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Spousal RRSP (see full article via the following link)
https://invested.mdm.ca/should-you-contribute-to-a-spousal-rrsp/#:~:text=The%20main%20advantage%20of%20a,than%20one%20income%20of%20%24100%2C000.
Should you contribute to a spousal RRSP?
A spousal RRSP can be an important part of a couple’s retirement plan and even offers some pre-retirement benefits. Learn how.
Spousal registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) can help lighten the tax load for some couples — both now and in retirement.
Open to both married and common-law couples, a spousal RRSP is a retirement vehicle that allows a higher-earning spouse to make contributions to an RRSP account in their partner’s name — and benefit from the tax deduction.
Spousal RRSPs work best when there is a large disparity in incomes between partners. If you’re the spouse with the higher income, you’ll use up some of your contribution room to invest in the spousal RRSP, but in retirement, your spouse is the one who withdraws from it. The result? Less tax owing overall.
But with a little advance planning, a spousal RRSP could let you move more than 50% of your pension income to your spouse, something that might be useful if you have other sources of income when you retire.
But don’t forget about the rules
Once you open a spousal RRSP, your partner owns it — they make the investment decisions related to the account, and only they can decide when to withdraw. That’s an important fact to understand because it could lead to issues down the road should a divorce or separation happen.
Spousal RRSPs are meant for long-term retirement savings. If money is withdrawn within three years of a contribution, the funds will be taxed as your income — not your spouse’s (this is called the three-year attribution rule). For example, if your most recent contribution to a spousal RRSP was 2022, your spouse should wait until 2025 to make any withdrawals. Otherwise, the withdrawal will be added to your income — and your tax bill.
When a spousal RRSP works: 4 scenarios
Here are some situations where a spousal RRSP might be a good idea.
1. Buying your first home
Shazia and her partner, Jeff, are ready to buy their first home. They are looking to take advantage of the Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP), which allows a new home buyer to withdraw up to $35,000 from their RRSP with no penalties.
As the higher income earner, Shazia has been contributing to her own RRSP and to a spousal RRSP for Jeff. This means that Shazia can withdraw $35,000 from her RRSP, and Jeff can also withdraw $35,000 from the spousal RRSP (even if it’s less than three years since the last contribution)..
The couple will have to put this money back into their RRSPs over the next 15 years. (To count as an HBP repayment, Jeff must contribute to his own RRSP, not the spousal RRSP. Shazia cannot contribute to the spousal RRSP and consider it a repayment of Jeff’s HBP withdrawal.) If they don’t make the repayments, there is a tax penalty: 1/15 of the withdrawn amounts would be treated as their income each year, on which they would need to pay tax.
2. Planning to have children
Iris and Zander are a recently married couple who would like to have a child in the next five years. Iris plans to take extended parental leave from her job after having a child and use her spousal RRSP as additional funding.
As the higher income earner, Zander can contribute to the spousal RRSP now and benefit from a tax break of up to 50% of the contribution. When the couple has a child, Iris can then withdraw the funds at a much lower tax rate (assuming the three-year attribution rule isn’t an issue). Note, however, there is a withholding tax when you withdraw.