T4RIF Slip Explained: RRIF Payments, Minimum and Excess Amounts

Once an RRSP becomes a RRIF (which must happen by the end of the year you turn 71), the payments you receive from it are reported each year on a T4RIF, the Statement of Income from a RRIF. Where an RRSP withdrawal is a one-off decision, a RRIF pays out on a schedule with a required minimum, and the slip is built around that: it shows the total you received and, separately, the part above the minimum, because only that part had tax withheld.

The issuer sends it by the last day of February; the tax slips table lists the other slips’ deadlines. You receive one for every year you took payments, including periodic payments and lump sums, and a final one if the RRIF holder dies.

T4RIF boxes explained

There is no separate box for the minimum on its own. Box 16 is the total taxable amount you received, and Box 24 breaks out the excess within that total, so the minimum is Box 16 minus Box 24.

Box 16, the minimum and Box 24

All of Box 16 is taxable, but the two parts are treated differently at source:

The minimum has no withholding because you are required to take it, so the tax on it is settled when you file. That is the main reason a RRIF holder can owe tax at filing even when Box 28 shows some tax withheld. The minimum percentage for each age is set by the CRA’s prescribed factors; the RRIF minimum withdrawal table lists them, including the option of basing it on a younger spouse’s age. The withholding rates on the excess, including Quebec’s, are in RRIF withdrawal rules.

Box 28: income tax deducted

Box 28 totals the tax withheld during the year, mostly on the excess in Box 24. You claim it as a credit on line 43700.

How to report T4RIF income

Reported on line 11500, RRIF income counts as eligible pension income: it can support the pension income amount on line 31400 and can be split with a spouse or common-law partner on Form T1032. Pension income splitting explains who qualifies, how the election works and what the credit is worth. Reported on line 13000 (before 65, in most cases), it does neither.

1. Gather every T4RIF slip.
2. Enter the Box 16 total on line 11500 if you were 65 or older on December 31 (or the payments came from your late spouse’s RRIF); otherwise enter it on line 13000.
3. If it went on line 11500, claim the pension income amount on line 31400 and decide whether to elect to split it.
4. Enter the Box 28 withholding on line 43700.

When the RRIF holder dies

The deceased annuitant’s final T4RIF shows the RRIF’s fair market value at death in Box 18, which is the amount the deceased is treated as having received. It is typically included on the final return. Special rules can shift some or all of it to a qualifying survivor (a spouse or common-law partner, or a financially dependent child or grandchild), who then reports it instead and may be able to transfer it to their own plan. The beneficiary options are set out in what happens to a RRIF when you die.

RRIF payments and your other income

RRIF payments add to your net income, which feeds the income tests for Old Age Security (the recovery tax starts once net income passes $93,454 of 2025 income, for the July 2026 to June 2027 recovery period; see the OAS clawback guide), the GIS and the age amount. Because the minimum comes out without withholding, some RRIF holders ask their institution to withhold tax on it voluntarily so there is no lump sum owing at filing.

Common T4RIF mistakes

Before you convert, RRSP withdrawals come on a T4RSP slip, where tax is withheld on every withdrawal.

Related pages

• Canadian tax slips at a glance
• The T4RSP slip for RRSP withdrawals
• The T4A slip, for pensions from an employer plan
• RRIF calculator
• How to reduce taxes in retirement