Notice #740 – Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings (SAGES) suspension period

Information bulletin

Number: CESP/PCEE-2017/18-005-740

Date: November 8, 2017

Subject: Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings (SAGES) suspension period

Previous bulletin

This notice follows information bulletin #735, dated September 20, 2017 regarding the suspension of the SAGES.

Purpose

This bulletin is to inform Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) promoters of the details surrounding Manual Interventions during the upcoming temporary suspension of the SAGES.

Background

On March 22, 2017, the Government of Saskatchewan announced a temporary suspension of SAGES payments into RESPs starting on January 1, 2018. You will find the related press release on the government of Saskatchewan web page.

Manual interventions

During the suspension period, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) will process manual interventions to facilitate the correction of administrative errors. However, these will be limited to the amount of SAGES already paid into an RESP before suspension. No new SAGES payments will be made during the period of suspension.

No new SAGES payments

Promoters are required to correct any administrative errors by submitting required correcting transactions to the ESDC system. For this reason, promoters are encouraged to submit required corrections before the start of the suspension period.

Example: Prior to the suspension period, a promoter reports an RESP contribution of $100 to ESDC, which generated a $10 SAGES payment into the RESP. The actual contribution amount should have been $1,000. The error is discovered during the suspension period. To correct this administrative error, the promoter first reverses the $100 contribution, which claws back the initial $10 SAGES amount. Then, the promoter submits the correct $1,000 contribution with a new SAGES request for that contribution. During the suspension period, the new SAGES request will result in a refusal reason 9 “other”.

The promoter may regain the previously paid $10 SAGES amount on the erred contribution by sending an email to ESDC at the email address below requesting a manual intervention. However, as no new SAGES payments will be made during the suspension period, the full $100 SAGES amount that the $1,000 contribution would have received prior to the suspension period will not be paid.

Promoters are encouraged to verify all client SAGES transactions and make any correction before the start of the suspension period.

Contact us

If you have any questions regarding this information bulletin, please contact us by e-mail at cesp-pcee@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca or call at 1-888-276-3624. Our hours of operation are from 8:00 to 17:00 Eastern Time.