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Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 (SOR/87-19)

Regulations are current to 2024-02-20 and last amended on 2017-06-23. Previous Versions

Portability of Pension Benefit Credits (continued)

  •  (1) For the purposes of paragraphs 26(1)(c) and (2)(c) and subparagraphs 26(3)(a)(iii) and (b)(iii) of the Act, an immediate life annuity or a deferred life annuity that is purchased with a pension benefit credit or with the funds of a locked-in registered retirement savings plan, a restricted locked-in savings plan, a life income fund or a restricted life income fund shall provide that

    • (a) except as provided in subsection 25(4) of the Act, no benefit provided under the annuity shall be assigned, charged, anticipated or given as security and any transaction purporting to assign, charge, anticipate or give the benefit as security is void;

    • (b) except in the case of the unexpired period of a guaranteed annuity where the annuitant is deceased, no benefit provided under the annuity shall be surrendered or commuted during the lifetime of the annuitant or the spouse or common-law partner of the annuitant and any transaction purporting to surrender or commute such a benefit is void; and

    • (c) where the annuitant has a spouse or common-law partner at the time that annuity benefits commence to be paid, the annuity benefit shall be paid in the form of a joint and survivor pension benefit, subject to the provisions of section 22 of the Act.

  • (2) A deferred life annuity referred to in subsection (1) that is purchased with a pension benefit credit or with the funds of a locked-in registered retirement savings plan, a restricted locked-in savings plan, a life income fund or a restricted life income fund shall provide that

    • (a) if the annuitant dies prior to the time that the annuity payments commence, the survivor is entitled, on the death of the annuitant, to an amount equal to the commuted value of the deferred life annuity; and

    • (b) any amount to which the survivor is entitled shall be

      • (i) transferred to a locked-in registered retirement savings plan,

      • (ii) transferred to a plan, including any pension plan referred to in subsection 26(5) of the Act, if the plan permits such a transfer and administers the benefit attributed to the transferred funds as if the benefit were that of a plan member with two years of membership in the plan,

      • (iii) used to purchase an immediate life annuity or a deferred life annuity, or

      • (iv) transferred to a life income fund or to a restricted life income fund.

  • (3) [Repealed, SOR/95-551, s. 5]

  • (4) For the purposes of subsection (2), the commuted value of the deferred life annuity shall be determined in accordance with the Recommendations for the Computation of Transfer Values from Registered Pension Plans effective September 1, 1993 issued by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, as amended from time to time.

  • SOR/93-109, ss. 6, 9(F)
  • SOR/94-384, s. 5
  • SOR/95-551, s. 5
  • SOR/2001-194, ss. 4, 5
  • SOR/2002-78, s. 13
  • SOR/2008-144, s. 6
  • SOR/2011-85, s. 14(F)
  • SOR/2017-145, s. 9

Variable Benefit

  •  (1) A member or former member who has elected to receive a variable benefit may decide the amount that they are to receive as a variable benefit for any calendar year.

  • (2) The variable benefit shall be not less than the minimum amount determined under subsection 8506(5) of the Income Tax Regulations and, for any calendar year before the year in which the former member or their survivor, as the case may be, reaches 90 years of age, not more than the amount determined by the formula

    C/F

    where

    C
    is the balance in the former member’s account
    • (a) at the beginning of the calendar year, or

    • (b) if the balance at the beginning of the calendar year is zero, on the day on which the election was made; and

    F
    is the value, at the beginning of the calendar year, of a pension benefit of which the annual payment is $1, payable on January 1 of each year between the beginning of that calendar year and December 31 of the year in which the member, former member or their survivor, as the case may be, reaches 90 years of age, established using an interest rate that is
    • (a) for each of the first 15 years, not more than the monthly average yield on Government of Canada marketable bonds of maturity over 10 years, as published by the Bank of Canada, for the month of November before the beginning of the calendar year, and

    • (b) for any subsequent year, not more than 6%.

  • (3) For the calendar year in which the former member or their survivor, as the case may be, reaches 90 years of age and for all subsequent calendar years, the amount of the variable benefit shall not exceed the value of the funds held in the fund immediately before the time of the payment.

  • (4) The minimum amount determined under subsection 8506(5) of the Income Tax Regulations shall be paid as a variable benefit for a calendar year if

    • (a) the member or former member or their survivor, as the case may be, has not notified the administrator of the amount to be paid as a variable benefit for a calendar year by the beginning of that year, or

    • (b) the amount determined by the formula set out in subsection (2) for that year is less than that minimum amount.

  • (5) If, for the calendar year in which the variable benefit is established, part of the account was composed of funds that had been held in a life income fund of the holder earlier in the calendar year in which the variable benefit was established, the amount determined by the formula set out in subsection (2) and the value of the funds referred to in subsection (3) is deemed to be zero in respect of that part of the account for that calendar year.

  • (6) For the first calendar year that the variable benefit is paid, the amount to be paid shall be multiplied by the number of months remaining in that year and then divided by 12, with any part of an incomplete month counting as one month.

  • SOR/2015-60, s. 12
  • SOR/2017-145, s. 10(E)

Information to Be Provided

 The written explanation, information and written statement to be provided pursuant to paragraphs 28(1)(a) and (b) of the Act shall be addressed to the plan member or the employee and that person’s spouse or common-law partner as shown on the records of the administrator and shall be

  • (a) given to the plan member or the employee at the place of employment; or

  • (b) mailed to the residence of the plan member or employee.

  • SOR/95-171, s. 6(F)
  • SOR/2001-194, s. 5

 For the purpose of subparagraph 28(1)(a)(ii) of the Act, the written explanation shall include, in the case of a negotiated contribution plan, a description of the funding arrangement, including an indication that

  • (a) pension benefits or pension benefit credits may need to be reduced if negotiated contributions are insufficient to meet prescribed solvency standards; and

  • (b) the administrator may amend the plan to reduce, subject to the Superintendent’s authorization, pension benefits or pension benefit credits.

  • SOR/2015-60, s. 13
  •  (1) The written statement to be provided in accordance with paragraph 28(1)(b) of the Act shall include

    • (a) the name of the plan member;

    • (b) the period to which the statement applies;

    • (c) the date of birth of the plan member;

    • (d) the period that has been credited to the plan member for the purpose of calculating the pension benefit of the plan member;

    • (e) the date on which the plan member attains pensionable age;

    • (f) the date on which the plan member is first entitled to an immediate pension benefit pursuant to subsection 16(2) of the Act;

    • (g) the name of the spouse or common-law partner of the plan member listed on the records of the administrator;

    • (h) the name of any person on the records of the administrator designated as the beneficiary of the pension benefit of the member;

    • (i) the additional voluntary contributions of the plan member made for the plan year and the accumulated additional voluntary contributions of the plan member as of the end of the plan year;

    • (j) the required contributions of the plan member made for the plan year and the accumulated required contributions of the plan member as of the end of the plan year;

    • (k) in the case of a plan with a defined contribution provision, the contributions of the employer in respect of the plan member made for the plan year and the accumulated contributions of the employer in respect of the plan member as of the end of the plan year;

    • (l) the amount of any funds transferred to the plan in respect of the plan member and the benefit under the plan attributable to that amount or the length of service credited to the plan member in respect of that amount;

    • (m) in the case of a plan other than a defined contribution plan,

      • (i) the annual amount of the pension benefit accrued in respect of the plan member at the end of the plan year and payable at pensionable age,

      • (ii) the total value of solvency assets and solvency liabilities of the plan on the valuation date, and

      • (iii) the total employer payments made to the plan for the plan year;

    • (n) if applicable, the interest rates credited to the contributions of the plan member for the plan year;

    • (o) the benefit payable on the death of the plan member and the extent to which that benefit would be reduced by a payment under a group life insurance plan;

    • (p) a statement setting out the right to access the documents described in paragraph 28(1)(c) of the Act;

    • (q) in respect of the defined benefit provisions of an uninsured defined benefit plan,

      • (i) if the ratio as calculated in accordance with paragraph (b) of the definition solvency ratio in subsection 2(1) is less than one,

        • (A) the value and description of the ratio, the valuation date and the date of the next valuation,

        • (B) a description of the measures the administrator has implemented or will implement to bring that ratio to one, and

        • (C) the extent to which the member’s benefit would be reduced if the plan were terminated and wound up with that solvency ratio; and

      • (ii) in any other case, the value and description of the ratio, the valuation date and the date of the next valuation;

    • (r) for the assets of a plan that are not held in respect of member choice accounts,

      • (i) a list of the 10 largest asset holdings based on market value, each expressed as a percentage of the total assets, and

      • (ii) the target asset allocation expressed as a percentage of the total assets; and

    • (s) in the case of a negotiated contribution plan, a description of the funding arrangement, including an indication that

      • (i) pension benefits or pension benefit credits may need to be reduced if negotiated contributions are insufficient to meet prescribed solvency standards; and

      • (ii) the administrator may amend the plan to reduce, subject to the Superintendent’s authorization, pension benefits or pension benefit credits.

  • (1.1) The written statement to be given in accordance with paragraph 28(1)(b.1) of the Act shall show

    • (a) the name of the former member;

    • (b) the period to which the statement applies;

    • (c) the name of the spouse or common-law partner of the former member listed on the records of the administrator;

    • (d) the name of any person on the records of the administrator designated as the beneficiary;

    • (e) in the case of a plan other than a defined contribution plan,

      • (i) the total employer payments made to the plan for the plan year, and

      • (ii) the total value of solvency assets and solvency liabilities of the plan on the valuation date;

    • (f) in respect of the defined benefit provisions of an uninsured defined benefit plan,

      • (i) if the ratio as calculated in accordance with paragraph (b) of the definition solvency ratio in subsection 2(1) is less than one,

        • (A) the value and description of the ratio, the valuation date and the date of the next valuation,

        • (B) a description of the measures that the administrator has implemented or will implement to bring that ratio to one, and

        • (C) the extent to which the former member’s benefit would be reduced if the plan were terminated and wound up with that solvency ratio, or

      • (ii) in any other case, the value and description of the ratio, its valuation date and the date of the next valuation;

    • (g) for the assets of a plan that are not held in respect of member choice accounts,

      • (i) a list of the 10 largest asset holdings based on market value, each expressed as a percentage of the total assets, and

      • (ii) the target asset allocation expressed as a percentage of the total assets;

    • (h) in the case of a negotiated contribution plan, a description of the funding arrangement, including an indication that

      • (i) pension benefits or pension benefit credits may need to be reduced if negotiated contributions are insufficient to meet prescribed solvency standards, and

      • (ii) the administrator may amend the plan to reduce, subject to the Superintendent’s authorization, pension benefits or pension benefit credits;

    • (i) for a former member who is receiving a variable benefit,

      • (i) the date of birth used to determine the minimum variable benefit payable for the year,

      • (ii) the date the variable benefit began to be paid,

      • (iii) the minimum and maximum allowable variable benefit payable, as well as the amount that the former member is receiving,

      • (iv) the investment from which the variable benefit was paid,

      • (v) the payment frequency over the year,

      • (vi) an indication of how the former member may change their election regarding the amount to be paid during the year and the investment from which the variable benefit is to be paid, and

      • (vii) a list of the transfer options available under subsection 16.4(1) of the Act; and

    • (j) a statement setting out the right to access the documents described in paragraph 28(1)(c) of the Act.

  • (2) A written statement referred to in paragraph 28(1)(d) of the Act, in the case of a member who has retired from a plan, shall be in the form set out in Form 1 of Schedule IV.

  • (3) The written statement referred to in paragraph 28(1)(d) of the Act, in the case of a plan member who ceases to be a member of the plan for any reason other than the termination of the whole or part of the plan or retirement, shall be given in Form 2 of Schedule IV.

  • (4) The written statement referred to in paragraph 28(1)(e) of the Act shall be given in Form 3 of Schedule IV.

  • (5) [Repealed, SOR/2015-60, s. 14]

  • SOR/2001-194, s. 5
  • SOR/2002-78, s. 14
  • SOR/2015-60, s. 14

 For the purposes of paragraph 28(1)(c) of the Act, each person referred to in that paragraph may examine the written statement of investment policies and procedures in respect of the plan’s portfolio of investments and loans as described in subsection 7.1(1).

  • SOR/2002-78, s. 15

Information to Be Provided — Phased Retirement Benefits

 The administrator of a plan that provides for the payment of a phased retirement benefit shall give, in written form, to the person to whom the benefit is to be paid, and to their spouse or common-law partner, before the person enters into an agreement referred to in paragraph 16.1(3)(a) of the Act

  • (a) if the person is a member before the phased retirement period begins, the statements shown in Forms 1 and 5 of Schedule IV; and

  • (b) if, before that period begins, the person is a former member who has retired, the statement shown in Form 5.1 of Schedule IV.

  • SOR/2009-100, s. 1
 

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