Receiving your benefit

Your payments

You will receive your first payment either:

• The month you turn 60
• The date that is on your decision letter

Direct deposit: You can choose to receive your pension payments by mail or by direct deposit in your bank account in Canada, the United States or other participating countries. You can sign up for direct deposit at any time.

Cheque: If you didn't choose direct deposit, a cheque will be mailed to you during the last 3 business days of each month.

Payment dates

If you are eligible to receive the Allowance, you will receive a payment every month.

View payment dates for direct deposit.

Annual review of your Allowance for the Survivor

• Each year, your benefit is reviewed using your federal tax return
• In July, you'll get a letter stating if:
  • Your benefit is renewed (with the new amount)
  • Your benefit is stopped
  • Your benefit will start/resume
  • More income information is needed

File taxes by the deadline to avoid payment delays

You do not pay taxes on your Allowance for the Survivor payments, but you must file your taxes by April 30 every year to avoid any disruption of payments.

Update your personal information

You can now update your personal information for the Allowance for survivor in MSCA. Only you can update your own information. Once you’ve activated this in your OAS account, you can update your information as needed.

In MSCA you can:

• Update your mailing address
• Update your residential address
• Update your telephone number
• Update your direct deposit/banking information

To be able to update your personal information in MSCA you need to

1. Call 1‑800‑277‑9914 or visit a Service Canada location to activate your notifications and alerts
   • You only need to do this once
2. Sign in to MSCA
3. On your OAS dashboard, select "Profile"
4. Choose what information you want to update:

Contact us if your situation changes

You must contact us if:

• You change your address or phone number
• You get married
• You enter into a common-law union
• Your income changes

• If your income changes

  Call us if you have a lower annual income due to retirement or if other pension benefits are reduced or stopped.

  In these cases, we can set your benefit payment by estimating your income for the current year instead of using last year's income.

• If you are in jail

  Your Allowance for the Survivor payments will stop if you are in a federal prison serving a sentence of 2 years or more. You must contact us in writing to notify us of your release. Your payments will start again the same month you are released.

Leaving or returning to Canada

Your Allowance for the Survivor (and Old Age Security, and Guaranteed Income Supplement) may stop if you're away for more than 6 months and don't qualify for receiving your payments while outside Canada.

• Before you leave Canada for more than 6 months
  • Call us to let us know (This helps prevent overpayments that you may have to repay later)
• When you return to Canada after more than 6 months away
  • Call us to restart your payments

When someone dies

If you're reading this following the loss of a loved one, please accept our condolences.

When someone dies, please inform us as soon as possible to avoid overpayment.

Find out how to cancel the Allowance for the Survivor benefit on behalf of a deceased person.