Pensionable age is specified by the pension plan and can
vary from plan to plan.
Pension payments cannot be split between spouses, except in
the case of a court ordered split, due to separation or divorce.
Due to pension
income splitting, this is less important.
The pension adjustment (PA, reported on the T4) reduces the amount that the employee
can contribute to an RRSP.
Employer contributions are not taxable
to employees.
Pension benefits will be paid out (usually in monthly
payments) over the lifetime of
the employee after retirement.
If there is a spouse, then the plan must be set up to
continue payments to the spouse upon death of the member, unless the spouse has
signed a waiver.
The employee knows in advance approximately the amount of
retirement income that will be paid.
The maximum amount of pension payable is restricted by the
Income Tax Act (Regulations S. 8504).
Contributions to the plan by the employer are
determined by actuarial evaluations.
The plan may or may not be set up for employees to make
contributions.
Employee contributions are tax deductible.
Employees have no control over how the pension funds are
invested.
Retirement benefits can be reduced in contract negotiations.
Defined benefit plans are rarely 100% funded, so if the
company becomes insolvent, the employees can lose a portion of their pension.