Did you know that RRIF withdrawals can impact your Old Age Security (OAS) payments? In Canada, every dollar you take from your RRIF is added to your taxable income. Withdrawals above the minimum are subject to withholding tax, but the final amount you owe is decided at tax time based on your total income. For the 2026 income year, if your net world income goes over $95,300, the OAS recovery tax kicks in—roughly 15% on every dollar above that line.
Let’s look at a real example: say a retiree’s income rises from $90,000 to $110,000 due to a $20,000 RRIF withdrawal. That puts them $14,700 above the OAS threshold, resulting in about $2,200 in recovery tax. When you add everything up, the total tax bite can approach 40%, and OAS reductions often appear down the road—so a 30% bank withholding doesn’t tell the full story.
As someone who helps Canadians make sense of their retirement income, I always encourage estimating your full-year income, considering whether to split withdrawals across years, looking at eligible pension-income splitting, and making use of TFSAs (which don’t affect your OAS at all). Planning ahead can make a real difference—so you can keep more of your hard-earned money working for you and your family.
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