Line 11500 on your Canadian tax return is where you report pension and superannuation income that does not come from Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, or the Quebec Pension Plan. That means employer pension payments, annuity income, registered retirement income fund (RRIF) withdrawals once you turn 65, pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) payments, and foreign pensions. The figure you enter flows into your total income and shapes three things at once: your pension income tax credit, your ability to split pension income with a spouse, and whether your OAS gets clawed back.
Income That Belongs on Line 11500
The CRA groups several kinds of retirement income here, and they share one feature: they come from private or employer arrangements rather than government social programs.
- Periodic payments from a registered pension plan (RPP), whether defined benefit or defined contribution.
- Annuity payments, including payments from a general annuity, a PRPP, a RRIF, or a variable pension payment plan.
- RRIF income reported on your T4RIF, if you were 65 or older on December 31 of the tax year.
- Foreign pension income, converted to Canadian dollars.
- Annuity, PRPP, or RRIF amounts received because your spouse or common-law partner died, regardless of your age.
The age-65 rule is where people slip. RRIF and annuity amounts from T4A box 024 or a T4RIF only belong on line 11500 if you had turned 65 by December 31 of the tax year, or if you received the payment because of your spouse’s death. If neither applies, the income belongs on a different line.
What Does Not Go on Line 11500
Three common retirement income types have their own lines and should never land here:
- Old Age Security goes on line 11300.
- CPP or QPP benefits go on line 11400.
- Lump-sum pension payments generally go on line 13000.
The lines are not interchangeable. Each one carries different downstream consequences for credits, deductions, and the OAS clawback. Putting CPP income on line 11500, for example, would inflate the amount the CRA uses to calculate your pension income tax credit.
Slips and Box Numbers to Use
Your former employer or financial institution should issue the relevant slips by the end of February following the tax year. The ones that feed line 11500 are:
- T4A, Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income. Box 016 covers periodic pension or superannuation income. If you are 65 or older, or received amounts because of a spouse’s death, also check boxes 024, 133, and 194.
- T4RIF, Statement of Income from a RRIF. Use box 16 and box 22. If box 22 is negative, enter that amount on line 23200 instead.
- T5, Statement of Investment Income. Box 19 applies for certain annuity income.
If a Slip Has Not Arrived
You can still file on time. Add up your own records, such as bank statements or payment records, and estimate the pension income you received during the year. Include a note stating the issuer’s name and address, the type of income, and the steps you are taking to obtain the slip. If you file electronically, keep everything in case the CRA asks later. If you mail a paper return, attach copies of the records and the note.
Reporting Foreign Pension Income
Foreign pensions go on line 11500 at the full gross amount, in Canadian dollars, even if the source country withheld tax before paying you. Convert each payment at the Bank of Canada exchange rate for the day you received it, or use the Bank of Canada’s annual average rate if payments came in throughout the year.
Two mechanisms keep you from being taxed twice. If a tax treaty between Canada and the source country exempts part of the pension from Canadian tax, claim that exempt portion as a deduction on line 25600. If you paid foreign tax on the pension, complete Form T2209 and claim a foreign tax credit on line 40500. Do not net the foreign tax against the income on line 11500; report the full gross figure and claim the credit separately. If you are unsure whether a treaty exempts part of your pension, the CRA suggests contacting them rather than guessing.
U.S. Social Security
Canadian residents receiving U.S. Social Security report the full amount on line 11500, then claim a deduction on line 25600 equal to 15% of those benefits, including any U.S. Medicare premiums paid on their behalf. A grandfathering rule raises that deduction to 50% if you have been a Canadian resident continuously receiving U.S. Social Security since before January 1, 1996. The 50% rate also applies to a surviving spouse who has received the deceased’s benefits continuously since the death, provided the deceased met the pre-1996 requirement.
The Pension Income Tax Credit
Income on line 11500 can qualify you for the pension income amount, a federal non-refundable credit of up to $2,000 claimed on line 31400. The credit equals the lesser of $2,000 or your total eligible pension income, effectively sheltering the first $2,000 of qualifying pension income from federal tax. Most provinces and territories offer a matching credit on their portion of the return.
Eligibility again turns on age:
- At 65 or older, RRIF income (T4RIF boxes 16 and 22), annuity income (T4A box 024, T5 box 19), and RPP payments all qualify, with no extra conditions beyond reporting them on line 11500.
- Under 65, only amounts received because of the death of your spouse or common-law partner qualify. Regular RRIF or annuity income you draw on your own before 65 does not count for this credit.
Any portion of RRIF income you transferred to an RRSP, another RRIF, or used to buy an annuity does not qualify, even if you are over 65.
Splitting Pension Income with a Spouse
Eligible income on line 11500 can be split with a spouse or common-law partner, up to 50% allocated to the lower-income partner. When one of you is in a higher bracket, this can meaningfully cut the couple’s combined tax.
To make the election, both spouses must have been Canadian residents on December 31 of the tax year and must not have been living apart due to a relationship breakdown for 90 days or more during the year. File Form T1032, Joint Election to Split Pension Income, with both returns. The higher-income spouse reports the full pension amount on line 11500 and claims a deduction on line 21000 for the split portion. The receiving spouse reports that same portion on line 11600.
The same age-65 rule shows up here. If the pension recipient is 65 or older, RRIF and annuity income can be split. If the recipient is under 65, only RPP payments or amounts received because of a spouse’s death are eligible. This catches people who retire early expecting to split their RRIF withdrawals.
Effect on the OAS Clawback
Line 11500 feeds into your net income on line 23600, which the CRA uses to calculate the OAS recovery tax. For the 2025 tax year, the clawback begins once net income exceeds $93,454, a threshold indexed to inflation each year. Above that amount, you repay 15 cents of OAS for every additional dollar of net income.
This is where pension splitting becomes strategic rather than just a bracket play. Shifting up to half of your line 11500 income to a lower-income spouse can keep the higher earner’s net income below the OAS threshold and preserve benefits that would otherwise be clawed back. It is worth running the math each year, because even a few hundred dollars of pension income can push you across the line.