{"id":477604,"date":"2026-06-01T14:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T14:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/477604\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T14:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T14:53:11","slug":"financial-advice-benefits-to-apply-for-when-you-turn-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/477604\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial advice: Benefits to apply for when you turn 65"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christopher Liew is a CFP\u00ae, CFA Charterholder and former financial advisor. He writes personal finance tips for thousands of daily Canadian readers at Blueprint Financial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hitting 65 used to feel like a finish line. Now it\u2019s more like a starting gun. A whole new layer of credits, benefits, and tax rules kicks in the moment you blow out the candles. Some show up automatically, some you have to claim, and a couple just got more generous for 2026.<\/p>\n

Most Canadians know the broad strokes. The details are where the real money hides, and the system isn\u2019t designed to make any of it easy to find.<\/p>\n

Why this matters right now<\/p>\n

The age-65 milestone matters more in 2026 than it has in years. The federal government lowered the lowest tax bracket<\/a> to 14 per cent for 2026, down from a blended 14.5 per cent in 2025. That changes the value of every non-refundable credit, including the ones tied to age 65.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Old Age Security (OAS) clawback thresholds keep climbing, the age amount got bumped, and there\u2019s growing political pressure to reform senior benefits altogether. A recent BNNBloomberg.ca opinion piece<\/a> covered a Generation Squeeze poll showing 73 per cent of Canadians support lowering the OAS threshold so high-income seniors receive less. Whatever shakes out of that debate, the rules in place today are worth understanding cold.<\/p>\n

1. The age amount tax credit<\/p>\n

This is the most overlooked one, and it\u2019s automatic only if you actually file a return. Based on the 2026 federal indexation figures<\/a>, the age amount<\/a> maxes out at $9,208 if you\u2019re 65 or older at the end of the year and your net income is $46,432 or less.<\/p>\n

At the 14 per cent federal rate for 2026, that works out to about $1,289 in federal tax savings, plus a matching provincial credit on top. It phases out gradually and disappears entirely once your net income tops roughly $112,200.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the part most people miss: if your income is too low to fully use the credit, you can transfer the unused portion to your spouse<\/a>. A lot of couples leave money on the table simply because they don\u2019t know about the transfer.<\/p>\n

2. The pension income amount<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve reported eligible pension income, you can claim up to $2,000 under the pension income amount on line 31400<\/a>. It\u2019s worth around $280 federally at the new rate, plus a provincial match.<\/p>\n

The key change at 65 is what counts as \u201celigible.\u201d Under 65, it\u2019s really only employer pension annuity payments. At 65, the door opens up to include Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) withdrawals, Life Income Funds (LIF) income, and annuity payments from a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why a lot of planners suggest converting a small slice of your RRSP to a RRIF the year you turn 65 and pulling out exactly $2,000 a year. You capture the credit every year, and the math compounds across spouses if you both qualify.<\/p>\n

3. CPP, OAS and GIS<\/p>\n

OAS officially starts at 65, with a max of $743.05 per month for ages 65 to 74 in the April to June 2026 quarter, according to Service Canada<\/a>. At 75, it jumps another 10 per cent permanently. But OAS gets clawed back starting at $95,323 of net income for 2026, and disappears entirely above roughly $154,750.<\/p>\n

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is a different beast. You can start as early as 60 or delay to 70, but 65 is the \u201cstandard\u201d age. The maximum CPP retirement pension is a lot higher than what most new beneficiaries actually receive, and the gap between the two is wider than most people expect. I broke down why in a recent Blueprint Financial video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Guaranteed Income Supplement<\/a> (GIS) is the one I find most underused. It\u2019s a non-taxable top-up of up to $1,109.85 per month for low-income single seniors who already receive OAS. Many eligible Canadians don\u2019t claim it every year. If your income is modest and you\u2019re 65 or over, check eligibility. The application is straightforward, and you can be paid retroactively for up to 11 months.<\/p>\n

4. Pension income splitting<\/p>\n

At 65, you unlock the ability to split up to 50 per cent of eligible pension income with your spouse or common-law partner, including RRIF and LIF income. Under 65, splitting is restricted mostly to employer pension annuities, which leaves a lot of retirees on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just a tax-rate play. By shifting income from the higher earner to the lower earner, you can also potentially dodge the OAS clawback altogether. I\u2019ve seen couples save several thousand dollars a year just by filing form T1032 with their return.<\/p>\n

Both spouses have to agree, both have to sign, and you elect annually. It\u2019s one of the easiest planning moves in the Canadian tax code.<\/p>\n

5. The home accessibility tax credit and a 2026 catch<\/p>\n

The Home Accessibility Tax Credit<\/a> (HATC) lets you claim up to $20,000 in eligible renovation expenses if you\u2019re 65 or older. Think grab bars, ramps, walk-in tubs, widened doorways, stair lifts: anything that improves accessibility or reduces injury risk. You don\u2019t need to qualify for the disability tax credit.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the 2026 catch: in previous years, you could \u201cstack\u201d the same expense under both the HATC and the Medical Expense Tax Credit. Starting with the 2026 tax year, that double dip is gone. You now have to pick one credit per expense.<\/p>\n

Final thoughts<\/p>\n

Turning 65 isn\u2019t just about pulling the trigger on OAS and CPP. It\u2019s about activating a stack of credits and rules that can quietly add thousands of dollars to your annual tax position if you\u2019re paying attention. File a return every year even if you owe nothing, transfer unused credits between spouses, and don\u2019t assume any of this happens automatically.<\/p>\n

Read more from Christopher Liew:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christopher Liew is a CFP\u00ae, CFA Charterholder and former financial advisor. He writes personal finance tips for thousands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[10787,72,176,61,60,174,175],"class_list":["post-477604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}