CPP is confirmed annually on a T4A(P), Statement of Canada Pension Plan Benefits, and OAS on a T4A(OAS), Statement of Old Age Security — both issued by Service Canada, both independently verifiable, and both generally treated as continuing income without the averaging or tenure discounting applied to employment income, since they are already confirmed government entitlements rather than results that could shrink next year for business or performance reasons.
Employer and private pensions, annuities, and RRIF (Registered Retirement Income Fund) withdrawals are reported on a T4A, Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income. The underwriting question here is durability rather than verification: unlike CPP or OAS, a retiree can generally choose to adjust how much they withdraw from a RRIF in future years (above the mandated annual minimum), so a single year's withdrawal amount is less automatically trustworthy than a government pension — a documented withdrawal pattern over more than one year is worth more than a single T4A.
Interest and dividend income from personal, non-business holdings is reported on a T5, Statement of Investment Income. This module scopes investment income narrowly — interest and dividends from personal accounts and holdings — not rental income, which is a deeper topic with its own worksheets covered fully in Course 08, Rental & Investment Property Underwriting. A two-year history via the Notice of Assessment is the usual way to confirm the income isn't a one-time capital event dressed up as ongoing income.
A Notice of Assessment plus the relevant T-slips establishes the historical pattern; for RRIF and investment income specifically, a recent account statement showing the underlying capital is still large enough to keep generating that income going forward adds a sustainability check that a T5 or T4A alone can't provide. The closer a borrower is to relying on this income as their sole source, the more that sustainability check matters.
A one-time RRSP or RRIF withdrawal, a lump-sum capital gain, or a single unusually large dividend is not recurring income, even though it appears on a T5 or T4A exactly like ongoing income would. The line to draw is between money an account genuinely throws off on a regular basis, and money that was simply withdrawn once.
A retired borrower's T4A(P) and T4A(OAS) show stable, modest government pension income. Their T4A also shows a much larger RRIF withdrawal last year than the year before, taken to cover a one-time home renovation. How should the RRIF amount be treated?
RRIF withdrawals are adjustable by the retiree, unlike CPP or OAS, so a spike tied to a one-time expense needs to be checked against the account balance and prior years before it's trusted as ongoing income. Taking the higher recent figure at face value is the tempting mistake because it's real, verified money that was actually received — but received once isn't the same as sustainable. Treating it identically to CPP/OAS conflates a government-set entitlement with a discretionary withdrawal the borrower controls.
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