pension begins, up until age 70. This rate will increase to 0.7% a month as of January 1, 2013.
Date on which payment of the pension begins
Payment of the pension begins on the last working day of the month in which a person acquires entitlement to a pension and applies for it:
- Before age 65
- A person who stops working before age 60 is entitled to start receiving a pension in the month following the month of the person’s 60 th birthday, provided that a pension application was filed before the end of the month of the 60 th birthday.
- A person who stops working between the ages of 60 and 65 can start receiving a pension in the month following the month in which the person stopped working, provided that a pension application was filed.
- At age 65 or over
A person who is eligible for a pension but continues to work after age 65 is still entitled to start receiving the pension (but without retroactive payments) in the month following the month of the person’s 65th birthday, provided that a pension application was filed.
Retroactive retirement pension
A person aged 65 or over can receive a retroactive retirement pension. If the person stops working before age 70 and has not yet filed a pension application, he or she can receive retroactive pension payments for the period from the date of the 65 th birthday to the date the person stopped working, up to a maximum of 60 months.
A person 70 or over does not have to have stopped working in order to receive a retroactive retirement pension.
Retirement pension and other income
Benefits payable under the Québec Pension Plan are never reduced because the beneficiary is receiving payments under another public or private plan.
However, the amount of the retirement pension is taken into account in calculating the amount of social assistance and social solidarity benefits, Employment Insurance benefits and the Income Security Supplement.
Individuals should contact the government departments and agencies concerned for information.
Person who received a disability pension under the Québec Pension Plan between the ages of 60 and 65
On the person’s 65 th birthday, the disability pension will automatically be replaced by a retirement pension.
Tax treatment and indexation
Pensions are subject to income tax and are indexed annually.
Conditions of payment
The pension is paid monthly either by cheque or by direct deposit. (It can also be paid every six months if the beneficiary so requests.)
Partition of employment earnings recorded under the Québec Pension Plan in the case of a divorce or separation
Upon the breakdown of a marriage, civil union or de facto union, the employment earnings recorded under the Québec Pension Plan are added together for each year of cohabitation and are then divided equally between the two former spouses.
Pension payment dates in 2012
Pensions are paid either by direct deposit or by mail (in Québec and 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. Payment dates in 2012 are as follows:
- January 31;
- February 29;
- March 30;
- April 30;
- May 31;
- June 29;
- July 31;
- August 31;
- September 28;
- October 31;
- November 30;
- December 28.
