Here are broad answers to general questions often asked by members of the main retirement plans administered by CARRA.
The questions are related only to the following plans:
To obtain the new "Statement of contributions", which contains all your participation data, you need to file the "Application for a statement of contributions" (008A) form. To have an estimate of your benefits, you need to file the "Application for a pension estimate" (009A) form. You do not have to resign to apply for a pension estimate.
In addition, during 2011 and 2012, a brand new personalized statement will be issued to pension plan members. The "Annual statement" will show the detail of their participation to a pension plan and will inform them of the benefits to which they will be entitled upon retirement or end of employment.
You must inform your employer of any error on your statement of contributions. He will contact CARRA to have it corrected.
Under RREGOP, CARRA will use the following formula to calculate the amount of your annual basic pension:
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Years of service credited for calculation purposes (maximum 36 as at December 31, 2011) |
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× |
Accrual rate (2%) |
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× |
Average pensionable salary of your 5 best-paid years of service |
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= |
Annual basic pension under RREGOP |
Under the PPMP, CARRA will use the following formula:
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Years of service credited for calculation purposes (maximum 36 as at December 31, 2011) |
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× |
Accrual rate (2%) |
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× |
Average salary of your 3 best-paid years of service |
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= |
Annual basic pension under the PPMP |
Under the TPP and the CSSP, CARRA will use the following formula:
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Years of service credited for calculation purposes (maximum 35) |
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× |
Accrual rate (2%) |
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× |
Average pensionable salary of your 5 best-paid years of service |
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= |
Annual basic pension under the TPP or the CSSP |
Yes. In that case, however, CARRA will consider the annual salary you would have received if you had worked full time.
When you retire, CARRA will use that amount, or only part of it, to calculate your pension provided certain conditions are met, depending on your pension plan.
If you are a member of RREGOP, the TPP or the CSSP, these two conditions must be met:
If you are a member of the PPMP, these two conditions must be met:
No. It will depend on your age and your number of years of service at that time.
If you are a member of RREGOP or the PPMP and need more information, click on the link that corresponds to your pension plan:
If you are a member of the TPP or the CSSP, read the publication (in PDF format) that corresponds to your pension plan:
Yes. Once you begin receiving your pension, it will be indexed on January 1 of each year as follows:
Yes. When you turn 65, your pension plan will take into account the fact that you also receive a pension under the Québec Pension Plan (QPP), which will cause a reduction of the pension you receive from CARRA. This is what is called "integration".
The reduction will be applied to your pension as of the month following your 65th birthday.
Like many pension plans offered by other employers, your pension plan is integrated with the QPP. Because of that integration, the total of the pensions payable to a person by the QPP and his pension plan corresponds to about 70% of the average salary he received prior to retirement, provided he accumulated 35 years of service.
No. The pension you receive from CARRA will be reduced only as of the month following your 65th birthday, even if you began receiving your QPP pension before 65.
A buy-back, also called service purchase or redemption of service, is the means by which CARRA, under certain conditions and at a certain cost, can credit you with periods of service or absence without pay that have not been recognized by your pension plan.
Purchasing service is possible only if, during each of the periods you wish to buy back, you were employed in the Québec public service or the education or health and social services sectors.
Your pension is calculated, among other things, on the basis of the number of years credited to your account at the time of your retirement. Therefore, if you are entitled to buy back certain periods of service or absence without pay, it could be beneficial to have them recognized by your plan. Purchasing service could increase the amount of your pension and, in some cases, allow you to retire earlier.
Note: If you have accumulated almost the maximum number of years of service for pension calculation purpose, it may not be worthwhile to buy back service. For further information in this regard, contact the pension plan administrator at your present place of work, generally in the human resources department.
There are several types of buy-backs depending on the pension plan in which you participate. Here are a few examples:
In order to buy back a period of service or a period of absence without pay, you must have had an employment relationship with your employer during the period you wish to purchase.
When you work part time, your employment relationship exists only for the days included in your work schedule. Therefore, since there is no relationship with your employer during the days not included in your work schedule, you cannot buy back the days during which you do not work.
Example:
Jerry holds a part-time job: he works three days a week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). Since his relationship with his employer exists only for those three days, he cannot buy back the other two days (Thursday and Friday) because they are not included in his work schedule.
Note that if Jerry were absent without pay during the days included in his work schedule (Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday), he would have the right to buy back those days of absence without pay.
First, it is important to know that your application for a buy-back must be received by CARRA while you are still a member of your plan. As a rule, you cannot buy back service after you have left your job, even if you left it to retire.
To purchase service, you must first meet with the person responsible for pension benefits at your present place of work, generally in the human resources department. The person in charge will help you fill out the "Application for buy-back" (727A) form.
Then you must ask every employer concerned by a period you wish to buy back to fill out the "Attestation of a buy-back period" (728A) form to confirm the information you entered in your "Application for buy-back" (727A) form.
Once both forms are completed and signed, you must send them to CARRA. After studying your file and if the period is purchasable, CARRA will send you a proposal that you can either accept or turn down. The proposal will indicate the cost and the payment terms of the buy-back and will be valid for 60 days
When CARRA calculates the amount of your pension, it will automatically add to your years of service the number of days of your absences without pay, up to a maximum of 90. Those days will be taken into account for both eligibility and calculation purposes.
Therefore, there is usually no point in purchasing your first 90 days of absence without pay since CARRA will recognize up to 90 days of absence at no cost for you as follows, depending on the plan in which you currently participate:
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The total number of days of absence automatically added cannot exceed 90 days, regardless of whether they are before or after January 1, 2011. |
It is impossible to answer this question on a general basis. The cost may vary according to the type of buy-back, the period to be purchased and the employee’s age and salary on the date CARRA receives his application.
However, thanks to the "Buy-back Cost Estimator", you can quickly and easily obtain the approximate cost of the buy-back you are planning concerning:
Please note that periods of maternity leave are usually credited at no cost.
You will find more information in the following document (in PDF format):
Under RREGOP and the PPMP, your contributions can be refunded only if you meet all these requirements:
Under the TPP and the CSSP, your contributions can be refunded only if you have less than 10 years of service when you resign.
To obtain a refund of your contributions, you must ask your former employer to fill out the "Application for reimbursement" (080A) form and send it to CARRA.
Under RREGOP and the PPMP, you can ask CARRA to transfer that value to a locked-in retirement account (LIRA) or a life income fund (LIF) if you meet all these requirements:
However, if you quit your job between your 54th and your 55th birthday, you can ask for the transfer within 12 months following the date of your resignation.
Under the TPP and the CSSP, you can ask for the transfer of that value to a LIRA or a LIF if you meet these three requirements:
However, if you quit your job between your 54th and your 55th birthday, you can ask for the transfer within 12 months following the date of your resignation.
The amount CARRA can transfer is the higher of:
If there is a surplus, CARRA will repay it to you with a cheque, and will deduct the income tax required. Then, you can contribute to your RRSP, depending on your RRSP deduction limit, to recover part or the entire total amount deducted. To know the amount of your RRSP deduction limit, you can refer to your latest "Notice of assessment" issued by the Canada Revenue Agency.
To obtain a transfer, you must complete the "Application for a retirement pension" (079A) form and return it to CARRA. Then, CARRA will send you a personalized document entitled "Your options" that will describe your options depending on your situation. That document will be accompanied by a "Reply form" that must be returned to CARRA within 30 days after receipt.
Benefits accrued in a pension plan during marriage or civil union are part of the family patrimony. The value of those benefits can therefore be partitioned in the event of legal separation, divorce, annulment of marriage, payment of a compensatory allowance, dissolution or annulment of civil union.
If there is partition of the value of those benefits, CARRA will transfer to your spouse the sum allocated to him or her. Then, it will determine what is called a "reduction following partition." When you retire, your pension will be reduced accordingly.
No. Only married or civilly united spouses are subject to the rules of the partition of family patrimony.
You will find more information in the following document (in PDF format):
If you are not married or civilly united, your pension plan will recognize for your spouse the person of the opposite sex or the same sex that you presented as your spouse and who, at the time of your death, was not married or civilly united to another person and had been living maritally with you since at least three years.
That period can be only one year (instead of three) if:
At the death of a member or pensioner, pension plans provide for the priority payment of a pension to his surviving spouse. The rights of a surviving spouse are different according to the pension plan of the deceased member or pensioner and according to his status in the plan at the time of his death.
The spouse may however waive his spousal benefits in favour of the heirs of the member or pensioner, or subsequently revoke such waiver by written notice to CARRA. The notice must be received by CARRA no later that the day before the death of the member or pensioner, the date of receipt by CARRA being the date considered for the study of the file. If the notice is incomplete when CARRA receives it, the waiver or the revocation of the waiver will be deemed invalid.
For the waiver or the revocation of a waiver to be valid, the following conditions must be satisfied.
No, the waiver under RREGOP is not valid.
When a member or pensioner participates in more than one plan, a waiver is needed for each plan. Also when a member changes plans, a new notice must be filed with CARRA.
It is important to evaluate what your total income will be when you retire and to compare it with your expenses at that time. But first, it is essential that you be psychologically ready to enter this new stage of your life.
You must fill out the "Application for a retirement pension" (079A) form, with your employer’s assistance.
We suggest that you send it to CARRA at least 90 days before the month in which you plan to retire.
You do not have to resign when you apply for your pension. You can always cancel your application, as long as the first payment has not been cashed or deposited. Entitlement to a pension becomes final and irrevocable only when the first payment has been cashed or deposited.
After CARRA has studied your application, it will send you a document entitled "Your options" accompanied by a "Reply form". That document will present the benefits offered to you depending on your situation. You must inform us of your choice by completing and returning the "Reply form" within 30 days after receipt. If you do not inform us of your decision by the deadline, the default option mentioned in "Your options" will be the one chosen to determine your pension.
Retirement pensions are paid on the 15th of each month, for that month, or if the 15th is not a work day, on the last work day before the 15th. Your pension can be paid by cheque or deposited directly into your bank account.
As a rule, yes. CARRA will deduct federal income tax and Québec income tax as if your pension was your sole income. If the amounts of those deductions are not high enough, you can ask to have them increased.
The rules vary according to the pension plan under which you receive your pension (RREGOP, the PPMP, the TPP or the CSSP).
Going back to work either in the public or the private sector will not affect your pension. You will receive both your full pension and your salary. Note, however, that you will not participate in a pension plan.
If you are under age 69, going back to work in the Québec public service, the education or the health and social services sectors or for any employer covered by RREGOP, on a full-time or a part-time basis or as a casual employee, could cause the suspension or the reduction of your retirement pension.
Therefore, we strongly suggest that you make sure the employer about to hire you or CARRA provides you with all the information you need on the possible consequences of your going back to work, before reaching a decision.
However, going back to work in the private sector will not affect your pension.
Remission of a debt is when CARRA renounces claiming an amount that is due to it, which has the effect of releasing the debtor from reimbursing the amount due. Debt remission can be total or partial.
To be granted a debt remission, you must first apply for it. You will have to provide certain proofs. Simply send your request to:
Service de la perception
Commission administrative des régimes
de retraite et d’assurances
475, rue Saint-Amable
Québec (Québec) G1R 5X3
You will have to demonstrate that your income and those of your dependents, from all sources, are below the low income threshold calculated by CARRA on the basis of the data published by Statistics Canada (www.statcan.gc.ca). If this is your case, you could be granted a total debt remission. However, if your incomes are equal to or higher than the low income threshold, the remission of your debt will be reduced by 20% for every $1 000 of excess income. You will therefore be granted a partial debt remission.
For more information about debt remission, go to the section entitled Cahier des normes et dictionnaire on our Web site.
