Withholding Tax on RRIF Withdrawals: Why Nothing Comes Off the Minimum

Your registered retirement income fund has started paying you, and your first RRIF payment arrived whole. Nothing came off it for tax. That's the rule for the minimum, not a sign that you owe nothing. Every dollar of it counts as your income, and you settle the tax on it when you file. Take anything above the minimum and whoever holds your account keeps part of it back before you see it. It's 10%, 20% or 30%, depending on how much extra you take in one go, with a lower federal rate in Quebec. None of those rates is your tax bill. Your bill is based on your whole year's income, worked out in the spring, and what was held back only counts toward it.

Key takeaways

• Nothing is withheld on your minimum. You're paid the full amount, and the tax on it is yours to pay when you file, by April 30 of the following year.¹²
• Anything you take above the minimum has tax held back before it reaches you, at 10%, 20% or 30%, depending on how much extra you take. If you're in Quebec, the federal part is lower and your province withholds its own on top.³
• What was held back is not your tax. It's credited toward your bill when you file, and your bill can be bigger than what was held back.³
• Owe more than $3,000 at filing time, this year and in one of the two years before it, and you're asked to pay quarterly instalments.⁴ Your minimum, with nothing withheld, can put you there on its own.
• You can ask your carrier to take tax off the minimum anyway.¹ It's your call, and you set the amount.

Why is nothing withheld on your RRIF minimum?

Because the regulation that puts tax on lump-sum payments makes an exception for it. A payment out of your RRIF is treated as a lump sum with tax taken off, except to the extent that it's your minimum amount for the year.² Your carrier, the bank, trust company or insurer your account sits with, has to pay you at least the minimum, and isn't required to withhold anything on it.¹

What the exception doesn't do is change what you owe. Every dollar that leaves your RRIF is income in the year it reaches you, the minimum included, and you're taxed on it at whatever rate the rest of your year puts you at.³ The tax on the minimum is due by April 30 of the next year, unless you've already been moved onto instalments.¹

If you've had tax taken off every paycheque of your working life, the first RRIF payment that lands whole can feel like a gift. It's still taxable, and the spring after, you're the one who pays it.

How much tax is withheld above the minimum?

That depends on how much extra you take in one payment. If you live in Canada, 10% comes off an amount up to $5,000. On amounts over $5,000, up to and including $15,000, it's 20%. Over $15,000, 30% is held back before it reaches you.³ If your funds are held in Quebec, the federal part is 5%, 10% and 15% on those same amounts, and provincial tax comes off as well.³ So the lower figure you'll see quoted for Quebec isn't a discount, because it's only the federal part of what comes off.

Those rates apply to the extra, and only the extra. If your minimum this year is $15,840 and you ask for $20,000 in one go, the withholding is worked out on the $4,160 above the minimum, not on the whole $20,000.¹ That $4,160 is an amount up to $5,000, so $416 comes off and the rest reaches you. The figures are illustrative. The point is that the minimum never counts toward the band you land in.

One thing moves you into a different band. If you ask your carrier for a set amount every month on top of the minimum, your rate comes from the year's total, not from each payment on its own.¹ The example in the rules is $1,500 a month above the minimum, which is $18,000 for the year. That total is over $15,000, so 30% comes off each month's $1,500, even though $1,500 on its own would have had 10% taken off.¹ The amount is still worked out on the part of each payment that sits above your minimum, and only the rate comes from the year's total.¹ If you make a separate request for another amount partway through the year, that one is treated on its own.¹ If you split one withdrawal into several requests a few days apart to get the lower rate, your carrier is expected to apply the rate for the total.¹

If you live outside Canada, your rates are different. Withholding on a RRIF payment to a non-resident is 25%, unless a tax treaty with the country you live in brings it lower.³

The same $15,840, taken two ways

Picture a $300,000 RRIF on January 1, and you're 71 that day. The factor at 71 is 5.28%, so your minimum for the year is $15,840.⁵ Take exactly that and nothing is held back. All $15,840 lands in your account.¹

Now picture the same $15,840 taken as an extra withdrawal, on top of a minimum you've already received. That's an amount over $15,000, so 30% comes off it. You're paid $11,088, and $4,752 is sent in under your name.³ In Quebec the federal part is 15%, which is $2,376, and your province's own withholding comes off as well.³

The tax you'll owe on that $15,840 is the same either way. It's your income in both cases, taxed at your rate on your return. The only difference is whether part of it was sent in during the year or all of it waits for April.

Put your own balance and your own age through the RRIF minimum calculator, and you'll see where your minimum sits and what comes off anything you take past it.

What was held back is not what you owe

Whatever your carrier held back goes to the Canada Revenue Agency under your name, and when you file, it's credited against the tax on your whole year's income.³ If more was held back than you owe, the difference comes back to you as a refund. If less was, you pay the rest by April 30.¹

The rates aren't tied to your bracket. Take that same $4,160 above the minimum, with $416 held back. If you're in Alberta and your income sits in the second federal bracket, your rate on it is a combined 30.50%, so your tax on the $4,160 is about $1,269 and the other $853 is due when you file.⁷ The 30% withholding band has the same problem the other way. It's about right only if that happens to be your rate, and it's too much or too little for everyone else. What was withheld may not be enough to cover the tax at your bracket.³

If you've never once owed money at filing time, the first spring this happens to you can feel like something went wrong. Nothing did. Nothing came off during the year, so the whole of it lands on you now.

What you'll actually owe depends on everything else on your return, a pension, your Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security payments, any interest, and nothing on the RRIF payment itself can tell you that. Last year's notice of assessment shows what your income came to and what you paid on it, and that's the closest guide you have to this year.

When the minimum alone puts you on instalments

When your bill at filing time is over $3,000, and it was over $3,000 in one of the two years before, you're asked to pay next year's tax in quarterly instalments instead of all at once in April.⁴ If you're in Quebec, your line is $1,800.⁴ Both parts have to apply to you. One big year on its own doesn't do it.

This is how the minimum, with nothing withheld, turns into a second bill. Take the $15,840 from before. If you're in Alberta, that falls at a combined 22.00% in your lowest band and 30.50% in the one above it, which is about $3,485 or about $4,831 of tax.⁷ Which one you meet depends on what else you report, and at either one the tax on the minimum by itself is over $3,000.⁴ Do that two years running with nothing held back, and a reminder arrives the year after, with a suggested amount for each quarter.⁶ A reminder isn't a bill. If your net tax owing for the year turns out to be $3,000 or less, or $1,800 or less in Quebec, you don't have to pay the instalments it asks you for.⁶

Instalments aren't extra tax. You're paying the same bill in pieces during the year instead of in one piece the following April.⁴ What changes for you is that the money has to leave your account four times a year, on dates that aren't yours to pick.

What you can ask your carrier for

You can have tax taken off the minimum. There's a form for it, Form TD1, the personal tax credits return, and it lets you ask your carrier to withhold more than the rules require, so that what you'd owe in the spring is smaller or gone.¹ The amount is yours to set.

The reverse is open to you too. If your income from all sources is low enough that you won't owe any tax for the year, you can certify that on the same form, and your carrier isn't required to withhold on the extra.¹

You can also change how much above the minimum you take, at any point in the year.¹ If you asked for monthly payments in January and you don't need them by June, you're not locked in.

Whether to have tax taken off the minimum anyway

If your other income arrives with tax already taken off, a workplace pension or a salary from a job you've kept, the withholding on it covers a good part of your spring bill, and you can leave the minimum alone without much landing on you in April, which is why most people in that position do.

If your other income arrives without tax taken off, you're the person the instalment rule is aimed at. Leave the minimum alone and the whole year's tax lands on you in one piece in April, and the reminder follows the year after.

If you've had that reminder once, withholding on everything you take from the RRIF is the direct way out of it. Instalments exist for income that doesn't have enough tax withheld, so enough tax held back during the year keeps what you owe at filing time under $3,000, and the reminders stop.⁶

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Common questions

Do I pay tax on my RRIF minimum if nothing was withheld?+

Yes. Your minimum counts as your income for the year like any other RRIF withdrawal. Nothing was held back, so the tax on it is due when you file, by April 30 of the following year, unless you've been moved onto instalments.

Can I ask my bank to withhold tax on my RRIF minimum?+

Yes. You can ask your carrier to withhold more than the rules require, using Form TD1, and you set the amount yourself. Set it high enough and there's nothing left for you to pay in the spring.

Is the withholding tax on a RRIF refundable?+

It's credited against your tax when you file. If more was held back than you owe for the year, the difference comes back to you as a refund. If less was, you pay the rest.

Why was 30% withheld on my monthly RRIF payment?+

Because you asked for the year's extra in one request, and that's what sets your band. When a set amount above your minimum reaches you every month, your rate comes from the year's total rather than from each payment, so a total over $15,000 means 30% comes off each month's extra.

Is RRIF withholding tax lower in Quebec?+

The federal part is lower, at 5%, 10% and 15%. But your province withholds its own tax on top of that, so what you see quoted isn't the whole of what comes off your withdrawal, and it isn't a discount.

What if I live outside Canada?+

If you've left Canada, your rate is different. Withholding on a RRIF payment to someone living outside Canada is 25%, unless there's a tax treaty with the country you're in that brings it lower for you.

Sources

1. CRARRSPs and RRIFs frequently asked questions for plan administrators, section 7. No withholding is required on minimum amounts; withholding on amounts in excess of the minimum at the lump-sum rates, computed on the excess portion; tax on the minimum due by April 30 of the following year unless instalments apply; the rate on a single request paid in instalments is set by the total, with the $1,500 a month example; a separate request is treated on its own; a series of requests made to lower the rate is treated as one; the annuitant may change the election to take more than the minimum at any time during the year; an annuitant may ask the payer to withhold more using Form TD1; no withholding required where reportable income shows no tax liability, certified on the same form. Page dated 2014-08-01. Accessed 2026-09-04.
2. Justice LawsIncome Tax Regulations, C.R.C., c. 945, section 103(6)(d.1). A payment under a RRIF is a lump-sum payment for withholding purposes, other than to the extent that it is in respect of the minimum amount for the year. Consolidation current to 2026-06-21, last amended 2026-06-18. Accessed 2026-09-04.
3. CRATax rates on withdrawals. 10% (5% in Quebec) on amounts up to $5,000, 20% (10% in Quebec) on amounts exceeding $5,000 up to and including $15,000, 30% (15% in Quebec) on amounts over $15,000; provincial tax also withheld in Quebec; the tax withheld may not be enough to cover the tax at your bracket; 25% for non-residents unless reduced by a treaty. Page dated 2026-01-29. Accessed 2026-09-04.
4. CRARequired tax instalments for individuals. Instalments may be required if net tax owing is more than $3,000 ($1,800 for Quebec) for the year and in either of the two previous years; instalments cover the tax otherwise paid in one sum on April 30 of the following year. Page dated 2026-01-20. Accessed 2026-09-04.
5. CRAChart, prescribed factors. The factor of .0528 at age 71 for a RRIF. Page dated 2025-10-01. Accessed 2026-09-04.
6. CRARequired tax instalments for individuals, who has to pay. Instalments apply where income does not have enough tax withheld; both the current-year and prior-year conditions must apply; reminders (form INNS1) are sent in February and August with a suggested amount; a reminder received while net tax owing for the year is $3,000 or less ($1,800 or less for Quebec) does not have to be paid. Page dated 2026-01-20. Accessed 2026-09-04.
7. CRACurrent year tax rates and income brackets, 2026. Federal 14% to $58,523 and 20.5% to $117,045; Alberta 8% to $61,200 and 10% to $154,259, giving combined marginal rates of 22.00% and 30.50%. Page dated 2026-06-25. Accessed 2026-09-04.

Educational, not financial advice. Figures verified against primary sources on the date shown.

See it in a story: "The Question That Keeps Her Up," thirty years of putting money into the RRSP, and nobody ever taught her how to take it back out. For how your minimum itself is worked out, there's the guide to RRIF minimums, and for which of your accounts to draw on first, the guide to withdrawal order. The rest of the drawdown question is in the retirement hub.