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

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

PART IIIAdministration

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

 The following definitions apply in this Part.

additional Canada Pension Plan

additional Canada Pension Plan means the part of the Canada Pension Plan relating to the portions of benefits that are referred to in paragraphs 46(1)(b) and (c), subparagraphs 56(1)(b)(ii) and (iii), clauses 58(1)(a)(ii)(B) and (C) and (a.1)(ii)(B) and (C), subparagraphs 58(1)(b)(ii) and (iii) and subsections 59.1(3) and (5) and all contributions in respect of those portions of benefits. (régime de pensions supplémentaire du Canada)

base Canada Pension Plan

base Canada Pension Plan means the part of the Canada Pension Plan relating to benefits and contributions under this Act, other than the portions of those benefits and contributions that are included in the additional Canada Pension Plan. (régime de pensions de base du Canada)

Investment Board

Investment Board means the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board established by section 3 of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act. (Office)

Minister

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

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 91
  • 1996, c. 11, s. 95
  • 2003, c. 5, s. 1
  • 2005, c. 35, s. 67
  • 2012, c. 19, s. 694
  • 2013, c. 40, s. 238
  • 2016, c. 14, s. 40
  • 2018, c. 12, s. 400

General

Marginal note:Administration of Act

  •  (1) The Minister has the control and direction of the administration of this Act other than Part I.

  • Marginal note:Duties of Minister of National Revenue

    (2) The Minister of National Revenue has the control and direction of the administration of Part I and shall from time to time each year report to the Minister

    • (a) such information obtained under this Act with respect to the earnings and contributions of any contributor as is required by the Minister to permit the calculation of the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings to be shown to the account of the contributor in the Record of Earnings established under section 95, and to identify in the Record of Earnings the unadjusted pensionable earnings of contributors, according to information contained in returns made pursuant to Part I;

    • (b) such information obtained with respect to the earnings of any person as is required by the Minister to permit the determination of the amount of any benefit that may be payable under this Act to or in respect of that person or of the amount of any benefit that may be payable to or in respect of that person by reason of which any financial adjustment may be required to be made pursuant to any agreement entered into under subsection 80(1); and

    • (c) such statistical and other general information as is necessary for the administration of this Act including the conduct of actuarial and other studies relating to the operation of this Act.

  • Marginal note:Information provided by Minister of National Revenue

    (3) Despite any other Act or law, the Minister of National Revenue or any person that he or she designates may make available to the Minister a report providing information that is necessary for the purpose of policy analysis, research or evaluation related to the administration of this Act.

Marginal note:Duty of Minister of Public Works and Government Services

 The Minister of Public Works and Government Services shall furnish the Minister with such assistance in the administration of this Act as the Governor in Council may direct.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 93
  • 1996, c. 16, s. 60

Marginal note:Duty of Canada Employment Insurance Commission

 The Canada Employment Insurance Commission shall furnish the Minister and the Minister of National Revenue with such assistance in the administration of this Act as the Governor in Council may direct.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 94
  • 1996, c. 11, s. 99

Records and Information

Marginal note:Record of Earnings

 The Minister shall cause to be established such records, to be known as the Record of Earnings, of information obtained under this Act with respect to the earnings and contributions of contributors, including information obtained pursuant to any agreement entered into under section 105 with respect to those earnings and contributions, as are necessary to permit

  • (a) the determination of the amount of any benefit that may be payable under this Act to or in respect of any contributor;

  • (b) the calculation of the amount of any financial adjustment that may be required to be made pursuant to any agreement entered into under subsection 80(1); and

  • (c) the identification of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of contributors, according to information contained in returns made pursuant to Part I.

  • R.S., c. C-5, s. 97
  • 1980-81-82-83, c. 47, s. 4

Marginal note:Application for statement of earnings and request for reconsideration

  •  (1) Subject to the provisions of any agreement entered into under section 105, every contributor may require the Minister, by application made in the prescribed manner, to furnish or make available to the contributor a statement of the unadjusted pensionable earnings shown to the contributor’s account in the Record of Earnings, and if a contributor is not satisfied with the statement, they may request that it be reconsidered by the Minister.

  • Marginal note:Application of sections 81 and 82

    (2) Sections 81 and 82 apply with any modifications that the circumstances require to any request made under subsection (1) as though it were an application for a benefit.

  • (3) [Repealed, 1995, c. 33, s. 40]

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 96
  • 1995, c. 33, s. 40
  • 2007, c. 11, s. 9
  • 2012, c. 19, s. 231

Marginal note:Entry in record of earnings presumed to be accurate

  •  (1) Notwithstanding section 96, except as provided in this section, any entry in the Record of Earnings relating to the earnings or a contribution of a contributor shall be conclusively presumed to be accurate and may not be called into question after four years have elapsed from the end of the year in which the entry was made.

  • Marginal note:Rectification of Record in certain cases

    (2) If

    • (a) from information furnished by or obtained from the records of an employer or a former employer, or an employee or a former employee of an employer, or a person required to make a contribution in respect of this self-employed earnings, after the time specified in subsection (1), or

    • (b) for any other reason,

    it appears to the Minister that the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings shown in the Record of Earnings to the account of an employee or former employee of that employer or to the account of that person is less than the amount that should be so shown in that Record, the Minister may cause the Record of Earnings to be rectified in order to show the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of the contributor that should be so shown therein.

  • Marginal note:Removal of entry

    (2.1) If, from information furnished pursuant to an agreement referred to in paragraph 105(1)(a), it appears to the Minister that an amount that is shown in the Record of Earnings to the account of a person as being a contribution under this Act relates instead to a contribution under the provincial pension plan of that province, the Minister may, at any time after that information is furnished, authorize the removal of that entry from the Record of Earnings.

  • Marginal note:Idem

    (3) Where the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor shown to his account in the Record of Earnings is increased pursuant to subsection (2) and it appears to the Minister that the earnings and contributions with respect to which that amount is so increased have been incorrectly shown in the Record to the account of another contributor, the Minister may cause the Record of Earnings to be rectified by reducing the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings shown in the Record to the account of that other contributor by such part of that amount as has been incorrectly so shown therein.

  • Marginal note:Notice of rectification to be given

    (4) Whenever any reduction is made in the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor shown to their account in the Record of Earnings, whether under subsection (3) or otherwise, and it appears from the Record of Earnings that before the making of the reduction the contributor had been informed under section 96 of the amount of the earnings shown to their account in the Record of Earnings, the Minister must notify the contributor in prescribed manner of his or her action and if the contributor is not satisfied with the amount of the reduction so made, they may request that such action be reconsidered by the Minister and sections 81 and 82 apply with any modifications that the circumstances require to that request as though it were an application for a benefit.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 97
  • R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 50
  • 1995, c. 33, s. 41
  • 2012, c. 19, s. 232

Marginal note:Application for assignment of Social Insurance Number

  •  (1) Every individual who applies for a division under section 55 or 55.1 shall, within thirty days of the date of application for such division, if he has not earlier been assigned a Social Insurance Number, file an application with the Minister, in such form and manner as may be prescribed, for the assignment to him of a Social Insurance Number.

  • Marginal note:Idem

    (2) Every individual who reaches eighteen years of age and is or becomes employed in pensionable employment on or after reaching that age shall, within thirty days after he reaches eighteen years of age or becomes employed in pensionable employment, as the case may be, if he has not earlier been assigned a Social Insurance Number, file an application with the Minister, in such form and manner as may be prescribed, for the assignment to him of a Social Insurance Number.

  • Marginal note:Application — individual with self-employed earnings

    (3) Every individual who is required by section 30 to file a return of their self-employed earnings for a year, other than an individual to whom subsection (1) or (2) applies, shall on or before the first day on or before which they are required by section 33 to pay any amount as or on account of the contributions required to be made by them for that year in respect of those earnings, if they have not earlier been assigned a Social Insurance Number, apply to the Minister, in the form and manner that may be prescribed, for the assignment to them of a Social Insurance Number.

  • Marginal note:Assignment of Number

    (4) The Minister shall, on application by an individual to whom a Social Insurance Number has not earlier been assigned, cause a Social Insurance Number to be assigned to the individual and a Social Insurance Number Card may be issued to the individual.

  • Marginal note:Employer to maintain record of Social Insurance Number

    (5) Every employer who employs an employee in pensionable employment shall, in the case of an employee to whom subsection (2) applies, within 30 days after the day on which the employee reaches 18 years of age or becomes employed in pensionable employment, whichever is the later, require the employee to inform the employer of their Social Insurance Number, and the employer shall maintain a record of the Social Insurance Number of each employee.

  • Marginal note:Employee to provide Social Insurance Number

    (6) Every employee who is required under subsection (5) to inform the employer of their Social Insurance Number shall do so within 30 days after the day on which they are required to do so by the employer.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 98
  • R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 51
  • 2012, c. 19, s. 305
  • 2016, c. 14, s. 41

Marginal note:Application to be signed by applicant

  •  (1) An application for a Social Insurance Number shall be signed by the applicant in his own hand but where the applicant is unable to sign his own name, he may attest the application by making his mark in the presence of two witnesses whose names and signatures shall be shown thereon.

  • Marginal note:Change of name

    (2) When the name of an individual to whom a Social Insurance Number has been assigned changes, by reason of marriage or otherwise, the individual shall inform the Minister of their new name, unless they have already so informed another authority empowered to receive that information,

    • (a) if the individual is employed in pensionable employment, within 60 days after the day on which the change of name becomes effective; or

    • (b) if the individual is not employed in pensionable employment but later becomes so employed, or is required to make a contribution under this Act in respect of their self-employed earnings, within 60 days after the day on which the individual becomes so employed or after the first day on or before which they are required under section 33 to pay any amount as or on account of the contributions required to be made by them in respect of those earnings, as the case may be.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 99
  • 2012, c. 19, s. 306
  • 2016, c. 14, s. 42

Marginal note:Agreement respecting assignment of Social Insurance Numbers

  •  (1) The Minister may, on behalf of the Government of Canada, enter into an agreement with the government of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan under which the Minister may cause Social Insurance Numbers to be assigned to persons to whom Social Insurance Numbers have not earlier been assigned, on the basis of applications made by those persons to the appropriate authority in that province.

  • Marginal note:Numbers deemed to have been assigned under Act

    (2) Any Social Insurance Numbers caused to be assigned by the Minister under any agreement entered into under subsection (1) shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act to have been assigned under this Act.

  • R.S., c. C-5, s. 103

Marginal note:Regulations

  •  (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

    • (a) requiring employers to distribute to their employees applications and other material relating to applications for Social Insurance Numbers;

    • (b) prescribing districts for purposes of assigning Social Insurance Numbers, in which persons who reside therein may file their applications for Social Insurance Numbers and, having regard to the public convenience, the place or places within each district at which those persons may apply;

    • (c) prescribing the conditions on which and manner in which Social Insurance Number Cards that have been lost or destroyed may be replaced;

    • (d) authorizing the Minister and the Minister of National Revenue to cause a Social Insurance Number to be assigned and a Social Insurance Number Card to be issued to any individual who has not earlier been assigned a Social Insurance Number;

    • (d.1) prescribing or defining anything that, by this Part, is to be prescribed or defined;

    • (d.2) and (d.3) [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 233]

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

  • (2) [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 233]

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 101
  • R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 52
  • 1995, c. 33, s. 42
  • 2007, c. 11, s. 10
  • 2012, c. 19, s. 233

Marginal note:Offence and punishment

  •  (1) Every person who, in his application for a Social Insurance Number, knowingly furnishes any false or misleading information is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • Marginal note:Idem

    (2) Every person who has been assigned a Social Insurance Number and who knowingly makes application again to be assigned a Social Insurance Number, whether giving the same or different information in that application as in his previous application, and whether or not he is assigned a Social Insurance Number again, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • Marginal note:Idem

    (3) Every employer who fails to comply with subsection 98(5) or any regulation made under paragraph 101(1)(a) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.

  • R.S., c. C-5, s. 105
 

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