CPP Post-Retirement Benefit (PRB): How Working After Starting CPP Adds to Your Pension

What Is the CPP Post-Retirement Benefit?

This page covers who earns the post-retirement benefit, how much it adds, and choosing whether to keep contributing after 65. It is part of the Canada Pension Plan hub.

The CPP Post-Retirement Benefit (PRB) is an additional, indexed pension you earn when you work and contribute to CPP after you have already started receiving your CPP retirement pension.

People who work while receiving the CPP retirement pension, and are under 70, can keep contributing, and each year of those contributions builds a new layer of income on top of the pension.

Each year’s PRB is:

• Calculated separately from your original CPP
• Indexed to inflation (CPI) each January alongside your other CPP
• Paid for life
• Paid automatically from the year after the contribution year

How PRB Contributions Work by Age

• Contributions are mandatory for pension recipients who work, under age 65.
• From 65, you can stop contributing with Form CPT30 (one change per calendar year).
• Contributions stop at 70.
• Each year of contributions adds a PRB, paid for life on top of your pension.
• The PRB isn't eligible for pension sharing.

Key point: Once you turn 70, no further CPP contributions can be made regardless of employment status. The PRB accumulation period ends at 70.

How Much Does PRB Pay?

The PRB amount for any given year is calculated using the same formula as your main CPP, but applied only to that year’s earnings and contributions.

In 2026, the maximum new PRB for someone aged 65 is $54.69 a month, for someone who reached the CPP earnings limit and made maximum contributions the year before. With earnings of half the limit, the PRB is half the maximum (Service Canada’s example: $27.35).

Source: Service Canada, PRB: how much could you receive.

Cumulative PRB Example

These are rough illustrations based on the 2026 maximum, assuming similar maximums in future years. Actual amounts depend on your earnings each year, and the maximum changes from year to year.

Stopping Contributions After 65

From 65 you can choose whether to keep contributing. The trade-off:

Opting In (Continuing to Contribute)

• Costs you 5.95% of earnings up to the YMPE, plus 4% on earnings between the YMPE and YAMPE (employee share; your employer matches both)
• Contributing at the maximum costs an employee about $4,646.45 a year (CPP1 plus CPP2), matched by the employer
• At the maximum, the employee share of a year’s contributions equals roughly 7.1 years of the PRB it buys, before tax and indexing

Opting Out (Form CPT30)

• Your take-home pay increases
• You lose that year’s PRB
• Once elected, it applies to all subsequent employment until you revoke it

What Tips the Balance

• The PRB is paid for life and indexed to inflation, so it is worth more the longer you live; with a shorter life expectancy, the contributions may not be recovered.
• An employee’s contributions are matched by the employer; a self-employed person pays both shares, so the same PRB costs twice as much.
• Near 70 there are only a few contribution years left, since contributions end at 70.

How to Opt Out: Form CPT30

1. Download Form CPT30 (Election to Stop Contributing to the Canada Pension Plan or Revocation of a Prior Election) from canada.ca
2. Complete Part A (your identification) and Part B (eligibility questions confirming you’re 65 to 70, already receiving a CPP or QPP retirement pension, and haven’t already made or revoked an election earlier this calendar year)
3. Complete Part C to certify you want to stop contributing (do not complete Part D, which is only for revoking a prior election instead)
4. Give each current (and future) employer a copy of the signed form, proof of age, and proof that you receive a CPP or QPP retirement pension, and send the form to the Winnipeg Tax Centre
5. The election takes effect on the first day of the month after the date you sign it

To resume contributions later, complete the revocation section (Part D) of the same form instead of Part C, and give it to your employer. You can only start or stop once per calendar year.

If your income is entirely from self-employment, you do not file CPT30 at all — per the form’s own instructions, it’s for employees only. Instead, elect to stop CPP contributions on your self-employment earnings through the applicable section of Schedule 8 when filing your T1 return. If you have both employment and self-employment income, file CPT30 for the employment portion (with your employer, as above) and separately make the self-employment election on Schedule 8.

PRB for Those Who Took CPP Early

If you start CPP at 60 and keep working:

• Contributions from 60 to 65 are mandatory — no opt-out
• Each year of contributions earns PRB on top of your reduced early CPP
• At 65, you gain the option to stop via CPT30

This means taking CPP at 60 and working until 65 earns 5 years of PRB — partially offsetting the 36% early reduction on your original CPP.

Where to Track Your PRB

Service Canada pays each year’s PRB automatically the following year; your CPP payment details are in My Service Canada Account.

Related Articles

• CPP at 60 vs 65 vs 70: Full Comparison
• CPP for the Self-Employed
• CPP Sharing Between Spouses
• When Should I Apply for CPP?
• Retirement Planning for the Self-Employed