6 July 1989 Ruling 58271 F - Transfer of Property from a Spousal RRSP to a RRIF

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the CRA.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ARC.

July 6, 1989

19(1)

This is in reply to your letter dated June 16, 1989 in which you requested our views concerning the transfer of property from a spousal RRSP to a RRIF.

84(1)

Under proposed Pension Reform, subsection 146(16) of the Income Tax Act (the "Act") will be amended applicable to the 1990 and subsequent taxation years to permit a direct transfer of property from an RRSP to a RRIF only where the transfer is made before the maturity of the relevant RRSP.  Accordingly, an annuitant will not be permitted under that subsection to transfer her (his) retirement income under an RRSP to a RRIF.  Where a direct transfer is made to a RRIF under this proposed rule an amount will be attributed to the contributor spouse of the RRSP under subsection 146.3(5.1) of the Act solely to the extent that

(i)     payments from the RRIF, say in 1990, exceed the minimum amount to be otherwise paid thereunder and

(ii)      the contributor spouse make contributions to any spousal RRSP that were deductible by him (her) under subsection 146(5.1) of the Act in that year or in either of the two immediately preceding years.

You may have other options to consider once Pension Reform is implemented.  Accordingly, we suggest that you seek professional advice outside this Department in order to determine the most appropriate course of action to be taken by your family since our role is essentially interpretative rather than advisory.

We trust that our comments are of assistance to you.

Yours truly,

for DirectorFinancial Industries DivisionRulings Directorate