CPP payment dates for 2026

The full 2026 calendar

Every 2026 date falls on a weekday, and none is the last calendar day of its month. The spacing is uneven: March is paid on March 27, 2026 and May on May 27, 2026, while April waits until April 28, 2026, so the gap between two deposits ranges from 26 to 33 days. Budgeting on a fixed day of the month does not work; budgeting on the calendar does.

The long stretch after December

The December deposit is the earliest of the year, so the money has to last into late January. If the January 2027 payment follows the pattern of January 2026, which was paid on January 28, 2026, the wait will be well over a month, longer than any gap inside 2026. Rent, hydro and other bills that fall due on the first of the month are where this bites: households that live from one deposit to the next often set aside part of the December payment for the first days of January. The same logic applies, in a smaller way, to the 33-day gaps of the year, which come after an early deposit and before a late one.

Automatic withdrawals are the other trap. A pre-authorized payment set for the 25th of each month will hit before the deposit in the months paid on the 26th or later. Lining up debit dates with the calendar, or moving them a few days into the next month, avoids overdraft fees that can easily exceed a month of interest on a small balance.

Which benefits use these dates

All the monthly benefits paid by Service Canada share the calendar. On the CPP side, that means the retirement pension, the post-retirement benefit earned by working after you start your pension, the disability benefit and its children’s benefit, and the survivor’s pension. On the OAS side, the basic pension, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, the Allowance and the Allowance for the survivor. The one-time CPP death benefit of $2,500 is not on the calendar: it is paid once the application has been processed.

Benefits paid by the Canada Revenue Agency do not follow these dates. The child benefit arrives around the 20th, the Groceries and Essentials Benefit at the start of each quarter, and the Ontario Trillium Benefit around the 10th. The combined calendar sets the two schedules side by side.

How much arrives on each date

The deposit is your monthly entitlement, after any tax you asked Service Canada to withhold. For a pension started at 65 in 2026, the maximum is $1,507.65 a month and the average new pension in July 2026 was $858.34. Starting earlier or later changes that figure for life: 0.6% less for each month before 65, 0.7% more for each month after, as the guide to starting at 60 or 70 explains.

OAS is added on top if you are 65 or older and have applied or been enrolled. Unlike CPP, its amount follows the quarter: $742.31 from January to March, $743.05 from April to June, $751.97 from July to September and $762.50 from October to December for a full pension at 65 to 74.

Your CPP deposit for a given month

Month (2026)JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

Your monthly CPP

$

Also receive OASNoYes

Deposit date

November 26, 2026

CPP	$858.00
OAS (full, 65 to 74)	$762.50
Total that day, before tax	$1,620.50

OAS amount of the quarter that month belongs to.

All 2026 payment dates →

Your first payment

The first deposit comes at the end of the month your pension starts, on that month’s calendar date. You can apply up to 12 months before the start date you choose. Service Canada aims to mail a decision within 28 days for an online application and 120 days on paper, so applying early is what keeps a gap from opening between your last paycheque and your first pension.

Tax on the deposits

CPP and OAS are taxable income, unlike the GIS, which is reported and then deducted. Recovery tax, when your 2025 net income was above $93,454, is taken from the OAS part of the same deposit, never from CPP. The clawback calculator shows how much that is each month.