Canada Pension Plan: Eligibility, 2026 Amounts, and How to Apply

The Canada Pension Plan is a monthly, taxable benefit that replaces part of your income after you stop working. If you qualify and start collecting at age 65 in 2026, the maximum payment is $1,507.65 a month, though most people receive less based on their actual earnings and contribution history.¹ The plan is funded through mandatory payroll contributions from workers and employers in every province and territory except Quebec, which runs its own Quebec Pension Plan.²

Who Qualifies for CPP

You can apply for the CPP retirement pension as early as age 60 or as late as age 70, provided you have made at least one valid contribution during your working years.³ Contributions come from employment or self-employment earnings anywhere in Canada outside Quebec. Work done in Quebec builds credits in the Quebec Pension Plan instead, which provides similar benefits under provincial law.⁴

Pension credits transferred from a former spouse or common-law partner during a division of assets also count as valid contributions. You do not need to be retired to start collecting. People who keep working after 60 can receive their pension and build additional post-retirement benefits at the same time.

How Your Payment Is Calculated

Your monthly amount depends mainly on how much you earned and how long you contributed. The contributory period for the base CPP begins when you turn 18 (or January 1, 1966, whichever came later) and ends when you begin your pension, turn 70, or die, whichever happens first.⁵

Each year, the government sets a ceiling on how much of your income is subject to CPP contributions, called the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE). For 2026, the YMPE is $74,600. Income above that threshold does not factor into your base contributions or benefit. The cap moves each year with average wage growth.⁶

Years That Don’t Count Against You

Not every year in your contributory period drags on your benefit. The general drop-out provision automatically removes a portion of your lowest-earning years from the calculation, so a few weak years don’t sink the whole result.⁵ For the base CPP, this works out to roughly 8 years excluded from a full contributory period from age 18 to 65.

A separate child-rearing provision helps parents who had low or no earnings while caring for children under seven. If your child was born after December 31, 1958, and you were the primary caregiver, those low-income years can be dropped from your calculation.⁷ It has to be claimed on a separate form; missing it is a common reason parents end up with a smaller pension than they should have.

When You Start Changes the Amount for Life

Age 65 is the standard starting point. Start earlier and your payment is reduced by 0.6% for each month before 65, which becomes a 36% cut if you begin right at 60. Wait past 65 and your payment grows by 0.7% per month, up to a 42% increase at age 70.³

These adjustments are permanent. Someone who starts at 60 never catches up to their age-65 amount, and someone who waits until 70 keeps the higher amount for life. The right choice depends on your health, other income, and how long you expect to collect.

2026 Payment Amounts

Most people do not receive the maximum retirement pension. It requires contributing at or near the ceiling for roughly 40 years. The key monthly maximums for 2026 are:¹

Retirement pension at age 65: $1,507.65
Survivor’s pension, age 65 and older: $904.59
Survivor’s pension, under 65: $803.54
Combined survivor and retirement pension at 65: $1,531.56
Disability benefit: $1,741.20
Children’s benefit: $307.81
Death benefit (one-time): $2,500 basic, up to $5,000 with the top-up

Average actual payments are well below these ceilings. All amounts are adjusted each January to keep pace with the cost of living.

How to Apply

The main application is form ISP1000, the Application for a Canada Pension Plan Retirement Pension.⁸ You will need your Social Insurance Number, your spouse’s or common-law partner’s SIN if applicable, banking information for direct deposit, and the dates of birth for any children if you are claiming the child-rearing provision.

You can submit online through your My Service Canada Account for an immediate digital confirmation, or mail a paper application to a Service Canada processing centre. If you mail it, use registered mail because the form contains sensitive personal information. Apply well before your desired start date so processing time doesn’t create a gap in income.

If you want the child-rearing provision, complete the separate ISP-1640 and include your children’s dates of birth.⁹ It does not apply automatically for everyone who qualifies.

Working After You Start Collecting

If you keep working after your retirement pension begins, you continue making CPP contributions. Each year of extra contributions generates a post-retirement benefit (PRB) that stacks on top of your regular pension.¹⁰

The maximum PRB for someone aged 65 in 2026 is $54.69 a month, reflecting one year of maximum contributions, roughly one-fortieth of the maximum retirement pension. You can accumulate multiple PRBs if you work for several years after starting your pension, and if you earn less than the maximum, your PRB is proportionally smaller.

Other CPP Benefits

Survivor’s Pension

When a CPP contributor dies, their surviving spouse or common-law partner may qualify for a monthly survivor’s pension. Survivors aged 65 or older receive 60% of the deceased’s retirement pension, up to $904.59 a month in 2026. Survivors under 65 receive a flat-rate portion plus 37.5% of the deceased’s pension, up to $803.54.¹¹

If you already receive your own retirement pension, the survivor’s pension gets combined with it into a single monthly deposit, capped at $1,531.56 in 2026 for someone at age 65. That cap means you will not receive the full value of both pensions if their combined total exceeds it.

Death Benefit

A one-time death benefit is paid to the estate or designated beneficiaries. The deceased must have contributed for at least one-third of their contributory years (minimum 3 calendar years) or for at least 10 calendar years total.¹² Since January 1, 2025, the benefit has a basic amount of $2,500 and a possible top-up of another $2,500. The top-up applies only when the deceased never received a CPP or QPP retirement, disability, or post-retirement disability benefit, and when no surviving spouse or common-law partner qualifies for a survivor’s pension. Most estates receive the $2,500 base amount.

Children’s Benefit

Dependent children of a deceased or disabled contributor can receive a flat-rate benefit of $307.81 a month in 2026. Children under 18 qualify automatically. Children aged 18 to 25 qualify if they attend a recognized school or university full-time or part-time.¹³ It must be applied for separately from any survivor’s or retirement pension claim and is treated as the child’s income for tax purposes.¹⁴

Disability Benefit

The CPP disability benefit goes to contributors under 65 with a severe and prolonged medical condition that prevents them from working regularly. It has a flat-rate base portion plus an amount tied to your contribution history, with a maximum of $1,741.20 a month in 2026.¹ If you already receive a retirement pension and become disabled before 65, you may qualify instead for a smaller post-retirement disability benefit that pays on top of your existing pension.¹⁵

How CPP Benefits Are Taxed

All CPP payments (retirement, survivor, disability, and children’s benefits) are taxable income. You will receive a T4A(P) slip each year showing the total paid, which goes on line 11400 of your Canadian return.¹⁴ The death benefit follows different rules: if you received it as a beneficiary rather than as the estate, you report it on line 13000.

If You Live in the United States

Under the Canada-United States tax treaty, CPP benefits paid to someone living in the U.S. are taxed only by the United States. Canada does not withhold tax on these payments.¹⁶ The treaty treats CPP like U.S. Social Security, so up to 85% of the amount may be taxable on your U.S. return depending on your total income. Report it on Form 1040, lines 6a and 6b.

The CPP Enhancement and CPP2

A phased enhancement to the CPP began in 2019 to raise the retirement benefit’s income replacement rate from 25% to 33.33% of pensionable earnings. The first phase increased base contribution rates over five years, ending in 2023.⁴

The second phase added a new layer of contributions called CPP2, which started in 2024. CPP2 applies to earnings between the regular YMPE ($74,600 in 2026) and a higher ceiling called the additional maximum pensionable earnings, set at $85,000 for 2026. The employee contribution rate on earnings in that range is 4%.¹⁷ If you earn less than the first ceiling, CPP2 does not affect you.

The enhancement does not raise benefits retroactively for years before 2019. Someone retiring in 2026 sees only a modest increase from the enhanced portion. Workers who contribute under the enhanced rates for a full career will eventually receive the higher replacement rate, but the full effect is decades away.

1
Government of Canada. Canada Pension Plan – Monthly Payment Amounts
2
Justice Laws Website. Canada Pension Plan
3
Government of Canada. CPP Retirement Pension: When to Start Your Pension
4
Government of Canada. CPP and QPP Enhancements and the Federal Public Sector Pension Plans
5
Government of Canada. Contributions to the Canada Pension Plan
6
Canada Revenue Agency. CPP Contribution Rates, Maximums and Exemptions
7
Service Canada. Request for a Child Rearing Provision
8
Service Canada. Application for a Canada Pension Plan Retirement Pension – ISP1000
9
Government of Canada. Child-Rearing Provisions
10
Government of Canada. Canada Pension Plan Post-Retirement Benefit: How Much Could You Receive
11
Government of Canada. Survivor’s Pension
12
Government of Canada. Death Benefit
13
Government of Canada. Benefits for Children Under 25
14
Government of Canada. Line 11400 – CPP or QPP Benefits
15
Government of Canada. Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits
16
Internal Revenue Service. United States-Canada Income Tax Convention
17
Government of Canada. Second Additional CPP Contribution (CPP2) Rates and Maximums