In Canada, there are different government pension benefits that you can qualify for based on your previous year’s income.
While most Canadians are eligible for and receive CPP (Canada Pension Plan) or QPP (Quebec Pension Plan) and OAS (Old Age Security), some who are considered to be low-income can also receive financial assistance in the form of a monthly benefit known as the GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement).
While the GIS is a great benefit for low-income seniors, you need to meet the GIS eligibility requirements before you can start receiving benefits. Once you do start receiving it, there are certain dates that you can expect these payments to hit your account if you’ve signed up for direct deposit. If you aren’t, then you could be waiting a little longer for your cheque to arrive.
Just like other pensionable benefits, GIS payments are made monthly. While these payments are generally within the same time period, the payment dates do vary every year. Here are the payment dates for 2024.
| Month | Payment Date |
| January | January 29 |
| February | February 27 |
| March | March 26 |
| April | April 26 |
| May | May 29 |
| June | June 26 |
| July | July 29 |
| August | August 28 |
| September | September 25 |
| October | October 29 |
| November | November 27 |
| December | December 20 |
If you receive your monthly payments via cheque, they will be sent out around this date and can take up to 10 business days to show up in your account.
GIS is an income supplement for seniors who are already receiving OAS. Whether or not you qualify for this benefit is based on your annual household income and whether you meet the eligibility criteria. However, there are always exceptions to this.
As with anything, there are some exceptions to consider. As long as you meet the above criteria, you can receive GIS as an immigrant who isn’t sponsored. However, sponsored immigrants who’ve lived in Canada less than 10 years since their 18th birthday can only be approved based on different specific criteria.
When it comes to GIS, there’s no application process. As long as you receive an Old Age Security pension and are eligible, you will be automatically enrolled. Once you’re enrolled, you will receive a letter from the Government of Canada. Once you start receiving payments, you’ll receive your first GIS payments either on the same month you start receiving OAS payments or the date that’s given in the letter you receive from Service Canada.
However, even though most are automatically enrolled, there are certain circumstances that you may need to apply. You may have to contact the CRA on your own, or they may send you a letter asking you to apply. Either way, if you need to apply for the GIS benefit, you can do so online or by using a paper application that will ask for personal information, including your social insurance number.
If you choose to do so online, you can apply through Service Canada using your My Service Canada Account. You can also use this service to check on your account and update your bank details. You also always have the option to contact Service Canada directly regarding your GIC application.
A big part of receiving the monthly GIS payments is whether or not you are within the required income threshold. These income amounts vary based on whether you’re single, widowed or married/in a common-law relationship. If you’re married or have a common-law partner, the income requirements are also based on whether or not you have a spouse receiving OAS or GIS.
| Marital Status | Income Thresholds |
| Single, Widowed, or Divorced | Under $21,624 |
| Spouse or Common-Law Partner | Under 28,560 if they receive full OAS pension (combined annual income) |
| Spouse or Common-Law Partner | Under $51,840 if they don’t receive OAS (combined annual income) |
| Spouse or Common-Law Partner | Under $39,984 if they receive GIS (combined income) |
Just like other benefits you can receive from the federal government, how much GIS you can receive varies, but there’s a maximum GIS amount that anyone can receive. Let’s take a look at these amounts.
| Marital Status | GIS Maximum Monthly Payment Amounts |
| Single, Widowed or Divorced | Up to $1,072.93 monthly |
| Spouse/Common-law partner who receives full OAS | Up to $645.84 monthly |
| Spouse/Common-law partner who receives GIS | Up to $645.84 monthly |
| Spouse/Common-law partner who doesn’t receive OAS | Up to $1,072.93 monthly |
It’s important to keep in mind that these amounts are current for the January to March payments. They could change as of April 2024.
GIS payment amounts vary quite often. This is because the maximum amounts are reviewed quarterly in January, April, July and October. The Canadian government does this so monthly payments can reflect increases in the Cost of Living that the Consumer Price Index measures. However, if the Cost of Living is seen to have decreased based on the Consumer Price Index, your payments will stay the same.
Like with CPP, GIS also has survivor benefits that are known as the Allowance of the Survivor. In order to qualify for this, you need to apply and meet the requirements. These requirements are:
Due to the fact that income received from the Guaranteed Income Supplement is considered to be income, you do have to claim all amounts received on your annual income tax and benefit return. That said, GIS payments are considered to be non-taxable monthly payments, so they aren’t added to your taxable income. Claiming it, though, will determine if there are any other government benefits that you could qualify for.
Claiming GIS payments on your tax return is actually pretty simple. You’ll receive your T4 from OAS, which will include the amounts that you received from GIS. If you do your taxes yourself, you can enter this information, or you can give the T4 to the tax professional who will be handling your tax return.
In Canada, you can start receiving your government pension income at the age of 60, but you do not have until the age of 70 to apply. Once you start receiving these benefits, they’ll contribute to your annual income. That said, government pensionable benefits are sometimes the only income that seniors receive, which means they make less income than those who have other forms of income during retirement, such as private pensions. To those people, the government offers GIS.
In order to claim GIS benefits, in most cases, you’ll be automatically enrolled once you start receiving OAS benefits. The amounts you receive are then adjusted quarterly if the government deems that the cost of living has increased. You’ll then continue to receive these payments on a monthly basis until your net income exceeds the threshold.
Financial Content Writer
Jessica Steer is a Content Writer at Spring Financial. She has years of personal finance experience, particularly with personal loans and credit-building solutions. Along with this, she has written hundreds of financial articles featured in several online publications.
