Old Age Security has no earnings test. You can keep working after 65 and still collect OAS in full; working doesn’t reduce it, but the clawback on higher incomes can. This page shows how much you can earn before the clawback starts, and what else working changes. The clawback’s rules are in the OAS clawback guide, and OAS in general in the OAS guide.
How much you can earn
The clawback depends on your total net income, not on earnings specifically. For 2025 income, which sets the deductions from July 2026 to June 2027:
| Net income | |
|---|---|
| OAS starts to be clawed back | Above $93,454 |
| OAS fully clawed back, ages 65 to 74 | $152,062 or more |
| OAS fully clawed back, ages 75+ | $157,923 or more |
Net income here is your net income before adjustments (line 23400 of your tax return). It includes your wages or self-employment income, but also OAS itself, CPP, employer pensions, RRSP and RRIF withdrawals and investment income. TFSA withdrawals don’t count.
So the room for earnings depends on your other income: it is the threshold minus everything else in your net income, including OAS itself, CPP, pensions and investment income. Use the OAS clawback calculator for your figures.
Examples (ages 65 to 74, full OAS)
Net income is 2025 income; “Monthly OAS kept” starts from the full pension at the October to December 2026 rate, $762.50 a month.
| Net income | Above the threshold | Annual clawback | Monthly clawback | Monthly OAS kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $75,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $763 |
| $100,000 | $6,546 | $982 | $82 | $681 |
| $130,000 | $36,546 | $5,482 | $457 | $306 |
The clawback is 15% of the amount above $93,454 (2025 income), so income just over the threshold costs little: the examples above show how it grows.
What else changes when you work
- CPP. If you’re under 70, receive CPP and keep working, you may keep contributing and earn post-retirement benefits; see the CPP guide.
- The GIS. If your income is low enough for the Guaranteed Income Supplement, earnings matter far more. The first $5,000 of employment and self-employment earnings is exempt, and so is half of those earnings between $5,000 and $15,000. Income above that reduces the GIS.
- Tax. Earnings add to taxable income, and OAS is taxable too; see is OAS taxable?.
Keeping more of your OAS
If your income is near the threshold, ways to lower net income include drawing on a TFSA instead of a RRIF, pension income splitting with a spouse, timing capital gains, and deferring OAS while you work. The full list is in the clawback guide.
If you live outside Canada
OAS paid abroad has non-resident tax withheld, and non-residents may have to file an OAS Return of Income each year so the clawback can be applied. Residents of many treaty countries, including the United States, don’t have to file. See is OAS taxable?.
Related articles
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 22, 2026 and September 30, 2026. How we check facts.
- Government of Canada: Old Age Security payment amounts
- Government of Canada: Old Age Security pension recovery tax
- Government of Canada: CPP: When to start your retirement pension
- Government of Canada: Old Age Security - Do you qualify
- Government of Canada: Guaranteed Income Supplement: How much you could receive
- Government of Canada: Guaranteed Income Supplement - Receiving your benefit
- Justice Laws (Canada): Old Age Security Act