The new pension plan deemed supply GST/HST rules are now fully in effect, and their impact is already hitting plan sponsors. Confusion, yes, but there is also a lack of awareness on just how much they might impact pension plans and other employee benefits arrangements. And, in many cases, this is leading to non-compliance. If […]
Recently OMERS CEO Michael Nobrega suggested that pension funds should also be permitted to compete with banks and insurance companies when it comes to pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs). Benefits Canada followed up with an story and online poll asking “Should large pension plans be permitted to administer the new pooled retirement pension plans?” At […]
It has been a month since Canada’s finance ministers emerged from their Kananaskis, Alta. meeting and announced agreement on moving forward with the pooled registered pension plan (PRPP), and shelving Canada pension plan (CPP) expansion for now. Predictably, perhaps, the financial services industry has applauded the PRPP, while the labour movement have decried it as […]
Little more than a week ahead of the upcoming Kananaskis, Alta., meeting—while the rest of Canada’s finance ministers search for that most elusive of creatures in our federation, a political consensus—Saskatchewan has unilaterally undertaken a significant evolutionary step toward meaningful and viable pension reform through changes to the Saskatchewan Pension Plan (SPP). But perhaps a […]
Yesterday the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) released a draft of the GST/HST Rebate for Pension Entities Notice (notice No. 257). Notice 257 is a dense 53-page document, including 19 illustrative calculation examples of scenarios of varying complexity, but is focused only on the pension rebate. And it’s time for employers to take notice. Wake-up call […]
Did you know that as much as $75 billion of capital accumulation plan (CAP) assets in Canada are committed, albeit contingently, to life annuities? If this fact does not come as a surprise to you, consider yourself to be very well-informed about CAPs, as this may be one of the most closely kept secrets of […]
Birdie, birdie in the sky, Drop some HST into my eye, Me oh me, me oh my, Boy I’m glad that cows don’t fly! Many of us have had the unfortunate experience of being targeted by a passing bird at an unfortunate moment. Administrators of many registered pension plans (RPPs) and deferred profit sharing plans […]
Canada’s federal and provincial finance ministers will gather at a summit meeting today in Whitehorse to discuss, among other things, the state of the nation’s pension system. The outcome of these talks could well be a pivotal defining moment for privately-sponsored pension plans. Media attention on pensions over the past few months has been intense. […]
Defined contribution pension coverage for the masses has become a very hot political topic in recent months. It has occupied the minds of federal and provincial finance ministers, pension commentators and life insurers as a front and center issue. The major concern that is emerging surrounds the concept of the Alberta/BC Pension Plan (a.k.a. the […]
Two colleagues have recently asked for my input on two CAP investment questions that I believe to be related. The first question involved an “investment warranty” program offered by an insurer; the second focused on whether I had any external (i.e. independent) information on an insurer’s statement that “the current 25 fund lineup is just […]