Social Security Pension Splitting

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I am a Canadian citizen who spent some time working in the United States. I'm now a Canadian resident and no longer a "US person". My wife an I both have Social Security entitlements, but my entitlement is about twice the size of her's. We're still a few years from collecting Social Security, but for tax planning purposes I'm wondering if CRA allows pension splitting of Social Security income? I've read that CRA allows pension splitting for "eligible pension income", and CRA defines "eligible pension income" at the below link.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency ... ncome.html

Ineligible income includes "any foreign source pension income that is tax-free in Canada because of a tax treaty that allows you to claim a deduction at line 25600 of your return."

I think this must be the case for Social Security, because the below link indicates that a person can claim a 15% deduction for Social Security on line 25600, which is presumably the IRS withholding tax amount.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency ... tions.html

If it's true that Social Security income cannot be split, I'll probably plan for a more aggressive investment strategy in her IRA and RRSP accounts so she'll have a higher balance in those accounts at age 70 than I will in mine.

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Actually, it seems like the 15% deduction on line 25600 is the amount of Social Security that is considered "tax free" in the US. Is the remaining 85% eligible for pension splitting?

And a separate but related question, will Social Security be taxed at all in the US, or does the totalization agreement specify that it will only be taxed in Canada for Canadian residents?

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I should read the whole link I provided earlier, CRA lists the types of eligible pension income for pension splitting. The 85% of Social Security that is taxable in Canada does seem to be eligible for pension splitting.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency ... ncome.html

So I guess I just need to know if any of our Social Security income would be taxable in the USA? I've always assumed they would take 15% withholding as they do with IRA and 401k income, and I was getting that confused with the 15% of social security that is tax-free for anyone in the USA.

[MaggieA]

Dual citizen now collecting US Social Security while residing in Canada. Spouse is also collecting US SS, but less than me. So our situation is the same as yours except that we're dual citizens, but I don't think that makes any difference for SS.

1. None of your SS is taxable in the US. It is taxed only in Canada.

2. The full amount of your US SS (converted to CAD, of course) is reported on line 11500 (other pensions and superannuation).

3. 15% of the SS amount is deducted on line 25600.

4. The taxable 85% of your SS can indeed be split with your spouse, via the usual joint election for split pension form (T1032). Spouse reports the split amount on line 11600 of their T1, and you deduct it on line 21000 of yours.

I am sure of all this because this year, for the first time, because of some other income complications, we had our Canadian and US returns done by a cross-border accountant. I have full confidence in the accountant and they did all the things I've listed above.

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Thank you very much for sharing your experience, @MaggieA. It's quite difficult for me to understand the mechanics of this without going through the forms myself, but we're a few years away from actually needing to report Social Security income so it's nice to hear from someone with experience. I am pleasantly surprised to learn that 15% of Social Security is tax-free on both sides of the border!