RRSP to RRIF Conversion: Deadline, Steps and Tax Rules

You have until December 31 of the year you turn 71 to convert your RRSP. By that date it has to be cashed out, moved into a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) or used to buy an annuity. A direct RRSP to RRIF transfer is not taxed when it happens. You pay tax later, on the RRIF payments, and there is no minimum withdrawal in the year you open the RRIF.

Checked against CRA and the Income Tax Act on October 8, 2026.

The deadline: December 31 of the year you turn 71

December 31 of the year you turn 71 is the last day you can contribute to your own RRSP, and it is also the date by which you have to decide what happens to it (CRA, RRSP options when you turn 71). Someone born in 1955 turns 71 in 2026, so their deadline is December 31, 2026. The deadline is about the year, not your birthday: a January birthday and a December birthday share the same date.

Your three options at 71

The CRA's page Options for your own RRSPs sets out three choices:

Withdraw the money. The issuer withholds tax on the withdrawal, and the full amount goes into your income for the year.
Transfer it to a RRIF. The savings stay tax-sheltered, and you take at least a yearly minimum from the following year on.
Buy an annuity. The RRSP money buys a series of payments.

The rest of this page is about the RRIF route. It keeps the money tax-sheltered and leaves the timing of anything above the minimum up to you, while a full withdrawal adds the whole RRSP to one year's income.

No tax when you convert

The CRA says your RRSP issuer will not withhold tax on amounts transferred directly to a RRIF or used to purchase an annuity (Options for your own RRSPs). The tax comes later. Earnings in a RRIF are tax-free, and amounts paid out of it are taxable when you receive them (CRA, Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF)), so the conversion moves the tax bill into the years you take money out instead of the year you convert.

How to convert an RRSP to a RRIF

The conversion is paperwork with your financial institution, not with the CRA. The details vary by issuer, so treat this as a checklist of the decisions you will be asked to make:

Open a RRIF. You set one up through a financial institution such as a bank, credit union, trust or insurance company (CRA, Setting up a RRIF). Ask your RRSP issuer to set one up, or open one with another carrier. Ask whether your current investments can move across as they are.
Ask for a direct transfer. The RRSP money has to move straight into the RRIF. If you withdraw it first and deposit it later, it is a taxable withdrawal, not a transfer.
Choose how often you are paid. Ask your carrier which payment schedules it offers. You can take more than the minimum (an ordinary RRIF has no yearly withdrawal maximum), and tax is withheld on the part above it.
Decide on the spouse age election before the first payment. See the section below. It cannot be added after a payment has been made.
Name who receives the RRIF when you die. The Income Tax Act lets a spouse or common-law partner be named as successor annuitant (s. 146.3(1), definition of "successor annuitant"). Ask your issuer how its forms handle a successor annuitant and beneficiaries.

Converting before 71

The minimum rules also cover RRIFs held before 71. Section 7308(4) of the Income Tax Regulations sets the factor for an annuitant under 71 at 1 / (90 minus age), so a RRIF held at 65 has a minimum of 1 / 25, or 4% of its January 1 value. On $300,000 that is $12,000 a year. See $300,000 at age 65 in the calculator.

Converting early means a required minimum every year from then on, while an RRSP has none. It suits people who were going to draw that much anyway. There is also a tax reason, covered next.

The age 65 argument: pension income amount and splitting

If you are 65 or older at the end of the year, payments out of a RRIF (including a LIF) count as eligible pension income for two tax measures (CRA, Pension income splitting):

The pension income amount, a non-refundable credit where you claim whichever is less of $2,000 and your eligible pension income from the CRA's chart (CRA, Line 31400: Pension income amount, federal amount as worded for the 2025 tax year). Any part of a RRIF payment you transfer to an RRSP, a RRIF or an annuity does not count.
Pension income splitting, where you and your spouse or common-law partner jointly elect on Form T1032 to report part of that income on their return.

For pension income splitting, RRIF payments received before 65 count only if you received them because of the death of your spouse or common-law partner. Ordinary RRSP withdrawals are not on the line 31400 list: RRSP income qualifies there only as annuity payments (box 16 of the T4RSP slip), or in the spouse's death and elected split pension cases the CRA describes. That is why some people move part of their RRSP into a RRIF at 65 and take $2,000 a year: an RRSP withdrawal of the same size would not earn the credit. Whether it helps you depends on your tax rate and your spouse's, so treat this as a rule to check against your own return, not a recommendation.

Your first RRIF minimum

The Income Tax Act sets the minimum amount for "the year in which the fund was entered into" at "a nil amount" (s. 146.3(1)). The CRA puts it the same way: the minimum must be paid to you in the year following the year the RRIF is entered into (Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF)). Your first required minimum is for the following year. The carrier works it out from the RRIF's value on January 1 of that year and your age on that date (CRA, Minimum amount from a RRIF).

Timing inside the year matters. A RRIF opened in December 2026 has its first minimum in 2027. One opened in January 2027 has none in 2027 and its first in 2028, as long as you are not past your RRSP deadline.

Example: you are 70 on January 1, 2026, turn 71 during the year and convert $250,000 before December 31. Nothing is required in 2026. In 2027 you are 71 on January 1, so the factor is 5.28%. If the RRIF earns 5% and is worth $262,500 on January 1, 2027, the first minimum is $13,860. Open this example in the calculator with the "opened this year" option ticked, or look up any age in the RRIF minimum withdrawal table.

The spouse age election

You can base the minimum on your spouse's or common-law partner's age instead of your own. The Income Tax Act allows this where the annuitant "so elects before any payment has been made under the fund by the carrier" (s. 146.3(1)), so the time to decide is when you open the RRIF. A younger spouse means a lower factor and a lower minimum: at 72 your own factor is 5.40%, while a 65-year-old spouse's is 4%. The factors from 71 on come from section 7308 of the Income Tax Regulations.

RRIF vs RRSP

RRSP and RRIF compared
	RRSP	RRIF
New contributions	Yes, until December 31 of the year you turn 71	No; once it is set up, no more contributions can be made. It is funded by transfers, such as from your RRSP
Required yearly withdrawal	None	Yes, from the year after it is opened
Tax withheld	On withdrawals	None on the minimum; on the amount above it
Tax on money taken out	Taxed as income	Taxed as income
Pension income amount and splitting at 65+	Ordinary withdrawals do not qualify	Payments qualify
Age limit	Must mature by the end of the year you turn 71	None; the factor reaches 20% at 95

Sources for the table: CRA RRSP options when you turn 71, the CRA RRIF page and Setting up a RRIF, Income Tax Act s. 146.3, Income Tax Regulations s. 7308 and the CRA pages on pension income above.

Locked-in pension money, such as a LIRA, follows pension law instead and can pay out through a life income fund, which shares the RRIF minimum but has a yearly maximum: see RRIF vs LIF differences.

Withholding on RRIF payments

No tax has to be withheld on your RRIF minimum. Anything you take above the minimum is withheld at one rate based on the size of the extra amount (CRA, Frequently asked questions (RRSPs/RRIFs), question 7). In the year you open a RRIF the minimum is nil, so everything you withdraw that year is above the minimum and subject to withholding. Withholding is a prepayment, not your final tax. The RRIF withholding tax guide has the rates, the Quebec rules and a quick calculator, and the RRIF withdrawal rules page covers what applies once payments start.

Frequently asked questions

When do I have to convert my RRSP to a RRIF?

By December 31 of the year you turn 71. That is also the last day you can contribute to your own RRSP. By then the RRSP has to be withdrawn, transferred to a RRIF or used to buy an annuity.

Is there tax when you convert an RRSP to a RRIF?

Not at the time of the transfer. Your RRSP issuer will not withhold tax on amounts transferred directly to a RRIF. Amounts paid out of the RRIF are taxable when you receive them.

Can I convert my RRSP to a RRIF before 71?

The minimum rules cover it. For a RRIF held before 71, the Income Tax Regulations set the yearly minimum at the January 1 value divided by 90 minus your age, so it is 4% at 65.

Do I have to take money out of my RRIF in the first year?

No. The minimum is nil for the year the RRIF is entered into. Your first minimum is for the following year, based on the RRIF's value and your age on January 1 of that year.

What is the difference between a RRIF and an RRSP?

An RRSP is for saving: you can contribute until the end of the year you turn 71 and there is no required withdrawal. A RRIF pays out: you must take at least the minimum every year after the year it is opened.

Why do some people convert to a RRIF at 65?

If you are 65 or older at the end of the year, RRIF payments are eligible pension income for the pension income amount on line 31400, up to $2,000, and for pension income splitting on Form T1032. Ordinary RRSP withdrawals do not qualify.

Work out your RRIF minimum

Once you know when you will convert, the RRIF withdrawal calculator shows your first minimum, the effect of the spouse election and a year-by-year projection to age 100. It runs in your browser. If you would like a second opinion on when to convert and how fast to draw the RRIF down, you can request a free RRIF drawdown plan review from a licensed financial planner, who may pay us a referral fee (see our disclosure).

Sources

CRA, RRSP options when you turn 71.
CRA, Options for your own RRSPs.
CRA, Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF).
CRA, Setting up a RRIF: no more contributions once the RRIF is established.
Income Tax Act, section 146.3(1): definitions of "minimum amount" (nil in the opening year, the spouse age election) and "successor annuitant".
Income Tax Regulations, section 7308: 1 / (90 minus age) under 71 (subsection 7308(4)) and prescribed factors from age 71.
CRA, Minimum amount from a RRIF.
CRA, Frequently asked questions (RRSPs/RRIFs), question 7: no withholding on the minimum.
CRA, Pension income splitting.
CRA, Line 31400: Pension income amount.
CRA, Information Circular IC78-18R7, Registered Retirement Income Funds.

Written and edited by Eric Do Couto, site owner. Not a licensed financial planner or tax professional, and nothing here is financial, tax or legal advice. Checked against official sources on October 8, 2026. How facts are checked and the calculator is tested: About and method.

Not financial advice. General information only. Your RRSP issuer and RRIF carrier handle the actual conversion, payments and withholding.