{"id":304689,"date":"2025-11-24T23:10:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304689\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T23:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:10:07","slug":"after-months-of-limbo-ottawa-says-rrif-withdrawal-cut-wont-happen-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304689\/","title":{"rendered":"After months of limbo, Ottawa says RRIF withdrawal cut won\u2019t happen in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Parliament Hill in Ottawa in March. Despite an earlier campaign promise, the Liberal government will not be reducing mandatory RRIF withdrawal amounts by 25 per cent this year.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The government will not reduce mandatory RRIF withdrawal amounts by 25 per cent this year, despite the Liberals\u2019 election campaign promise<\/a> for relief for retirees. <\/p>\n

The clarification ends months of uncertainty for people who had been holding off<\/a> on making withdrawals from their Registered Retirement Income Fund accounts in case Ottawa moved ahead with the temporary cut. The measure had been widely expected to appear in the Nov. 4 federal budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Marie-France Faucher, a spokesperson for the Department of Finance, said in an e-mailed statement that \u201cin light of this strong market performance, reducing minimum RRIF withdrawals by 25 per cent for 2025 is no longer required.\u201d The statement said that the government \u201cwill continue to monitor market conditions to ensure seniors have the support they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, Canadians must either convert their registered retirement savings plans into an RRIF or buy an annuity by Dec. 31 of the year they turn 71. Once an RRSP is converted into an RRIF, individuals must start withdrawing a minimum amount each year, which counts as taxable income.<\/p>\n

Retire Rich: What\u2019s happening with RRIF withdrawals? Retirees want clarity as end of year looms<\/a><\/p>\n

For some retirees, a promised cut to mandatory RRIF withdrawals could mean a bigger tax hit<\/a><\/p>\n

In April, amid market volatility and growing anxiety about U.S.-Canada trade tensions, the Liberals pledged a one-year, 25-per-cent reduction in required RRIF withdrawals and a one-year, 5-per-cent increase to Guaranteed Income Supplement payments for low-income seniors. At the time, the party said the RRIF change was meant to give seniors \u201cflexibility to avoid liquidating their retirement savings in a down market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, equity markets have rebounded, easing some of the immediate financial pressure that prompted the promise. But some retirees have continued to wait for clarity, especially as the year-end deadline for withdrawing RRIF minimums approach.<\/p>\n

Stephanie McLean, secretary of state for seniors, told The Globe<\/a> in August that Ottawa still intended to move forward with the promised measures but did not specify timing. <\/p>\n

On Friday, Ms. McLean\u2019s office referred questions about the RRIF proposal to the Department of Finance. Ms. McLean\u2019s office provided a statement on the GIS pledge: \u201cWhile the measure was not included in the 2025 Federal Budget, this remains a priority for the Government of Canada. Once final decisions have been made, details will be made public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottawa has relaxed RRIF rules before. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government temporarily cut minimum withdrawals by 25 per cent for the year 2020. Seniors who had already withdrawn their funds before that announcement, however, were not permitted to recontribute the excess.<\/p>\n

In the spring, some financial planners advised seniors who hadn\u2019t yet made a RRIF withdrawal, and didn\u2019t need the money right away, to hold off until the government confirmed when the reduction in minimum withdrawals would take effect.<\/p>\n

But now planners say retirees should simply proceed as normal.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it\u2019s going to suck,\u201d said Jacky Ip, a certified financial planner in Vancouver. \u201cBut it\u2019s no different than last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Ip said retirees who were able to wait likely didn\u2019t rely on the money for day-to-day expenses. For those individuals, he said, withdrawing the funds as usual and then reinvesting them \u2013 ideally in a tax-free savings account, if possible \u2013 is a good strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Parliament Hill in Ottawa in March. Despite an earlier campaign promise, the Liberal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-304689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance","14":"tag-r-fp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}