Old Age Security Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. O-9)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Old Age Security Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

2 In this Act,

allowance

allowance means the allowance authorized to be paid under Part III; (allocation)

applicant

applicant means a person who has applied, or is deemed to have applied, for a benefit, or with respect to whom an application for a benefit has been waived; (demandeur)

application

application means an application for a benefit; (Version anglaise seulement)

beneficiary

beneficiary means a person to whom payment of a benefit has been approved; (prestataire)

benefit

benefit means a pension, supplement or allowance; (prestation)

cheque

cheque means any instrument issued in payment of a benefit; (chèque)

common-law partner

common-law partner, in relation to an individual, means a person who is cohabiting with the individual in a conjugal relationship at the relevant time, having so cohabited with the individual for a continuous period of at least one year. For greater certainty, in the case of an individual’s death, the “relevant time” means the time of the individual’s death; (conjoint de fait)

Consumer Price Index

Consumer Price Index, with respect to any adjustment quarter, means the average for that adjustment quarter of the Consumer Price Index for Canada, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act, for each month in that adjustment quarter; (indice des prix à la consommation)

first adjustment quarter

first adjustment quarter, in relation to a payment quarter, means,

• (a) if the payment quarter commences on the first day of April in a payment period, the period of three months commencing on the first day of November immediately before that first day of April,

• (b) if the payment quarter commences on the first day of July in a payment period, the period of three months commencing on the first day of February immediately before that first day of July,

• (c) if the payment quarter commences on the first day of October in a payment period, the period of three months commencing on the first day of May immediately before that first day of October, and

• (d) if the payment quarter commences on the first day of January in a payment period, the period of three months commencing on the first day of August immediately before that first day of January; (premier trimestre de rajustement)

income

income of a person for a calendar year means the person’s income for the year, computed in accordance with the Income Tax Act, except that

• (a) there shall be deducted from the person’s income from office or employment for the year

  • (i) a single amount in respect of all offices and employments of that person equal to

    • (A) for the purpose of determining benefits payable in respect of any month before July 2008, the lesser of $500 and one fifth of the person’s income from office or employment for the year, or

    • (B) for the purpose of determining benefits payable in respect of any month after June 2008 but before July 2020, the lesser of $3,500 and the person’s income from office or employment for the year,

  • (ii) the amount of employee’s premiums paid by the person during the year under the Employment Insurance Act, and

  • (iii) the amount of employee’s contributions made by the person during the year under the Canada Pension Plan or a provincial pension plan as defined in section 3 of that Act,

• (b) there shall be deducted from the person’s self-employment earnings for the year

  • (i) the amount of contributions made in respect of those self-employed earnings by the person during the year under the Canada Pension Plan or a provincial pension plan as defined in section 3 of that Act, and

  • (ii) the amount of premium paid by the person during the year under Part VII.1 of the Employment Insurance Act,

• (b.1) for the purpose of determining benefits payable in respect of any month after June 2020, there shall be deducted from a person’s combined amount — which is equal to the aggregate of the person’s income from office or employment for the year, as reduced in accordance with paragraph (a), and the person’s self-employment earnings for the year, as reduced in accordance with paragraph (b), if those reduced self-employment earnings are greater than zero — an amount that is equal to the aggregate of

  • (i) the lesser of $5,000 and the combined amount, and

  • (ii) if the combined amount is greater than $5,000, the lesser of $5,000 and half of the amount by which the combined amount exceeds $5,000,

• (c) there shall be deducted from the person’s income for the year, to the extent that those amounts have been included in computing that income,

  • (i) the amount of any benefit under this Act and any similar payment under a law of a provincial legislature,

  • (i.1) the amount of the payment under the program referred to in section 275 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1,

  • (ii) the amount of any death benefit under the Canada Pension Plan or a provincial pension plan as defined in section 3 of that Act, and

  • (iii) the amount of any social assistance payment made on the basis of a means, a needs or an income test by a registered charity as defined in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act or under a program provided for by an Act of Parliament or a provincial legislature that is neither a program prescribed under the Income Tax Act nor a program under which the amounts referred to in subparagraph (i) are paid,

• (c.1) for the purpose of determining benefits payable in respect of any month after June 2022, there shall be deducted from the person’s income for the year the amount of any payment under

  • (i) the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act,

  • (ii) Part VIII.4 of the Employment Insurance Act,

  • (iii) the Canada Recovery Benefits Act, and

  • (iv) the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit Act,

• (d) there shall be deducted from the person’s income for the year three times the amount, if any, by which

  • (i) the total of any amounts that may be deducted under section 121 of the Income Tax Act in computing the person’s tax payable for the year

  exceeds

  • (ii) the person’s “tax for the year otherwise payable under this Part” (within the meaning assigned by subsection 126(7) of the Income Tax Act for the purposes of paragraph 126(1)(b) of that Act) for the year, and

• (e) there shall be deducted from the person’s income for the year any amount included under paragraph 56(1)(q.1) or subsection 56(6) of the Income Tax Act and there shall be included in the person’s income for the year any amount that may be deducted under paragraph 60(y) or (z) of that Act; (revenu)

Minister

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

payment period

payment period, in relation to a month, means

• (a) the fiscal year that includes the month, where the month is before April, 1998,

• (b) the period that begins on April 1, 1998 and ends on June 30, 1999, where that period includes the month, and

• (c) the period after June 30, 1999 that begins on July 1 of one year and ends on June 30 of the next year, where that period includes the month; (période de paiement)

payment quarter

payment quarter means a period of three months commencing on the first day of April, July, October or January in a payment period; (trimestre de paiement)

pension

pension means a monthly pension authorized to be paid under Part I; (pension)

pensioner

pensioner means a person whose application for a pension has been approved; (pensionné)

prescribed

prescribed means prescribed by the regulations; (Version anglaise seulement)

release

release, in relation to a person who has been incarcerated, means release from custody on earned remission, at the expiry of a sentence, or on parole or statutory release that has not been terminated or revoked. (libération)

Review Tribunal

Review Tribunal[Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 235]

second adjustment quarter

second adjustment quarter, in relation to a payment quarter, means,

• (a) if the payment quarter commences on the first day of April in a payment period, the period of three months commencing on the first day of August immediately before that first day of April,

• (b) if the payment quarter commences on the first day of July in a payment period, the period of three months commencing on the first day of November immediately before that first day of July,

• (c) if the payment quarter commences on the first day of October in a payment period, the period of three months commencing on the first day of February immediately before that first day of October, and

• (d) if the payment quarter commences on the first day of January in a payment period, the period of three months commencing on the first day of May immediately before that first day of January; (second trimestre de rajustement)

special qualifying factor

special qualifying factor of a person for a month before April 1996 means one and for a month after March 1996 means

• (a) one, where the person is not a specially qualified individual, and

• (b) where the person is a specially qualified individual, the fraction of which

  • (i) the numerator is the aggregate period (expressed in the number of years and, where the number of years is not a whole number, rounded down to the next lower whole number) as of the last day of the immediately preceding month, during which the individual has resided in Canada after attaining eighteen years of age, and

  • (ii) the denominator is 10; (facteur d’admissibilité)

specially qualified individual

specially qualified individual means a person who has not resided in Canada after attaining eighteen years of age for an aggregate period of ten or more years other than such a person to whom a pension or allowance was payable

• (a) for the month of March 1996 or an earlier month, or

• (b) for the month of January 2001 or an earlier month, where, before March 7, 1996, the person was residing in Canada as a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act; (particulier déterminé)

spouse

spouse[Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 192]

spouse’s allowance

spouse’s allowance[Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 192]

supplement

supplement means a monthly guaranteed income supplement authorized to be paid under Part II; (supplément)

survivor

survivor means a person whose spouse or common-law partner has died and who has not thereafter become the spouse or common-law partner of another person. (survivant)

widow

widow[Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 192]