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GIS Renewal: Do You Have to Re-Apply Every Year?

Updated

Once you’re approved for the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), you don’t apply again. But the GIS is recalculated every year, and that depends on Service Canada having your income. This page covers the yearly review, what stops the GIS, and how to get it adjusted when your income drops.

How the yearly review works

WhenWhat happens
January to April 30You file your tax return for last year
JulyService Canada reviews your GIS using that return and sends you a letter with the result
July to the following JuneThe new GIS amount is paid (it also rises each quarter with inflation)

So the GIS runs a year behind your income: your 2025 income, filed by April 30, 2026, sets your GIS from July 2026 to June 2027. If you or your spouse report self-employment income, the filing deadline is June 15, but filing by April 30 still gives Service Canada time to process the return before July.

Source: Service Canada, GIS: receiving your benefit.

If you don’t file

If Service Canada doesn’t have your income for last year, your GIS “may stop or be reduced.” To restart it:

  1. File your tax return, even if you owe nothing. Free help is available through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP).
  2. Or report your income directly to Service Canada on form ISP-3026, Statement of Income for the Renewal of the Guaranteed Income Supplement, the Allowance or the Allowance for the Survivor.
  3. Call Service Canada at 1-800-277-9914 to ask about missed payments.

Missed GIS can be paid for up to 11 months back (Old Age Security Act, s. 11(7)(a)); earlier months are lost. Provincial benefits tied to the GIS, such as Ontario’s GAINS, can stop at the same time, so the cost of a late return is often more than the GIS alone.

When your income drops

Because the GIS uses last year’s income, a drop in income would normally raise your GIS only a year later. If you or your spouse have a lower income because of retirement, or because a pension was reduced or stopped, call Service Canada: it can set your GIS from an estimate of this year’s income instead.

Example, using the amounts for October to December 2026: a single person earned $40,000 from a job in 2025 and retired at the end of the year, leaving CPP of $8,000 a year. Only part of the job income counts: the first $5,000 is exempt, and so is half of the earnings between $5,000 and $15,000, leaving $30,000 before CPP and EI contributions are deducted, which is above the single limit of $23,112. On last year’s income their GIS from July is $0. On an estimate of this year’s income, CPP alone, it is $680.90 a month for October to December 2026.

Other things that stop or change the GIS

  • Time outside Canada. The GIS stops after you’ve been outside Canada for 6 months in a row. Call Service Canada before you leave and again when you return.
  • Prison. The GIS stops during a federal sentence of 2 years or more and restarts the month you’re released, once you notify Service Canada in writing.
  • Marriage, separation or a spouse’s death. Your GIS moves to a different table; tell Service Canada. A spouse moving into long-term care can be treated as living apart (GIS for couples).
  • A higher income last year. A one-time RRSP withdrawal or a sale of investments lowers the GIS for one July-to-June year.

The Allowance works the same way

The Allowance and the Allowance for the Survivor are also reviewed each July from your tax return, and ISP-3026 covers them too.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 22, 2026 and September 29, 2026. How we check facts.