Building the portfolio is the easy half
Five calculators for the numbers that decide what you actually keep. Old Age Security is clawed back once net world income passes $95,323. Eligible dividends are counted at 138 percent of what you received before that test is applied. A RRIF forces 5.28 percent out at 71 and more every year after. Every one of those numbers moves annually, so every one of them is dated here.
The five tools
Each one takes a single primary input, shows the full underlying table, and says the date its figures were verified.
How much Old Age Security the recovery tax takes back, and how investment income pushes you over the line.
What each starting age is worth, and where the crossover actually falls.
The minimum you must take out each year once your RRSP becomes a RRIF.
Your cumulative room, the recontribution trap, and why the CRA figure is often stale.
What XEQT actually returns after tax, by province and by account. Nobody else publishes this.
OAS recovery tax thresholds
The recovery tax takes 15 cents of every dollar of net world income above the minimum threshold, until Old Age Security is gone entirely at the maximum. The two maximums differ because the payment itself is 10 percent higher from age 75.
| Income year | Clawback starts | Gone, 65 to 74 | Gone, 75+ | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $86,912 | $142,609 | $148,179 | Final |
| 2024 | $90,997 | $148,451 | $154,196 | Final |
| 2025 | $93,454 | $152,062 | $157,923 | Final |
| 2026 | $95,323 | $155,109 | $161,088 | Estimate until October 2026 |
| 2027 | Not yet announced | Pending | ||
Source: canada.ca, read 23 September 2026. The 2026 row is canada.ca’s own estimate until the October 2026 quarter is finalised, and no 2027 figures have been published.
RRIF minimum factors
Once an RRSP becomes a RRIF, a minimum comes out every year whether you need it or not, calculated on the balance at 1 January and the age you were on that date. If the RRIF holds XEQT, that minimum is a selling schedule you do not control.
| Age at 1 January | Minimum factor | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 65 | 4.00% | Derived, 1 / (90 less age) |
| 71 | 5.28% | CRA prescribed chart |
| 75 | 5.82% | CRA prescribed chart |
| 80 | 6.82% | CRA prescribed chart |
| 85 | 8.51% | CRA prescribed chart |
| 90 | 11.92% | CRA prescribed chart |
| 95+ | 20.00% | CRA prescribed chart |
Source: CRA prescribed factors chart, last modified 1 October 2025. A 25 percent reduction to these minimums was promised in April 2025, was not in Budget 2025 and has not been enacted, so the factors above are the ones that apply. See the full table by single year of age.
The dividend trap, quantified
This is the part most retirement planning misses, and it matters more to an index investor than to almost anyone else.
Ten thousand dollars of eligible Canadian dividends costs about $570 of Old Age Security. The same ten thousand dollars as a capital gain costs about $750 in tax but only $750 of income, and as interest it costs the full amount. The dividend looks cheapest on your tax return and is the most expensive against the clawback.
Eligible Canadian dividends enter net world income at 138 percent of what actually landed in your account. The dividend tax credit that compensates for that gross-up is applied later, as a credit against tax payable, so it never reduces the income figure the clawback is tested against. Work it through on the OAS calculator, or read how XEQT’s own distributions break down on the after-tax return page.
Why these numbers are here
Every figure on this page changes on a schedule, and most places that publish them do not say when they were last checked. That is the whole reason this section exists. Each tool carries the date its numbers were verified and a link to the government page they came from.
Where a figure is not final, it says so. The 2026 OAS thresholds are estimates until October. The 2027 TFSA limit has not been announced, and this site will not guess it, even though the 2027 RRSP limit has been published and invites the assumption. The October to December 2026 Old Age Security payment amounts have not been published either. Where sources disagree, the pages say that rather than picking the convenient number.
General information about how Canadian retirement income rules work, not advice about your situation. These calculators do not know your contribution history, your spouse, your other income or your plans, and each says so on its own page.