Old Age Security Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. O-9)

Marginal note:Additional amount — subsection 22(2)

• 22.1 (1) The amount that may be added to the amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner referred to in subsection 22(2) for any month in a payment quarter beginning after June 30, 2011 is the amount determined by the formula

  A × B – C/4

  where

  A

  is $35;

  B

  is the pensioner’s special qualifying factor for the month; and

  C

  is 1/24 of the aggregate of the income of the pensioner and his or her spouse or common-law partner for the base calendar year in excess of $4,000 rounded, if it is not a multiple of four dollars, to the next lower multiple of four dollars.

• Marginal note:Additional amount — subsection 22(3)

  (2) The amount that may be added to the amount of the allowance that may be paid to a spouse or common-law partner referred to in subsection 22(3) for any month in a payment quarter beginning after June 30, 2011 is the amount determined by the formula

  A × B – C/4

  where

  A

  is $35;

  B

  is the special qualifying factor for the spouse or common-law partner for the month; and

  C

  is 1/24 of the aggregate of the income of the pensioner and his or her spouse or common-law partner for the base calendar year in excess of $4,000 rounded, if it is not a multiple of four dollars, to the next lower multiple of four dollars.

• Marginal note:Additional amount — subsection 22(4)

  (3) The amount that may be added to the amount of the allowance that may be paid to a survivor referred to in subsection 22(4) for any month in a payment quarter beginning after June 30, 2011 is the amount determined by the formula

  A × B – C/4

  where

  A

  is $50;

  B

  is the survivor’s special qualifying factor for the month; and

  C

  is 1/12 of the survivor’s income for the base calendar year in excess of $2,000 rounded, if it is not a multiple of four dollars, to the next lower multiple of four dollars.

• Marginal note:Increase on July 1, 2016

  (3.1) The amount determined for A in subsection (3) for any month in the payment quarter beginning on July 1, 2016 is the amount that would otherwise have been determined for A in that subsection for any month in that payment quarter plus $78.92.

• Marginal note:Indexation

  (4) Subject to subsection (3.1), for the purpose of calculating the amount payable under any of subsections (1) to (3) for any month in a payment quarter beginning after September 30, 2011, the amount to be determined for A in that subsection is the amount obtained by multiplying

  • (a) the amount determined for A for any month in the three-month period immediately before that payment quarter

  by

  • (b) the ratio that the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter bears to the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter.

• Marginal note:No decrease

  (5) Despite subsection (4), the amount determined for A for any month in a payment quarter shall not be less than the amount determined for A for any month in the three-month period immediately before that payment quarter.

• Marginal note:Effect of reduction in Consumer Price Index

  (6) If, in relation to any payment quarter, the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter is lower than the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter,

  • (a) no adjustment to the amount determined for A shall be made under subsection (4) in respect of that payment quarter; and

  • (b) no adjustment to the amount determined for A shall be made under subsection (4) in respect of any subsequent payment quarter until, in relation to a subsequent payment quarter, the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that subsequent payment quarter is higher than the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to the payment quarter referred to in paragraph (a), in which case the second adjustment quarter that relates to the payment quarter referred to in that paragraph is deemed to be the second adjustment quarter that relates to that subsequent payment quarter.

Commencement of Allowance

Marginal note:Commencement of allowance

• 23 (1) Payment of an allowance to any person under this Part shall commence in the first month after the application therefor has been approved, but where an application is approved after the last day of the month in which it was received, the approval may be effective as of such earlier date, not prior to the day on which the application was received, as may be prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Commencement where waiver of application

  (1.1) Where the requirement for an application for payment of an allowance has been waived under this Part, the payment of the allowance shall not commence more than eleven months before the month in which the requirement for an application is waived.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where a person who has applied to receive an allowance attained the age of sixty years before the day on which the application was received, the approval of the application may be effective as of such earlier day, not before the later of

  • (a) a day one year before the day on which the application was received, and

  • (b) the day on which the person attained the age of sixty years,

  as may be prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Incarcerated persons

  (3) Despite subsections (1) and (1.1), if the application for an allowance by a person described in paragraph 19(6)(f) or 21(9)(d) is approved while that person is incarcerated, payment of their allowance shall commence in respect of the month in which they are released but only if they

  • (a) have notified the Minister in writing before or after their release; and

  • (b) continue to be eligible for an allowance.

Payment of Allowance

Marginal note:Consideration of application or waiver

• 24 (1) The Minister shall, without delay after receiving an application for an allowance under subsection 19(4) or 21(4) or after waiving the requirement for an application for an allowance under subsection 19(4.1) or 21(5.1), as the case may be, consider whether the applicant is entitled to be paid an allowance, and may approve payment of an allowance and fix the amount of benefits that may be paid, or may determine that no allowance may be paid.

• Marginal note:Notification to applicants or applicant

  (2) Where particulars of the basis on which the amount of any allowance that may be paid in respect of an application was fixed by the Minister are requested by an applicant or where the Minister determines that no allowance may be paid in respect of the application, the Minister shall forthwith in writing notify the applicants or applicant of the basis on which that amount was fixed or of the decision that no allowance may be paid in respect of the application and the Minister’s reasons therefor, as the case may be.

Marginal note:Payment of an allowance to be made in arrears

25 Payment of an allowance for any month shall be made in arrears at the end of the month, except that where payment of an allowance in respect of any payment period is approved after the end of the month for which the first payment of the allowance may be made, payments thereof for the month in which payment of the allowance is approved and for months preceding that month may be made at the end of that month or at the end of the month next following that month.

Marginal note:Application of Part II

• 26 (1) Sections 6, 14, 15 and 18 apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of an allowance under this Part and in respect of any application or any waiver of the requirement for an application for an allowance.

• Marginal note:Information previously submitted

  (1.1) For greater certainty, the Minister may waive the requirements of subsections 14(1) and 15(1) and (2) in respect of an application for an allowance under this Part if the information required under those subsections has already been submitted to or filed with the Minister in respect of an application for a supplement under Part II.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) The provisions of subsection 11(2) and sections 16 to 18 apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of the supplement payable to the pensioner pursuant to subsection 22(2).

PART IVGeneral

Effect of Waiver

Marginal note:Deeming provision

26.1 When the requirement for an application for a benefit is waived by the Minister under this Act, the application is deemed to have been made by the applicant on the day on which the requirement is waived and, for greater certainty, the applicant shall not be paid that benefit for any month that is more than 11 months before the month in which the application is deemed to have been made.

Inviting Applications

Marginal note:Inviting persons to apply

26.2 The Minister may invite persons to make an application for benefits under this Act and may, for that purpose, collect personal information and make available or use personal information available to him or her under this Act.

Adjustment in Consumer Price Index

Marginal note:Where basis of Consumer Price Index changed

27 Where at any time the Consumer Price Index for Canada, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act, is adjusted to reflect a new time basis or a new content basis, a corresponding adjustment shall be made in the Consumer Price Index with respect to any adjustment quarter that is used for the purpose of calculating the amount of any benefit that may be paid under this Act.

Reconsiderations and Appeals

Marginal note:Request for reconsideration by Minister

• 27.1 (1) A person who is dissatisfied with a decision or determination made under this Act that no benefit may be paid to the person, or respecting the amount of a benefit that may be paid to the person, may, within ninety days after the day on which the person is notified in writing of the decision or determination, or within any longer period that the Minister may, either before or after the expiration of those ninety days, allow, make a request to the Minister in the prescribed form and manner for a reconsideration of that decision or determination.

• Marginal note:Reconsideration — penalty

  (1.1) A person against whom a penalty has been assessed under section 44.1 or, subject to the regulations, any person on their behalf, who is dissatisfied with the decision to impose a penalty or with the amount of the penalty may, within ninety days after the day on which the person is notified in writing of the decision or determination, or within any longer period that the Minister may, either before or after the expiration of those ninety days, allow, request the Minister in the prescribed form and manner to reconsider the decision or determination.

• Marginal note:Decision of Minister

  (2) The Minister shall, without delay after receiving a request referred to in subsection (1) or (1.1), reconsider the decision or determination, as the case may be, and may confirm or vary it and may approve payment of a benefit, determine the amount of a benefit or determine that no benefit is payable, and shall without delay notify, in writing, the person who made the request of the Minister’s decision and of the reasons for it.

Marginal note:Appeal — benefits

• 28 (1) A person who is dissatisfied with a decision of the Minister made under section 27.1, including a decision in relation to further time to make a request, or, subject to the regulations, any person on their behalf, may appeal the decision to the Social Security Tribunal established under section 44 of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act.

• Marginal note:Reference as to income

  (2) If, on an appeal to the Social Security Tribunal, it is a ground of the appeal that the decision made by the Minister as to the income or income from a particular source or sources of an applicant or beneficiary or of the spouse or common-law partner of the applicant or beneficiary was incorrectly made, the appeal on that ground must, in accordance with the regulations, be referred for decision to the Tax Court of Canada, whose decision, subject only to variation by that Court in accordance with any decision on an appeal under the Tax Court of Canada Act relevant to the appeal to the Social Security Tribunal, is final and binding for all purposes of the appeal to the Social Security Tribunal except in accordance with the Federal Courts Act.

• Marginal note:Stay of benefits pending judicial review

  (3) If a decision is made by the Social Security Tribunal in respect of a benefit, the Minister may stay payment of the benefit until the later of

  • (a) the expiration of the period allowed for making an application under the Federal Courts Act for judicial review of the decision, and

  • (b) where Her Majesty has made an application under the Federal Courts Act for judicial review of the decision, the month in which all proceedings in relation to the judicial review have been completed.

Incapacity

Marginal note:Incapacity when application actually made

• 28.1 (1) Where an application for a benefit is made on behalf of a person and the Minister is satisfied, on the basis of evidence provided by or on behalf of that person, that the person was incapable of forming or expressing an intention to make an application on the person’s own behalf on the day on which the application was actually made, the Minister may deem the application to have been made in the month preceding the first month in which the relevant benefit could have commenced to be paid or in the month that the Minister considers the person’s last relevant period of incapacity to have commenced, whichever is the later.

• Marginal note:Where previous incapacity

  (2) Where an application for a benefit is made by or on behalf of a person and the Minister is satisfied, on the basis of evidence provided by or on behalf of that person, that

  • (a) the person was incapable of forming or expressing an intention to make an application before the day on which the application was actually made,

  • (b) the person had ceased to be so incapable before that day, and

  • (c) the application was made

    • (i) within the period beginning on the day on which that person had ceased to be incapable and comprising the same number of days, not exceeding twelve months, as in the period of incapacity, or

    • (ii) where the period referred to in subparagraph (i) comprises fewer than thirty days, not more than one month after the month in which that person ceased to be so incapable,

  the Minister may deem the application to have been made in the month preceding the first month in which the relevant benefit could have commenced to be paid or in the month that the Minister considers the person’s last relevant period of incapacity to have commenced, whichever is the later.

• Marginal note:Period of incapacity

  (3) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), a period of incapacity must be a continuous period, except as otherwise prescribed.

• Marginal note:Application

  (4) This section applies only to persons who were incapacitated on or after January 1, 1995.