Does Canada Have Social Security? CPP, QPP and OAS

Yes. Canada’s public pensions do the job Social Security does in the US, but they’re split in two. The Canada Pension Plan (the Quebec Pension Plan in Quebec) pays a retirement pension based on what you paid in from work. Old Age Security pays a monthly pension from 65 based on how long you’ve lived in Canada as an adult, whether or not you ever worked. This page covers what each one is and how the tax works when you live on one side of the border and collect from the other. It’s part of our cross-border retirement guides.

What is Canada’s version of Social Security?

Two federal programs, with Quebec running its own version of the first. The Canada Pension Plan retirement pension is “a monthly, taxable benefit that replaces part of your income when you retire,” paid for life once it starts. Old Age Security is a monthly pension that, as Service Canada puts it, is “determined by how long you have lived in Canada after the age of 18.”

They work differently from the US system, where a single program covers both ideas:

• CPP is earnings-based. You qualify by being at least 60 and having made at least one valid contribution, from work in Canada or from credits split with a former spouse or partner (eligibility). Service Canada lists the maximum CPP retirement pension at age 65 for January 2026 at $1,507.65 a month, and the average at 65 in 2026 at $858.34.
• QPP is Quebec’s plan. Canada.ca says the CPP and QPP “work together,” and people who worked only in Quebec, or who worked in Quebec and now live there, deal with Retraite Québec.
• OAS is residence-based. You need to be 65 or older and to have lived in Canada for at least 10 years since age 18 (eligibility). You can get it “even if you have never worked or are still working.” The maximum at age 65 for October to December 2026 is $762.50 a month.
• GIS, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, tops up OAS for low-income seniors who live in Canada. It isn’t taxable income, per Service Canada.

Can Americans get CPP and OAS?

Yes, if they meet the same conditions as anyone else. CPP has no citizenship test on the eligibility page: it turns on age and contributions. OAS asks that you be a Canadian citizen or a legal resident when the application is approved, and that you meet the residence test.

Living outside Canada changes the OAS test. Canada.ca says that if you live outside Canada you must have been a Canadian citizen or legal resident “on the day before you left Canada” and must have “resided in Canada for at least 20 years since the age of 18.” That’s the rule to check if you’ve moved to the US. Canada.ca also notes the social security agreement can help someone short of the residence requirement, which is covered below.

We don’t give benefit estimates on this page. Service Canada’s OAS Benefits Estimator and your My Service Canada Account show your own numbers.

How are CPP and OAS taxed if you live in the US?

Canada takes nothing, and the US taxes them like Social Security. Service Canada’s table of non-resident tax rates shows 0% for a US resident on OAS, on CPP or QPP pensions, and on CPP or QPP death benefits. The default rate is 25% unless a treaty reduces it.

The US rule is in the treaty. Article XVIII(5)(b), as amended by the 1997 protocol in the Canada-United States Tax Convention Act, says a Canadian social security benefit paid to a US resident “shall be taxable in the United States as though it were a benefit under the Social Security Act.” IRS Publication 915 says the same thing and tells you to add Canadian benefits to line 1 of Worksheet 1 with your US benefits.

That means up to 85% can be taxable, depending on your other income. The 2025 base amounts on the worksheet are $25,000 for a single filer and $32,000 for married filing jointly. The OAS recovery tax (the clawback) is a separate question for US residents, covered in our guide on whether the OAS clawback applies in the US. Our guide on how CPP and OAS are taxed in the US goes through reporting line by line.

Is US Social Security taxable in Canada?

Yes, if you live in Canada, and only there. The same treaty paragraph says US social security benefits paid to a resident of Canada are taxable only in Canada, “as though it were a benefit under the Canada Pension Plan, except that 15 per cent of the amount of the benefit shall be exempt from Canadian tax.” For nonresident aliens, Publication 915 lists benefits received by residents of Canada as exempt from US tax.

In practice you report the full benefit on line 11500 of your T1 and take the 15% back as a deduction on line 25600. The CRA’s line 25600 page says the base includes “U.S. Medicare premiums paid on your behalf.”

There’s an older, larger deduction. If you’ve been resident in Canada and receiving US Social Security continuously since before January 1, 1996, the CRA page says the deduction is 50% instead of 15% (the extra 35% comes from ITA 110(1)(h)), and a surviving spouse can keep it in some cases.

US citizens living in Canada get the same result. The treaty’s saving clause in Article XXIX(2) keeps the US’s right to tax its citizens, but Article XXIX(3)(a) lists paragraph 5 of Article XVIII among the exceptions. Our guide on US Social Security received in Canada covers the filing details.

Program	Country	Who pays it	How a cross-border retiree is taxed
CPP retirement pension	Canada	Government of Canada (Service Canada), earned through CPP contributions	US resident: 0% Canadian non-resident tax; US taxes it as Social Security
OAS pension	Canada	Government of Canada, based on residence	US resident: 0% Canadian non-resident tax; US taxes it as Social Security; recovery tax is a separate question
QPP pension	Canada (Quebec)	Quebec’s plan, through Retraite Québec	US resident: 0% Canadian non-resident tax
GIS	Canada	Government of Canada, for low-income OAS recipients living in Canada	Not taxable in Canada
US Social Security	United States	Social Security Administration	Canadian resident: taxable only in Canada, 15% exempt (50% if grandfathered from before 1996)

Does Canada have a Social Security agreement with the US?

Yes. The Canada-US Agreement on Social Security came into force on August 1, 1984. If you don’t qualify for CPP or OAS on your Canadian record alone, Canada can count your US contribution periods, and the US can count CPP periods toward Social Security, with each country paying only on its own creditable periods.

The SSA’s page on the agreement adds the other half: it sorts out which country you pay into while working, so you don’t pay both on the same earnings. How that works for workers is in our totalization agreement guide.

Can you collect both CPP and Social Security?

Yes. Canada.ca says someone who lived or worked in both countries “may be eligible for pensions or benefits from the United States or Canada, or both.” Under the agreement, each country pays a benefit based only on the periods creditable under its own program, so a short stint in one country means a smaller benefit from that one.

Timing is its own decision. CPP can start at 60, OAS at 65, and the US program has its own ages, and the order you start them in interacts with tax on both sides. Our guide on when to claim CPP vs Social Security works through it, and our guide to the WEP repeal covers what changed for people who have both a CPP pension and US benefits.

What to do next

List every public pension you have a record in, on both sides, and which country you’ll live in when you start each one. That pair of facts decides which country taxes each benefit. If you’re planning a move in retirement, our guide to retiring in Canada as an American covers the rest of the picture.

This guide is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation. Which points apply, and how, depends on your facts.