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Canada Pension Plan (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-8)

Full Document:  

Act current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2023-06-22. Previous Versions

PART IContributions (continued)

DIVISION EGeneral (continued)

Refunds of Overpayments (continued)

Marginal note:Refund of overpayment in accordance with agreement

  •  (1) Despite anything in this Act, if an overpayment has been made by an employee on account of the employee’s contributions for a year under this Act, the Minister may, in accordance with any agreement that may be entered into by the Minister with the approval of the Governor in Council with the appropriate authority of a province having the administration of the provincial pension plan referred to in subsection 8(2), if application in writing is made to the Minister by the employee not later than four years after the end of the year, refund to the employee the whole amount of the excess referred to in that subsection, in which case the whole of that amount is deemed to be an overpayment made by the employee on account of the employee’s contributions for that year under this Act.

  • Marginal note:Saving

    (2) If, in accordance with any agreement entered into under subsection (1), the appropriate authority of a province has refunded to an employee the whole amount of the excess referred to in subsection 8(2) with respect to that employee, the whole of that amount is deemed to be an overpayment made by the employee on account of the employee’s contributions for that year under the provincial pension plan referred to in that subsection.

  • Marginal note:Provision for making of financial adjustments

    (3) Any agreement entered into under subsection (1) may provide for the making of any financial adjustments required to be made by reason of any payments made to employees in accordance with that agreement and for the crediting or charging of the amount of those adjustments to the Canada Pension Plan Account or the Additional Canada Pension Plan Account, as the case may be.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 39
  • 2016, c. 14, s. 19

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

  •  (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

    • (a) prescribing or providing anything that, by this Part, is to be prescribed or is to be provided by regulations;

    • (b) requiring any class of persons to file information returns respecting any class of information required in connection with contributions under this Act, including information respecting contributions of employees of any such persons identified by the province in which the employees were employed;

    • (c) requiring a person who is, by a regulation made under paragraph (b), required to file an information return to supply a copy of the return or a prescribed portion thereof to the person or persons in respect of whose contributions the return or portion thereof relates;

    • (d) prescribing a penalty not exceeding ten dollars a day for each day of default and not exceeding in all two hundred and fifty dollars to which a person who fails to comply with a regulation made under paragraph (b) or (c) shall be liable;

    • (e) defining the expressions agriculture, agricultural enterprise, employment of a casual nature, forestry, horticulture, fishing, hunting, international organization, logging, lumbering, trapping or working days for the purposes of this Act;

    • (f) respecting the manner in which any provision of this Act that applies or extends to an employer of an employee shall apply or extend to any person by whom the remuneration of an employee in respect of pensionable employment is paid either wholly or in part, and to the employer of any such employee;

    • (f.1) providing for the right of a person to whom a provision of this Act applies or extends by virtue of a regulation made under paragraph (f) to recover from the employer any amounts that the person becomes liable to pay by virtue of that regulation;

    • (g) specifying the circumstances in which and the conditions on which a person shall be deemed to be or have been, or not to be or have been, a member of the Canadian Forces or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the purposes of paragraph 6(2)(g);

    • (h) authorizing the Minister on behalf of the Government of Canada to enter into any agreement for giving effect to the provisions of paragraph 6(2)(h) or paragraph 7(1)(e) or (f);

    • (i) regulating the procedure to be followed in the determination by the Minister of questions under this Part;

    • (j) respecting the terms and conditions governing the making of refunds in accordance with any agreement under subsection 39(1) that may be entered into by the Minister on behalf of the Government of Canada; and

    • (k) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Part.

  • (2) [Repealed, 1998, c. 19, s. 256]

  • Marginal note:Effective date of regulations

    (3) A regulation made under paragraph (1)(a) prescribing rules referred to in subsection 21(1) shall have effect from the day it is published in the Canada Gazette or from such earlier or later day as may be specified in the regulation.

  • Marginal note:Effective date of certain agreements

    (4) Any agreement for giving effect to the provisions of paragraph 6(2)(h) or 7(1)(f) that is entered into by the Minister pursuant to regulations made under paragraph (1)(h) has effect with reference to a period before it was entered into if the agreement provides for that effect.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 40
  • 1991, c. 49, s. 215
  • 1998, c. 19, s. 256
  • 2004, c. 22, s. 19
  • 2018, c. 12, s. 371

Offences

Marginal note:Offence and punishment

  •  (1) Every employer who fails to comply with subsection 21(1) or 23(3) is guilty of an offence and, in addition to any penalty otherwise provided, is liable on summary conviction to

    • (a) a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars; or

    • (b) both the fine described in paragraph (a) and imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

  • Marginal note:Idem

    (2) Every person who fails to comply with or contravenes section 24 or 25 is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • Marginal note:Idem

    (3) Every person who fails to comply with or contravenes section 30 or a regulation made under paragraph 40(1)(b) or (c) is guilty of an offence and, in addition to any penalty otherwise provided, is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars a day for each day of default, but not exceeding in all one thousand dollars.

  • Marginal note:Idem

    (4) Every person who

    • (a) makes, or participates in, assents to or acquiesces in the making of, false or deceptive statements in a return, certificate, statement or answer filed or made as required by or under this Part or a regulation,

    • (b) to evade payment of a contribution imposed by this Act, destroys, alters, mutilates, secretes or otherwise disposes of the records or books of account of an employer,

    • (c) makes, or assents to or acquiesces in the making of, false or deceptive entries, or omits, or assents to or acquiesces in the omission, to enter a material particular, in records or books of account of an employer,

    • (d) wilfully, in any manner, evades or attempts to evade, compliance with this Act or payment of contributions imposed by this Act, or

    • (e) conspires with any person to commit an offence described in any of paragraphs (a) to (d),

    is guilty of an offence and, in addition to any penalty otherwise provided, is liable on summary conviction to

    • (f) a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars and not more than five thousand dollars plus, in an appropriate case, an amount not exceeding double the amount of the contribution that should have been shown to be payable or that was sought to be evaded, or

    • (g) both the fine described in paragraph (f) and imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

  • Marginal note:Saving provision

    (5) Where a person has been convicted under this section of failing to comply with subsection 21(1) or a regulation made under paragraph 40(1)(b) or (c), he is not liable to pay any penalty imposed under section 21 or under any regulation made under section 40 for the same failure unless he was assessed for that penalty or that penalty was demanded from him before the information or complaint giving rise to the conviction was laid or made.

  • Marginal note:Information or complaint

    (6) An information or complaint under this section may be laid or made by any officer of the Canada Revenue Agency, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or any person thereunto authorized by the Minister and, where an information or complaint purports to have been laid or made under this section, it shall be deemed to have been laid or made by a person thereunto authorized by the Minister and shall not be called in question for lack of authority of the informant or complainant except by the Minister or a person acting for him or Her Majesty.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 41
  • 1999, c. 17, s. 111
  • 2005, c. 38, s. 138

PART IIPensions and Supplementary Benefits

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

  •  (1) In this Part,

    basic number of contributory months

    basic number of contributory months, in the case of any contributor, means one hundred and twenty minus the number of months that were excluded from the contributor’s contributory period under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability; (nombre de base des mois cotisables)

    child

    child of a contributor means a child of the contributor, whether born before or after the contributor’s death, and includes

    • (a) an individual adopted legally or in fact by the contributor while the individual was under twenty-one years of age, and

    • (b) an individual of whom, either legally or in fact, the contributor had, or immediately before the individual reached twenty-one years of age did have, the custody and control,

    but does not include a child of the contributor who is adopted legally or in fact by someone other than the contributor or the contributor’s spouse or common-law partner prior to the death or disability of the contributor, unless the contributor was maintaining the child, as defined by regulation; (enfant)

    dependent child

    dependent child of a contributor means a child of the contributor who

    • (a) is less than eighteen years of age,

    • (b) is eighteen or more years of age but less than twenty-five years of age and is in full-time attendance at a school or university as defined by regulation, or

    • (c) is a child other than a child described in paragraph (b), is eighteen or more years of age and is disabled, having been disabled without interruption since the time he reached eighteen years of age or the contributor died, whichever occurred later; (enfant à charge)

    disabled contributor’s child

    disabled contributor’s child or any form of that expression of like import means a dependent child of a contributor who is disabled, but does not include a dependent child described in paragraph (c) of the definition dependent child in this section; (enfant d’un cotisant invalide)

    family allowance recipient

    family allowance recipient means a person who received or is in receipt of an allowance or a family allowance pursuant to the Family Allowances Act, chapter F-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, as it read immediately before being repealed or the Family Allowances Act for that period prior to a child reaching seven years of age, and such other persons as may be prescribed by regulation; (bénéficiaire d’une allocation familiale)

    Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average

    Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average, in respect of a contributor for a year, means the average of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for that year and

    • (a) where the year is before 1998 or the date of birth of the contributor is before January 1, 1933, the two previous years, or

    • (b) in any other case,

      • (i) where the year is 1998, the three previous years, and

      • (ii) where the year is after 1998, the four previous years; (maximum moyen des gains ouvrant droit à pension)

    Minister

    Minister means the Minister of Employment and Social Development; (ministre)

    orphan

    orphan of a contributor means a dependent child of a contributor who has died but does not include a dependent child described in paragraph (c) of the definition dependent child; (orphelin)

    substantially gainful

    substantially gainful, in respect of an occupation, has the meaning that may be prescribed; (véritablement rémunératrice)

    surviving spouse with dependent children

    surviving spouse with dependent children[Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 44]

    survivor

    survivor, in relation to a deceased contributor, means

    • (a) if there is no person described in paragraph (b), a person who was married to the contributor at the time of the contributor’s death, or

    • (b) a person who was the common-law partner of the contributor at the time of the contributor’s death; (survivant)

    survivor with dependent children

    survivor with dependent children means a survivor of a contributor who wholly or substantially maintains one or more dependent children of the contributor; (survivant avec enfant à charge)

    wholly or substantially

    wholly or substantially has such meaning as may be prescribed. (entièrement ou dans une large mesure)

  • Marginal note:When person deemed disabled

    (2) For the purposes of this Act,

    • (a) a person shall be considered to be disabled only if he is determined in prescribed manner to have a severe and prolonged mental or physical disability, and for the purposes of this paragraph,

      • (i) a disability is severe only if by reason thereof the person in respect of whom the determination is made is incapable regularly of pursuing any substantially gainful occupation, and

      • (ii) a disability is prolonged only if it is determined in prescribed manner that the disability is likely to be long continued and of indefinite duration or is likely to result in death; and

    • (b) a person is deemed to have become or to have ceased to be disabled at the time that is determined in the prescribed manner to be the time when the person became or ceased to be, as the case may be, disabled, but in no case shall a person — including a contributor referred to in subparagraph 44(1)(b)(ii) — be deemed to have become disabled earlier than fifteen months before the time of the making of any application in respect of which the determination is made.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 42
  • R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 12
  • 1992, c. 1, s. 23
  • 1996, c. 11, s. 95
  • 1997, c. 40, s. 68
  • 2000, c. 12, s. 44
  • 2005, c. 35, s. 67
  • 2009, c. 31, s. 31
  • 2012, c. 19, s. 694, c. 31, s. 194
  • 2013, c. 40, s. 238

Pension Index

Marginal note:Pension Index for subsequent years

  •  (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Pension Index for each year shall be calculated, in prescribed manner, as the average for the twelve month period ending October 31 in the preceding year of the Consumer Price Index for each month in that twelve month period.

  • Marginal note:Exception

    (2) For any year for which the calculation required by subsection (1) yields a Pension Index that is less than the Pension Index for the preceding year, the Pension Index shall be taken to be the Pension Index for the preceding year.

  • Marginal note:Where basis of Consumer Price Index is changed

    (3) Where at any time the Consumer Price Index is adjusted to reflect a new time basis or a new content basis with a resulting percentage adjustment being made in the figures for that Index, a corresponding percentage adjustment shall, at the time of the next calculation of the Pension Index, be made in all values then existing of the Pension Index.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 43
  • 1991, c. 44, s. 3
 

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