# merge spousal rrsp and rrsp possible ?



## Ben1491 (Jan 13, 2012)

Wife has spousal RRSP and her own RRSP. Is it possible to consolidate to one ? I stopped the contribution more than 10 years. What about when she setup her RRIF ? Thanks.


----------



## Userkare (Nov 17, 2014)

I had looked into this some time ago. I believe that it was allowed, but there were caveats that made it not worth the effort. Once merged, I believe it then became a spousal RRSP; that's not what I wanted.

Anyway, why not contact the CRA and ask.


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

I'm not finding the CRA link at the moment but did find this one that has links to the archived CRA bulletin ....
http://www.taxtips.ca/rrsp/combinespousalrrsp.htm

The big cavaet is that after combination, what goes forward is the spousal RRSP. This means one has to make sure the contribution source is carefully documented as any spouse contributions in the previous three years means attribution back to the spouse (regardless of who put the last contribution in).


Cheers


----------



## Ben1491 (Jan 13, 2012)

Thank you guys.
Eclectic12, the link is very helpful.


----------



## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

have been working on the exact same thing with the BNS who have advised me that they can be merged under my wifes name providing there have been no contributions over the past 2 yrs.


----------



## Ben1491 (Jan 13, 2012)

Hi frase, do you need to pay anything for the task ?


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

frase said:


> have been working on the exact same thing with the BNS who have advised me that they can be merged under my wifes name providing there have been no contributions over the past 2 yrs.



???

Unless there are planned withdrawals where the individual wants to avoid the withdrawal being attributed back to the high earner, I am not sure why BNS would care or have such a requirement.


... not that it matters to me.


Cheers


----------



## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

When my husband died in 2003, I was the beneficiary of his small RRSP. When I converted my own RRSP to a RRIF two years ago, I tried to combine the two RRSPs and convert them into a single RRIF, mainly because my late husband's was less than $30,000, and it didn't seem worthwhile to open a separate RRIF for it. Scotiabank told me I couldn't do that - that it has to remain a spousal RRIF forever. I think that's ridiculous as obviously no contributions have been made to it since 2003. His own RRSP was transferred into mine immediately after he died, but I'm currently drawing under $100 a month from this silly little spousal RRIF.


----------



## Ben1491 (Jan 13, 2012)

Karen said:


> When my husband died in 2003, I was the beneficiary of his small RRSP. When I converted my own RRSP to a RRIF two years ago, I tried to combine the two RRSPs and convert them into a single RRIF, mainly because my late husband's was less than $30,000, and it didn't seem worthwhile to open a separate RRIF for it. Scotiabank told me I couldn't do that - that it has to remain a spousal RRIF forever. I think that's ridiculous as obviously no contributions have been made to it since 2003. His own RRSP was transferred into mine immediately after he died, but I'm currently drawing under $100 a month from this silly little spousal RRIF.


Could what your husband left you was 'lock-in' RRSP ? If yes, then it has to be in separate account. If not, you can just withdraw the whole fund if you want.


----------



## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

Ben1941:Not sure but I doubt it as the plan in my wifes name will be transferred from another institution and will be new business for them.


----------



## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

I'm sure this has been discussed on other threads. The answer is "maybe". It is legally permitted by CRA, and the combined account becomes a spousal RRSP. But institutions will have additional rules that may or may not allow it in their institutions. Some of them aren't equipped (or aren't willing) to handle how to report withdrawals that may have to be taxed back to the contributing spouse.


----------



## Ben1491 (Jan 13, 2012)

Gave up on calling them (TD Waterhouse). Went there and got it done in less than 5 minutes and no service charge ! Yes, the combined account becomes spousal RRSP.


----------



## umlowcn (Mar 29, 2015)

Ben1491 said:


> Gave up on calling them (TD Waterhouse). Went there and got it done in less than 5 minutes and no service charge ! Yes, the combined account becomes spousal RRSP.


Did u go to TD branch? Our case is a little bit complicated. Wife's has TD Mutual Funds RSP, and TD Direct Investing Spousal RSP. We tried to transfer from TD Mutual Funds RSP to TD Direct Investing Spousal RSP, but TD DI said it cannot be done.


----------



## Ben1491 (Jan 13, 2012)

umlowcn said:


> Did u go to TD branch? Our case is a little bit complicated. Wife's has TD Mutual Funds RSP, and TD Direct Investing Spousal RSP. We tried to transfer from TD Mutual Funds RSP to TD Direct Investing Spousal RSP, but TD DI said it cannot be done.


We went to local TD Waterhouse branch. Both of my wife's accounts are in her own 'self-direct' account. After one day, I checked, and the accounts have been merged. Did you just go to TD bank ? We went sometimes ago, was told they do not know much of this and advised us to call TD Waterhouse.


----------



## umlowcn (Mar 29, 2015)

Ben1491 said:


> We went to local TD Waterhouse branch. Both of my wife's accounts are in her own 'self-direct' account. After one day, I checked, and the accounts have been merged. Did you just go to TD bank ? We went sometimes ago, was told they do not know much of this and advised us to call TD Waterhouse.


Thanks. Yeah, we went to local TD bank branch and the advisor called TD Waterhouse to confirm.

Probably they can only merge if both accounts are at TD Waterhouse, like your's wife case. Or probably both accounts are at branch level, eg TD Mutual Funds RSP and TD Mutual Funds Spousal RSP.


----------

