Line 11500 – Other pensions and superannuation

Note: Line 11500 was line 115 before tax year 2019.

Most pensions and superannuation that you receive are part of your total income and must be reported on your return.

Payments from a pension or superannuation plan are usually shown on a T4A slip or T3 slip.

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Payments from annuities, pooled registered pension plans (PRPP), and registered retirement income funds (RRIF), including life income funds

An annuity is a plan that makes payments to you on a regular basis. It might be a general annuity, a payment from a registered retirement income fund (RRIF), or a variable pension payment.

These payments are part of your total income and must be reported on your tax return. Annuity payments are shown on a T4A slipT4RIF slip, or T5 slip. Annuity, RRIF, and variable pension payments can be reported on different lines of your return depending on your situation.

If there is an amount in box 18 of your T4RIF slip, see Amounts from a deceased annuitant's RRIF.

If there is an amount in brackets in box 22 of your T4RIF slip, enter it on line 23200 of your return.

You may be able to claim the pension income amount depending on the type of pension or annuity payments you report on line 11500 of your return. See line 31400.

Pensions from a foreign country

Report in Canadian dollars your gross foreign pension income received in the year. Use the Bank of Canada exchange rate in effect on the day that you received the pension. If you received the pension at different times during the year, use the average annual rate. The average monthly rate and the daily rate are available by visiting the Bank of Canada.

Attach a note to your paper return showing the type of pension you received and the country it came from. In some cases, amounts that you receive may not be considered pension income and may have to be reported somewhere else on your return.

If there is a tax treaty with the country your pension is from, you can claim a deduction on line 25600 of your return for the part of your foreign pension income that is tax-free in Canada.

If you paid foreign taxes on your pension, you may be able to claim a foreign tax credit when you calculate your federal and provincial or territorial taxes (see line 40500). Do not subtract the taxes from your income when you report it.

Two common types of foreign pension are:

United States individual retuirement arrangement (IRA)

If you received amounts from an Individual Retirement Arrangement or converted an IRA to a “Roth” IRA during the year, contact the CRA.

You can claim a deduction on line 25600 of your return for the part of your foreign pension income that is tax-free in Canada because of a tax treaty.

United States Social Security

Report on line 11500 of your return the full amount in Canadian dollars of your U.S. Social Security benefits and any U.S. Medicare premiums paid on your behalf. You can claim a deduction for part of this income on line 25600 of your return.

Use the Bank of Canada exchange rate in effect on the day that you received the pension. If you received the pension at different times during the year, use the average annual rate. The average monthly rate and the daily rate are available by visiting the Bank of Canada.

Benefits paid to your children are considered their income even if you received the payments. 

You may be able to claim the pension income amount. See line 31400.

Pension income splitting

You may be able to make a joint election with your spouse or common-law partner to split the payments that you reported on line 11500 of your return if you and your spouse or common-law partner were:

To make this election, you and your spouse or common-law partner must complete Form T1032, Joint Election to Split Pension Income. The transferring spouse or common-law partner must report the full amount of income on line 11500 of their return and claim a deduction for the elected split pension amount on line 21000 of their return.

If you received a lump-sum payment, see line 13000.

Completing your tax return

Enter on line 11500 of your return:

If you are 65 years of age or older on December 31, 2022, or if, regardless of your age, you received an amount from an annuity, PRPP, or RRIF upon the death of your spouse or common-law partner (even if the amount is transferred to an RRSP), enter on line 11500 of your return all of the following:

For a summary of where retirement income should be reported, see the retirement income summary table.

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