US Social Security and CDN CPP

[Russ]

I would like to start taking US Social Security and Canadian CPP now-ish if practical. I'm 62 years old.
For CCA, I have the needed number of credits and would get a payment something like: $1500 US / month.
For CPP, it's a small amount and would be something like: $120 CDN / month.

I've looked over the various postings and see there's info about WEP but wondering if would then make sense for now just to take US SS and leave CDN CPP out for now as it's not much extra money. Or go for both as with both amounts added together, it's not a vast total monthly sum and wonder if WEP would even be involved.

Any insight would be appreciated.

[Russ]

Oh and I'm now a Canadian resident and not working in the US.

[formerpatriot]

My wife is 62 and she is in the process of applying for SS.
She had her phone interview yesterday.
We do not know yet how much she will get but here are the rough numbers.
Before WEP, she would get about 1000 USD per month.
She started her QPP (Quebec equivalent to CPP) 2 year ago.
Her QPP is about 600 CAD per month. That’s about 450 USD per month.
WEP should be about 50% of her QPP, thus 225 USD per month.
Therefore her SS will be about 1000 - 225 = 775 USD per month.
She will have SS deposited in her Canadian bank account in CAD.
That will be about 1031 CAD per month.
I am using 1 CAD = 0.75 USD for illustration.

[nelsona]

I too just applied for SS at 62 and have QPP. With 20 years of US work, my WEP "penalty" turned out to be about 35% of my CPP.

The percentage of your penalty goes down with the number of years you worked in US.

If you are not in US, you must attest that you are no longer working in order to begin your application.

[nelsona]

That no longer working anywhere, including self-employed. That is because they cannot verify your earnings throigh payroll SS contributions, which would eliminate your SS in that year,

[Russ]

This looks good as I have over 20 years paid in to the US so, hopefully, the amount of the WEP 'penalty' will not be too much.
But if I understand correctly, the only thing that WEP is applied to is CPP so even 35% of just north of $100 CDN a month is not too damaging.

One other question that probably won't happen but good to know.
What if I got work in the US (under a TN Visa) after I start getting social security, CPP?
Does it basically cause a huge problem for both or can they be put on hold somehow?

As I say, just wondering as there's always the possibility.

Thanks again for all the great info.

[nelsona]

Until you reach 67, any work you do in US can automatically suspend your SS, once you exceed the wage limit for that year (currently $21,000. Once you earn that much, the SS payments stop until the beginning of the next calendar year. At 67 it doesn't matter anymore.

For foreign work, you MUST report to SSA if you do work for more than 45 hours in any month, and your SS will be stopped for those months. As I said, if you are working at all now, they won't even begin the process.

[nelsona]

CPP doesn't care.

[Russ]

Thanks again.

[Russ]

A couple of other questions:

If I sold a non-primary residence property in Canada and there was a capital gain then I've heard that CPP will stop payments if that capital gain does not have a capital loss that could lower the 'income' from it below a certain threshold.

1. Is this also the case for SS where a capital gain causes them stopping payments? I know you said 'work' greater than 45 hours a month would affect payments, or a wage limit of $21K, but what about capital gains?

2. I also have an IRA (via TD Ameritrade) and if I took payments from that, would that money also affect SS not being paid if the amount I took was a sum, periodic or lump?
I'd probably only take lump sums from the IRA when I sold a Canadian property that incurs capital gains to try to zero out the tax due in Canada against the IRA tax credit, but again, does taking the money out the IRA stop the SS payment(s)?

[nelsona]

It's only earned wages and self-employment income/work that counts.

[Russ]

Thanks again.