Deferring your Old Age Security pension
You can start Old Age Security at any month between 65 and 70, and each month of waiting raises the pension for life, with one large exception for low incomes.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Each month you delay Old Age Security after 65 raises the pension by 0.6 %, up to 36 % at 70. In Service Canada’s own example for October to December 2026, a full pension that would be $762.50 a month at 65 becomes $1,037.00 when started at 70. The increase is permanent and stacks with the quarterly indexation, so the gap in dollars widens over time. There is no gain in waiting past 70, since the increase stops there. The trade-off is simple to state: you give up up to five years of payments in exchange for a larger cheque. In today’s dollars, the larger pension catches up with the smaller one about 13.9 years after it starts, whatever the start age, so a pension started at 70 pulls ahead around age 84. The Guaranteed Income Supplement does not follow: Service Canada states that it is not paid while OAS is deferred and that its amount does not increase when you delay. Your notice from Service Canada gives the amount actually granted.
What waiting for OAS is worth
OAS per month from 68
$927.20
| Deferral increase | 21.6 % |
| Same pension started at 65 | $762.50 |
| Age when waiting pays off | 81.9 |
| GIS given up while waiting | $4,668 |
October to December 2026 rates, no indexation. GIS is not paid without OAS and does not increase with deferral (model, about $1 a month).
The monthly amount at each start age
The table applies the increase to the full pension of the October to December 2026 quarter, for someone with 40 years in Canada after 18. The last column is the age at which the total received from that start overtakes the total received from 65, without indexation or interest.
| Start age | Increase | Per month | Per year | Overtakes 65 at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | 0.0 % | $762.50 | $9,150.00 | – |
| 66 | 7.2 % | $817.40 | $9,808.80 | 79.9 |
| 67 | 14.4 % | $872.30 | $10,467.60 | 80.9 |
| 68 | 21.6 % | $927.20 | $11,126.40 | 81.9 |
| 69 | 28.8 % | $982.10 | $11,785.20 | 82.9 |
| 70 | 36.0 % | $1,037.00 | $12,444.00 | 83.9 |
The figures match the example table on the Service Canada page on when to start, which ends with $1,037.00 at 70. A partial pensioner applies the same percentage to a smaller base: deferral multiplies what you earned through residence, it does not replace it.
Why the crossover is always about 14 years away
Waiting one month means losing one payment. In exchange, every later payment is 0.6 % larger. To earn back one lost payment, you need about 167 larger payments, which is 13.9 years. Because the rate is the same for every month between 65 and 70, the arithmetic does not depend on how long you wait: someone who starts at 66 catches up near 80, someone who starts at 70 near 84.
Indexation does not change this, since both pensions rise by the same percentage each quarter. Two things do. Investment returns on the payments you would have received at 65 push the crossover later. Taxes can matter too, since the larger pension arrives in years when other income may be lower. Health and family history matter more than any formula: deferral is a bet on living well past the crossover, and the larger pension then acts as insurance against running out of savings at 90.
The GIS trap for modest incomes
Service Canada is explicit on two points. If you do not receive the OAS pension, you cannot get the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the supplement and the Allowance do not increase when you delay OAS. For anyone whose income would qualify for the supplement, deferral costs twice: the OAS itself and the GIS that would have come with it.
Take a single senior with $15,000 a year of CPP and private pension income. At 65 they would receive the full OAS of $762.50 plus about $338.00 of GIS each month, according to the site’s GIS model, which matches the published grid at its thresholds and stays within about a dollar a month between them. Waiting until 70 forgoes about $20,280 of supplement over five years, and when the pension finally starts, the GIS is the same as it would have been. The GIS calculator gives the amount for your income.
The spouse is affected too. While you defer, your spouse or common-law partner aged 60 to 64 cannot apply for the Allowance based on your pension, which Service Canada lists alongside the GIS rule.
When deferring costs nothing: the recovery tax years
At the other end of the income scale, deferral can be free. Someone still earning $160,000 at 66 would see the recovery tax take back $9,150.00 of a $9,150.00 pension, which is the whole thing at October 2026 rates. Starting OAS that year would mean receiving nothing, then losing the 0.6 % monthly increase for good. Deferring until income drops keeps the increase and gives up no money.
The recovery threshold is the same for everyone, $93,454 of 2025 income and $95,323 of 2026 income. A deferred pension is larger, so the recovery runs longer before it reaches zero. The clawback calculator shows the repayment year by year.
Residence: the clock stops when payments start
For people with fewer than 40 years in Canada after 18, Service Canada adds a rule that matters: once you start receiving the pension, any additional time you live in Canada will not increase it. Someone still building residence years at 65 keeps adding to the base while waiting. How Service Canada combines extra years and the monthly increase in a given file is set out in your decision letter, and the partial pension guide explains the fraction.
How to choose your start date
If Service Canada has your information, it sends an enrolment letter around your 64th birthday and you are enrolled automatically. To push the start back, sign in to My Service Canada Account, open “Profile” and choose “Delay Receiving OAS/GIS Pension”, or contact Service Canada; the online request is possible once at least one month has passed since your 64th birthday. If you were not enrolled, you choose the start date when you apply.
The decision interacts with the Canada Pension Plan, which rewards waiting until 70 more generously per month than OAS does. The CPP start-age guide compares the two, and some retirees draw on savings first, then start one pension and keep the other for later.
What waiting for OAS is worth
OAS per month from 68
$927.20
| Deferral increase | 21.6 % |
| Same pension started at 65 | $762.50 |
| Age when waiting pays off | 81.9 |
| GIS given up while waiting | $4,668 |
October to December 2026 rates, no indexation. GIS is not paid without OAS and does not increase with deferral (model, about $1 a month).
After 75
The automatic 10 % increase at 75 applies to the pension you receive, deferred or not, so a pension started at 70 is raised again five years later. The age-75 page shows the amounts.