Pension Adjustment Reversal (PAR)

Frequently asked questions

1. I terminated my employment in December of 2000 but my funds were transferred to my RRSP in January 2001. Will my RRSP room be restored for 2000 or 2001?
    
2. Do I have to file anything with my tax return in respect of the T10 received from my former employer?
    
3. An employee has received a PA in respect of 3 years of service in a foreign pension plan. Are they eligible for a PAR?
    
4. In the year a connected person joins a Plan a T1007 (Connected Person Information Return) must be filed. When they later terminate membership is this amount included in the PAR calculation?
    
5. A member of a Union pension plan that is a Specified Multi Employer Pension Plan (SMEP) terminates membership unvested. Are they eligible for a PAR?
    
6. A group of plan members terminate their membership in a registered pension plan and transfer their entitlement to their individual RRSP's. The plan administrator reports PARs as required, using the T10 form. Several years later, the province of Ontario rules that the termination was in fact a partial plan wind-up, and the plan members should have been entitled to increased benefits, based on Ontario's growing-in legislation. The PARs that were reported at the time of termination were therefore excessive. Does the plan administrator have to report amended PARs?
    
7. Section 7.6 of Guide RC4137, Pension Adjustment Reversal Guide, states that the PAR system is not set up to accept two original PARs for an individual for the same year and plan. It also states that a second PAR for the same individual, year, and plan is only acceptable if it is an amended PAR. How should the second original PAR for the same plan and year be reported?
    

1. I terminated my employment in December of 2000 but my funds were transferred to my RRSP in January 2001. Will my RRSP room be restored for 2000 or 2001?

A PAR is calculated based on when membership in the plan is terminated, not when employment terminates. Generally you are a member as long as you have money in the plan. In this case the funds were transferred in 2001, and therefore the RRSP room is restored for 2001.

2. Do I have to file anything with my tax return in respect of the T10 received from my former employer?

No, the T10 merely restores the RRSP room that was reduced as a result of your membership in a pension plan or DPSP, and you no longer have an entitlement to a portion of those benefits. The amount in box 2 of the T10 is additional RRSP room that you will have in the year of PAR indicated in box 1 of the T10. The employer is also required to forward a copy of the T10 to the Canada Revenue Agency.

3. An employee has received a PA in respect of 3 years of service in a foreign pension plan. Are they eligible for a PAR?

No. The definition of PAR states that it is an amount in respect of a DPSP or a benefit provision of a registered pension plan. As the foreign plan is not a registered plan, they are not eligible for a PAR.

4. In the year a connected person joins a Plan a T1007 (Connected Person Information Return) must be filed. When they later terminate membership is this amount included in the PAR calculation?

No. The amount reported in the year a connected person joins a plan is not a pension credit and therefore is not included in the PAR calculation.

5. A member of a Union pension plan that is a Specified Multi Employer Pension Plan (SMEP) terminates membership unvested. Are they eligible for a PAR?

This is a two-part answer. They meet the conditions to be eligible for a PAR, however the regulations state that any pension credits accrued under a SMEP are excluded from the PAR calculation and therefore their PAR will be NIL.

6. A group of plan members terminate their membership in a registered pension plan and transfer their entitlement to their individual RRSP's. The plan administrator reports PARs as required, using the T10 form. Several years later, the province of Ontario rules that the termination was in fact a partial plan wind-up, and the plan members should have been entitled to increased benefits, based on Ontario's growing-in legislation. The PARs that were reported at the time of termination were therefore excessive. Does the plan administrator have to report amended PARs?

Yes, amended PARs should be reported for the original year of PAR. However, the amended PARs should not be reported on the T10 form. The plan administrator should submit a listing that includes the following information.

a) The individual's name
b) The individual's SIN number
c) Year of PAR
d) Original PAR amount
e) Amended PAR amount
f) Difference between the original and amended PAR amount

Depending on your province, send your list to one of the following addresses:

Please note that this policy would apply to other provinces that may have similar growing-in legislation.

For further information and examples of PAR calculations, see the Pension Adjustment Reversal Guide (RC4137).

7. Section 7.6 of Guide RC4137, Pension Adjustment Reversal Guide, states that the PAR system is not set up to accept two original PARs for an individual for the same year and plan. It also states that a second PAR for the same individual, year, and plan is only acceptable if it is an amended PAR. How should the second original PAR for the same plan and year be reported?

Here are two scenarios:

1. If a member terminates from a pension plan that has two different benefit provisions and therefore two PARs, add the two PARs together and report them as if there was only one PAR.
2. A member could have two PARs because of terminating from the same provision twice in the same year. This might happen if the member terminated and then was later rehired and terminated again from the same provision in the same year. If the first PAR has not yet been reported, add the two PARs together and report them as one PAR. If the first PAR has been reported, then report an amended PAR with the total of the two PARs.