The Allowance for the Survivor

A bridge to 65 for widowed people

Losing a spouse between 60 and 64 often means losing half of the household’s income at an age when no OAS pension is paid yet. The Allowance for the Survivor fills part of that gap. It is paid by Service Canada with the OAS programs, on the same monthly calendar, and it stops at the end of the age window, when the survivor can turn to the OAS pension and the GIS under their own conditions. The amounts are set federally and are the same wherever the survivor lives in Canada.

The conditions

All of these must be met, according to the Service Canada eligibility page:

• your spouse or common-law partner has died and you have not remarried or entered a new common-law relationship;
• you are 60 to 64 years old;
• you live in Canada and are a Canadian citizen or legal resident;
• you have lived in Canada for at least 10 years since age 18;
• you are not under a sponsorship agreement;
• your annual income is under $31,152.

Amount by income

The maximum of about $1,726 a month is paid in full only at very low incomes; a top-up reserved for the lowest incomes ends at $10,496. Amounts between published thresholds come from a model fitted to the ESDC quarterly table, exact at the maximum and at the cut-offs and within about a dollar a month in between.

A worked example

A widow of 62 receives a CPP survivor’s pension of $6,000 a year and $1,000 of interest on savings. Her income for the test is $7,000. The model gives an Allowance for the Survivor of $1,184.51 a month, or $14,214 over a year, tax-free, which is 69 % of the maximum. If she took a part-time job paying $5,000, that pay would be fully exempt and the Allowance would not change. The CPP survivor’s pension guide explains how the CPP side is calculated.

Your Allowance for the Survivor

Your yearly income (survivor’s pension, interest…)

$

Of which wages

$

Allowance for the Survivor per month

$1,017.85

Income counted	$9,000
Over twelve months	$12,214
Room left under the cut-off	$22,152

October to December 2026, tax-free. Model fitted to ESDC’s published maximum and thresholds.

GIS calculator →

The two Allowances side by side

The survivor version tests a single income against a lower cut-off, yet pays a higher maximum. In practice, a widowed person with a modest CPP survivor’s pension often keeps a sizeable benefit, while the same income inside a couple would be weighed against the couple grid. Over the full window from 60 to 64, the benefit of the worked example would add up to about $71,071 at this quarter’s rates, before the indexation applied every quarter. That is why it pays to apply as soon as the conditions are met rather than waiting for OAS.

The four quarters of 2026

Applying, or being switched over

A survivor who was already receiving the Allowance does not apply again: Service Canada converts the file automatically (Service Canada, Allowance). Everyone else applies online through My Service Canada Account, or on paper with the same forms as the regular Allowance: ISP3008, the income statement ISP3026 and the information sheet ISP3008A (Service Canada, apply). The amount rests on the previous year’s income (Service Canada, how much you could receive). Service Canada’s pages do not describe a separate recalculation in the year of the death, so ask it directly if your income has just fallen.

While you receive it

The benefit is tax-free (Service Canada, Allowance for the Survivor), reviewed each year from the tax return to be filed by April 30, and suspended after more than 6 months outside Canada. Changes of address, income or marital status must be reported quickly (Service Canada, receiving the benefit). Keeping a dated note of each change makes any later review simpler. A widowed person who is too young for this benefit, or a younger partner whose spouse is still alive, should look instead at the regular Allowance.