Address Changes
Whether you receive your pension cheque by mail or by direct deposit directly into your bank account, it is very important that you inform the LPF Office of any change in your address. Also, you want to be sure that you will receive your T4A slip and any other information that the LPF Office may send to you from time to time.
When you move or change other contact information, you can submit a Change of Information Form and mail or fax it to the LPF Office.
Moving Abroad
If you plan to reside outside Canada, you must notify the LPF office, by completing the Change of Address form. If you are also changing your direct deposit to a financial institution outside Canada, you must complete a Direct Deposit Authorization – Non-Canadian Financial Institutions and mail it or fax it to the LPF Office.
You may also send a signed letter with your new information. In your letter/or form include:
- Your full name (printed)
- LPF ID Number, social insurance number or file number
- The effective date of the change
- Your new address and telephone number(s)
For your protection, LPF cannot accept address changes via email or by telephone or from any unauthorized persons.
Banking Changes
For your protection, the LPF Office will not accept changes to your banking information over the telephone.
LPF requires a minimum of 15 days notice. For example, if you want to start your direct deposit effective July 1, your form must be received at the LPF Office before June 15.
Once you’ve submitted your form, do not close your old account until payments are being deposited into the new one. Taking this precaution will ensure there is no interruption in your payments.
Canadian Residents
If you want to switch banks for your direct deposit, or if you changed your account, please complete the Change of Address, and mail, fax or email a scanned copy to the LPF Office along with a voided cheque.
Non-Residents of Canada
To change your banking information to another financial institution outside Canada, please download the Direct Deposit Authorization – Non-Canadian Financial Institutions, and have it completed by your financial institution. You can mail, fax or email a scanned copy to the LPF Office.
Tax Deduction Changes
Your monthly pension is taxable income. The LPF Office is required to deduct income taxes from monthly pensions. However, you should complete the federal and provincial tax forms (TD1s) in order that the correct amount of income taxes may be deducted.
Unless you complete the correct government forms, LPF assumes that your LPF pension is your only source of retirement income, and that you have no tax credits to claim beyond the basic personal credit.
Federal and Provincial governments adjust their tax rates sometimes twice a year. These changes affect the amounts being deducted from your pension.
To check the current tax rates, visit Canada Revenue Agency’s website. CRA offers a Payroll Deductions Online Calculator to model the tax on your pension or other income.
Reduce the federal and provincial tax deductions
If you have additional tax credits, such as a spousal credit, age credit or tuition credit, you will need to complete both a Federal TD1 and/or a Provincial TD1. Provincial tax credits are claimed on one form, and federal credits on the other. Please click here to download the applicable forms from the Canada Revenue Agency website.
Upon receiving the signed forms, LPF will adjust the amount of tax withheld from your monthly pension.
Have additional tax deducted from your pension payments
Send a signed letter to the LPF Office, which must include your full name (printed), social insurance number and the additional monthly dollar amount you want withheld, or click here to download the TD1 form from the Canada Revenue Agency website.
Every time you want to change or reduce the amount of additional tax you must send a signed letter or TD1 forms.
Relationship Changes
If your marital status changes
If you were married when you retired and elected to receive a Joint & Survivor Pension, the person you were married to at that time is the person entitled to the Survivor Pension. Therefore, should you re-marry due to the death or divorce of your spouse at retirement, the Survivor Pension benefit cannot be transferred to your new spouse.
If you were not married when you applied for your pension and received your first pension payment, you are currently receiving a pension payable for your life with pension payments guaranteed for the first five years of retirement, except if you are receiving a disability pension. This option cannot be changed. If you have not received five years of pension payments, you may wish to update your beneficiary by completing and submitting the Beneficiary Designation Form.
If your spouse passes away, please notify the LPF Office so that we can update our records.
For more information please contact the LPF Office.
You are getting separated or divorced from your Spouse
If you and your spouse are getting separated or divorced, the pension you have earned in the LPF, or in any other registered pension plan, during your marriage or common-law relationship, is considered to be a part of “family property” and may be divided between the spouses.
You may be required to include the value of any pension benefits you accumulated in the LPF Pension Plan during the period of your marriage or spousal relationship in your calculation of net family property.
Although it is not mandatory to divide your pension, when you make arrangements to split your assets you may choose or need to pay a portion of your pension to your former spouse.
Please note that Marriage Breakdown Rules vary from province to province. On our website we provide the information pertaining to Ontario, which is the LPF’s province of registration.
If your court order, family arbitration award or a domestic contract such as a separation agreement was signed or executed on or before December 31, 2011 please read the section Ontario Marriage Breakdown Rules before 2012
If your court order, family arbitration award or a domestic contract such as a separation agreement was signed or executed on or after January 1, 2012 please read the section Ontario Marriage Breakdown Rules Effective January 2012
When you have a separation agreement finalized or a court order, please forward a certified copy of any such signed agreement to the LPF Office.
For more information please contact the LPF Office.
Shortened Life Expectancy
If your doctor tells you that you have a life expectancy of less than two years, you may be able to apply to withdraw the remainder of your pension as a lump sum payment.
Depending on your province of employment, if you are a former member or pensioner and a qualified physician who practices medicine in Canada signs a statement that you have an illness or physical disability that is likely to shorten your life expectancy to less than two years, you may be entitled to request that the Commuted Value of your Pension be paid to you as a lump sum cash payment, subject to any provincial statutory requirements.
To apply for Shortened Life Expectancy, you must first complete the Shortened Life Expectancy Application. The following information must be provided:
- Your personal information
- A signed statement from your physician
- Your Spouse’s signed written consent
Please contact the LPF Office for more information.
Power Of Attorney
Have you appointed someone to handle your pension and financial matters if you become incapacitated? It is very important to do so in the event that you are no longer able to deal with your financial decisions in the future.
For the LPF, it is required that you have a Power of Attorney for Property that is valid and operative. The LPF does not need information regarding the Power of Attorney for Personal Care.
When you have a Power of Attorney for Property document, you are granting someone the power to handle your financial matters including your LPF pension. LPF needs a certified copy of your Power of Attorney for Property to accept instructions from the person you appoint as your attorney. Sometimes the Power of Attorney requires other documentation to confirm that it is valid and operative. For example, a note from your doctor may be required indicating that the Power of Attorney is in effect. In this case, this note or letter must also be forwarded to the LPF Office.
An attorney can:
- Update your banking information
- Request additional taxes to be withheld
- Change your mailing address
- Sign LPF’s Pension Payment Confirmation Form on your behalf
- Redirect LPF Correspondence (e.g. Newsletters, T4A slips, Biennial Pension Statements, Notices etc.) to themselves
- Any other pension-related transactions
An attorney cannot:
- Change your beneficiary designation
- Designate beneficiaries under the LPF Pension Plan
If there is no power of attorney in place and you are physically and/or mentally unable to make pension-related decisions, your family may be required to seek legal advice from the proper authorities and make the necessary arrangements. LPF cannot accept changes without the proper authority, i.e. power of attorney or court order.
A Power of Attorney document will no longer be in effect once you pass away.
What to do when a Retiree Dies
Notification of Death
When a pensioner or a beneficiary dies, pension payments must be stopped immediately following the date of death, regardless of whether or not benefits are due to a spouse, beneficiary or estate.
Please contact us as soon as possible when a pensioner dies. Notification may be made by telephone, fax, letter or email.
We will need to know:
- The deceased member’s name
- The LPF ID Number, social insurance number or File Number
- The date of death
- Contact information of the person sending the notice and/or contact information of spouse, beneficiary, executor of the estate or next-of-kin
If we are not notified in time to stop or change payments, there may be an overpayment that will have to be paid back to the LPF before any further benefits are paid, if any.
The amount and number of pension payments to be made after the pensioner’s death, if any, will depend on the type of payment option the pensioner and his spouse elected when he retired, and whether the spouse passed away before the pensioner.
After LPF receives the initial notification, a letter will be sent to the spouse, beneficiary, estate or next-of-kin of the deceased, advising whether further benefits are owed and requesting a copy of the Death Certificate or Funeral Director’s Certificate.
In addition to contacting LPF, the pensioner’s local union must be advised of the death. In order to determine if any benefits are payable from the local union, regarding any coverage for funeral expenses and life insurance, please contact the Benefits Department from the local union.