How Much Can I Earn on GIS? Income, CPP, RRIF and Rental Income

The GIS doesn’t have a “clawback” in the way OAS does; it is income-tested from the start. Service Canada looks at your income from the previous calendar year, leaves out OAS and the GIS, removes part of any employment income, and pays the GIS set for that income in its tables. This page covers the limits, what counts, and how the common kinds of retirement income change your GIS. To estimate your own amount, use the GIS calculator.

The income limits

The GIS reaches zero at these incomes (2025 income, for October to December 2026):

Source: Service Canada, GIS eligibility.

The limits are where the GIS reaches zero, not where it starts falling. It falls from the first dollar of counted income, so the question is usually how much GIS a given income leaves you, which the examples below answer.

What counts as income

The GIS is based on your income from the previous year (a couple's combined income), not counting the OAS pension; the first $5,000 of employment or self-employment earnings and half of those earnings between $5,000 and $15,000 don't count, and above that each dollar of income reduces the GIS, and it is reviewed each July from your tax return. In detail:

Source: Old Age Security Act, s. 2, definition of “income”, which starts from income under the Income Tax Act and then makes adjustments, including removing the items in the right-hand column.

Dividends from Canadian companies start at the grossed-up amount on your tax return, but if your federal dividend tax credit is more than the federal tax you would otherwise owe, 3 times the unused part is subtracted (paragraph (d) of the same definition). For a senior with a low income, Canadian dividends therefore count for less than the amount on the tax return; dividend investing in retirement works through an example.

Earnings from work

Employment and self-employment income get their own exemption, for each person:

• the first $5,000 a year doesn’t count,
• 50% of the next $10,000 doesn’t count, and
• everything above $15,000 counts.

So the most that can be exempt is $10,000. For a single person with no other income:

Source: Service Canada, Allowance: apply (“you can earn up to $5,000 and still receive the full benefit amount”) and ESDC Table 1, October to December 2026.

Service Canada also subtracts the CPP and EI contributions you paid on those earnings, so the counted amount is slightly lower than shown.

How fast the GIS falls

These figures come from the single-person table for October to December 2026. For a single person, the GIS falls by $1 a month for each $24 of annual income, which is 50 cents per dollar, over most of the range. Between $2,048 and $10,496 of income it falls faster, about 75 cents per dollar, because the GIS top-up is being reduced at the same time.

For a couple where both receive OAS, each spouse’s GIS falls by about 25 cents per dollar of combined income, so the couple’s GIS together falls about 50 cents per dollar, again faster in the top-up band. The couples page has the examples.

Because of this, the flat “$1 for every $2” rule overstates the GIS for single people with incomes of roughly $2,048 to $10,496. At $6,000 of income it would give $888.90 a month; the table pays $805.90.

CPP and the GIS

CPP counts in full, so a bigger CPP means a smaller GIS. You still gain from CPP, because the GIS falls by less than the CPP you get. For a single person with CPP as their only other income:

Source: ESDC Table 1, October to December 2026.

Starting CPP later

Delaying CPP past 65 raises it by 0.7% a month, up to 42% at 70. For someone likely to get the GIS, part of that increase is taken back by a lower GIS. Take a single person whose CPP would be $7,200 a year at 65:

Until 70 the person who waits has no CPP and the full GIS, and from 70 on they have more CPP but less GIS; the extra $3,024 of CPP adds only $756 a year once the GIS drop is counted. Which is better over a lifetime depends on how long you live and your other income, so compare both with the CPP calculator and the GIS calculator before deciding.

RRSP, RRIF and TFSA withdrawals

RRSP and RRIF withdrawals count in full, including the minimum RRIF withdrawal once you convert. TFSA withdrawals don’t count at all. That makes a TFSA useful for people who expect to get the GIS, and some draw down an RRSP well before 65. Because the GIS is based on the previous calendar year’s income, the window closes a year or two before 65: withdrawals in the year or two before you start the GIS can still lower your first payments. The RRSP withdrawals before 65 page works through that strategy.

A large one-time withdrawal affects only the GIS year it falls in: income received in 2025 sets the GIS from July 2026 to June 2027.

Rental income

Net rental income counts, which is rent received less deductible expenses, as reported on form T776 with your tax return:

Source: CRA, Rental income guide T4036.

Example. A single person rents a basement suite for $1,200 a month, or $14,400 a year, and has $5,600 of expenses, leaving $8,800 of net rental income. They also have $6,000 of CPP.

Capital cost allowance. You can claim capital cost allowance (depreciation) on a rental property to lower net rental income, which raises your GIS now. When you sell, the allowance you claimed is added back to income as recapture, and that year’s income, and the next GIS year, can be much higher. Weigh that before claiming it.

When your income changes

The GIS follows your income with a one-year lag. The GIS renewal page covers the exception: after retiring or losing pension income, you can ask for this year’s estimated income to be used.

Related pages

• The Allowance and Allowance for the Survivor
• Provincial top-ups to the GIS
• Old Age Security guide
• GIS calculator
• Guaranteed Income Supplement: how it works
• GIS for couples
• Working while collecting OAS
• RRIF withdrawal rules