{"id":674680,"date":"2026-11-04T12:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674680\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T12:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:04:10","slug":"seniors-are-being-auto-enrolled-for-oas-even-after-asking-to-defer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674680\/","title":{"rendered":"Seniors are being auto-enrolled for OAS even after asking to defer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In 2013, Service Canada began auto-enrolling Canadians for OAS, sending out a notification letter the month after someone turns 64.JHVEPhoto\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Service Canada is enrolling some seniors for Old Age Security automatically at the age of 65 even though they requested a deferral, creating headaches for those who still earn income and want to maximize the pension\u2019s benefits.<\/p>\n

Several financial advisors say Service Canada is taking up to a year or more to process their clients\u2019 deferral requests. <\/p>\n

These clients are spending time calling Service Canada agents to get their auto-enrolment reversed and asking for guidance on what to do with the payments they receive in the meantime.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have clients who plan to defer their OAS, prepare them for the fact it won\u2019t be easy and doesn\u2019t appear to be guaranteed to work,\u201d says Adam Chapman, a certified financial planner at YES Money in London, Ont.<\/p>\n

As recently as September, Mr. Chapman says one of his clients was auto-enrolled in OAS after having called Service Canada to defer.<\/p>\n

Liana Brault, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), which oversees Service Canada, said in a response sent by e-mail to questions from The Globe that it processes most deferral requests before auto-enrolled clients begin to receive OAS benefits.<\/p>\n

Ms. Brault said Service Canada \u201cmakes every effort to process client requests for the deferral of OAS benefits within the standard time frame,\u201d which is 120 days.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cprocessing times may vary depending on workload volumes and the complexity of individual cases,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

The OAS pension, which is separate from the Canada Pension Plan, provides Canadians with a monthly benefit starting at the age of 65. When seniors\u2019 income exceeds a certain threshold for the year, their OAS is clawed back.<\/p>\n

In 2013, the OAS rules were changed to allow deferrals. For every month someone defers after turning 65, they receive 0.6 per cent more in OAS benefits. After turning 70 years of age, there\u2019s no benefit to deferring. <\/p>\n

Service Canada also began auto-enrolling Canadians for OAS in 2013, sending out a notification letter the month after someone turns 64. If the person doesn\u2019t want their OAS to start at 65, they must contact Service Canada. (If someone doesn\u2019t receive an automatic enrolment letter, they need to contact Service Canada to start OAS.)<\/p>\n

Advisors say many clients who are still working at 65 and earning an income above the clawback threshold choose to defer. <\/p>\n

Cameron Graham, certified financial planner with Sterling Mutuals Inc. in Sarnia, Ont., says one of his clients who\u2019s still working submitted his deferral request letter to a Service Canada location in August, 2025, four months before turning 65. <\/p>\n

However, Service Canada didn\u2019t process the request until this past August and the client received OAS payments until then.<\/p>\n

The client now wants to start his OAS pension in January, 2027. However, the client is unable to apply through Service Canada\u2019s online platform until the agency processes his repayment, Mr. Graham says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur workaround, after chatting with a Service Canada employee, was to paper-file the OAS application, which could also take six months to process,\u201d he says. \u201c[We have] very little hope for him to receive his first payment in January.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Chapman says two of his clients, a couple, called Service Canada together to defer their OAS.<\/p>\n

However, the woman\u2019s deferral request was processed and the man\u2019s wasn\u2019t. The man didn\u2019t find out he\u2019d been auto-enrolled until the couple came home from an extended trip to find several OAS cheques addressed to him in their mailbox.<\/p>\n

Mr. Chapman says Service Canada told his client he can\u2019t reverse his auto-enrolment because it doesn\u2019t have a record of his deferral request. Also, OAS rules allow someone to cancel their enrolment and repay what they\u2019ve received for up to six months after they started receiving payments, but his client missed that deadline.<\/p>\n

Some clients are able to reverse OAS payments if they\u2019re caught in time, Mr. Chapman says. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut with [Service Canada\u2019s] processing delays, it seems to open up a window for people like my clients who got caught not realizing these cheques were even showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc Sabourin, portfolio manager with Trans Canada Wealth Management at Harbourfront Wealth Management Inc. in Winnipeg, said in an e-mail to The Globe that one of his clients informed Service Canada two months before turning 65 in July, 2025, that he wanted to defer OAS payments, but was auto-enrolled anyway. <\/p>\n

Every month since, the client has contacted Service Canada to have the auto-enrolment reversed. Service Canada hadn\u2019t yet resolved the issue as of September, when Mr. Sabourin last met with the client.<\/p>\n

ESDC spokesperson Samuelle Carbonneau said in a statement sent by e-mail that Service Canada is focused on ensuring seniors receive their benefits. <\/p>\n

\u201cUrgent and dire needs cases are prioritized and are typically processed within two to three business days,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Since OAS auto-enrolment was introduced, more than 2.1-million Canadians received their payments without having to apply.<\/p>\n

If Service Canada receives a deferral request within six months after someone begins receiving OAS benefits, \u201cthe deferral will be honoured, subject to the repayment of any OAS benefits already paid,\u201d Ms. Brault said. <\/p>\n

A request received after that \u201cwill most likely not be granted\u201d unless, for example, Service Canada caused the delays; then the client would not be penalized.<\/p>\n

Clients who received OAS payments but want to defer should set aside the funds received until their deferral request has been accepted, she said, at which point they can repay the funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: In 2013, Service Canada began auto-enrolling Canadians for OAS, sending out a notification…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1116,72,176,11575,61,60,19293,174,175],"class_list":["post-674680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-appwebview","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-globe-advisor","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-noastack","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674680","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=674680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}