If you help a parent with their benefits, the government will not talk to you about their file until they give permission in writing. The CRA and Service Canada each have their own forms, and each form allows different things.
This guide explains which form to use, what to do if your parent can no longer manage money, and what to do after a death.
Keep track of their payment dates
The payment calendar on our homepage shows the dates for each benefit. Pick your parent’s province and the benefits they get, such as CPP, OAS or the GIS.
- More than one person: use the “Add another person” button above the picker to set up “Me”, “Mom” and “Dad”, then switch between them.
- Share with family: the “Share my calendar” button makes a link that opens with that person’s province and benefits already chosen. You can copy it, email it or text it to a brother or sister.
- Print it: you can print the calendar, or use the one-page printable calendars for each province to put on the fridge.
Your choices are saved only in the browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to us, and there is no account to create.
Talking to the CRA for them
The CRA handles taxes and tax-based benefits, like the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (formerly the GST/HST credit). To speak to the CRA for your parent, they must authorize you as their representative. A representative can be a family member or a friend.
Two ways to set it up
- Online (fastest): your parent signs in to their CRA account, opens My Account, chooses “Profile”, then “Add” under “Authorized representative(s)”. This needs your parent to already have a CRA account.
- On paper: fill in Form AUT-01, Authorize a Representative for Offline Access. It lets you deal with the CRA by phone, mail, fax and in person, but not online. Send it to the tax centre listed on the form within six months of signing it.
Choose a level of access
For a personal tax account there are two levels. Level 1 lets you see information only. Level 2 lets you see information and make certain changes to the account.
How to cancel it
The access lasts until someone cancels it or it reaches an expiry date, if one was set. Your parent can remove you in My Account right away, call 1-800-959-8281, or send Form AUT-01X, Cancel Authorization for a Representative.
Representative or legal representative?
A representative is someone your parent chose using the steps above. A legal representative is named by a legal document, such as a power of attorney, a court-appointed guardian, or the executor of a will. A legal representative sends the CRA a copy of that document.
Talking to Service Canada about CPP, OAS and GIS
Service Canada runs CPP, OAS and the GIS, and it uses its own form. A CRA authorization does not carry over. Service Canada cannot discuss your parent’s benefits with a spouse, son or daughter without signed consent.
The form is the Consent to Communicate Information to an Authorized Person (ISP-1603). Your parent signs Section 1 and you sign Section 2. If your parent signs with a mark, a witness who is not you signs Section 3.
What it lets you do
- Give and get information about their CPP and OAS, such as payments, benefit rates, tax slips and contributions.
- Report a change of home address.
What it does not let you do
- Apply for benefits, or stop or cancel them.
- Change the bank account or the address where cheques go.
- Start or change tax taken off their payments.
- Use Service Canada’s online services for them.
Service Canada must receive the form within one year of the date your parent signs it. After that, the consent stays in place until your parent cancels it in writing, or until their death. You can mail it or bring it to a Service Canada office. For help, call 1-800-277-9914 (TTY 1-800-255-4786).
When they can’t manage their money
The forms above let you deal with the government, but they do not let you manage your parent’s money. If your parent can no longer handle their own money, you need legal authority to act for them.
Power of attorney
A power of attorney for property is made under provincial law, and your parent must be mentally capable when they sign it. In Ontario it is called a Continuing Power of Attorney for Property. Ontario offers a free kit to make one, and a lawyer is not required. Other provinces have their own rules, so check your provincial government’s website.
With a power of attorney, you can ask Service Canada to change your parent’s bank account or payment address. You do not need the ISP-1603 form, but you must send a certified copy of the power of attorney. For the CRA, a power of attorney makes you a legal representative, and you send them a copy too.
If someone such as a power of attorney or trustee manages your parent’s CPP, the CPP application must be done on a paper form, not online.
Becoming a trustee for CPP and OAS
If there is no power of attorney, Service Canada can pay your parent’s CPP and OAS to a trustee. Two forms are needed:
- Certificate of Incapability (ISP-3505): filled in by a medical professional, such as a doctor, nurse practitioner or psychologist. It cannot be someone related by blood or marriage to your parent or to you.
- Agreement to administer benefits by a Private Trustee (ISP-3506): filled in and signed by you, with a witness.
Mail both forms to Service Canada. As trustee, you agree to do this without charge and to:
- Spend the benefits in your parent’s best interests.
- Keep yearly records of money received and spent, and send an accounting report if asked.
- Tell Service Canada if your parent moves, leaves Canada, can manage their own affairs again, or dies.
- Return any payments sent after the month of death.
Provincial benefits
Provincial programs have their own rules. For example, ODSP in Ontario can appoint a trustee, such as a relative or friend, to manage a person’s income support. ODSP does not appoint a trustee if the person already has a power of attorney for property or a guardian of property. Ask your parent’s caseworker.
After a death
Tell the government as soon as you can. This helps avoid having to pay money back later. In a province, the vital statistics office tells the Social Insurance Number program about the death. You still need to contact Service Canada and the CRA yourself.
- Call Service Canada about CPP and OAS at 1-800-277-9914, Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm local time. Have their Social Insurance Number, date of birth and date of death ready. See cancelling CPP and OAS after a death.
- Tell the CRA by calling 1-800-959-8281, or by mailing Form RC4111, Notify the Canada Revenue Agency of a Death.
- Sort out CPP and OAS payments. The estate keeps the payments for the month of death. All payments issued after that month must be returned. For direct deposit, ask the bank to send them back. For cheques, mail them back uncashed.
- Check CRA benefit payments. If your parent died before the month a Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit payment was due, no more payments will be issued. If a payment arrives in or after the month of death and has not been cashed, return it so the CRA can pay it to the estate. A surviving spouse may be able to get this benefit on their own tax return.
- Apply for the CPP death benefit. It is a one-time payment of $2,500. A top-up of another $2,500 (up to $5,000) applies only if the person never got a CPP or QPP retirement or disability pension and left no spouse or partner who can get a survivor’s pension. The executor should apply within 60 days of the death, online or with Form ISP1200.
- A surviving spouse or common-law partner should apply for the CPP survivor’s pension. It is not automatic, and waiting may mean losing benefits. Use My Service Canada Account or Form ISP1300.
- File the final tax return. The executor is the legal representative for the estate. The final return is due April 30 of the next year if the death was between January 1 and October 31, or six months after the death if it was between November 1 and December 31.
If you were your parent’s CRA representative, your access does not end on its own at death. It stays until the estate’s legal representative asks for it to be removed. Service Canada consent given on Form ISP-1603 ends at death.
Watch for scams
The CRA says it will never demand payment by gift card, prepaid credit card, e-transfer or cryptocurrency, send refunds by text, or threaten arrest. Service Canada will not call or email asking for a Social Insurance Number or credit card number.
If a call or message worries your parent, hang up and call the number on this page yourself. Report scams to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.
Common questions
Can I call Service Canada about my mom’s pension?
Only if she has given written consent on Form ISP-1603, or you hold legal authority such as a power of attorney or trustee role.
Does one form cover both the CRA and Service Canada?
No. The CRA uses My Account or Form AUT-01, and Service Canada uses Form ISP-1603. Most families need both.
Can I change my dad’s direct deposit for him?
Not with a consent form. For CPP and OAS, only your dad, his power of attorney, a legal representative or a trustee can change where payments go.
Does the family have to pay back the pension for the month my parent died?
No. The estate keeps the CPP and OAS payments for the month of death. Only payments issued after that month must go back.
How much is the CPP death benefit?
It is $2,500. It can be up to $5,000 if the person never received a CPP or QPP pension and left no spouse or partner who qualifies for a survivor’s pension.
What if my parent can’t sign anything anymore?
A consent form or a new power of attorney needs a capable person to sign it. For CPP and OAS, you can apply to be their trustee with Forms ISP-3505 and ISP-3506. For other matters, your province may have a guardianship process or a public guardian, such as Ontario’s Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee.
Share a calendar with family
You can set up your parent’s payment dates once and send them to the rest of the family in a minute:
- Open the payment calendar on our homepage.
- Under “Whose calendar?”, press Add another person and choose a nickname such as Mom or Dad.
- Pick their province and tick the benefits they get. The calendar updates straight away and remembers their choices on your device.
- Press Share Mom’s calendar (or Dad’s), then copy the link, email it or text it. Whoever opens the link sees the same payment dates, already picked.
The link holds only the province and the benefits, never a name, a SIN or any banking details. Press Me to go back to your own dates at any time.