RRIF minimum withdrawals: the table and how they work
A registered retirement income fund (RRIF) is what an RRSP usually becomes in retirement. The money stays invested and tax-sheltered, but each year you have to take out at least a set share of it. That share is the RRIF minimum, and it grows with your age.
When an RRSP has to change
By the end of the year you turn 71, you have to do one of three things with your RRSP: move it to a RRIF, use it to buy an annuity, or withdraw it. No tax is withheld on money moved straight from an RRSP to a RRIF. You can move it sooner if you want income from it before then.
How the minimum works
- No minimum in the first year. The minimum starts the year after the RRIF is set up.
- A share of the value. Each year's minimum is the RRIF's value at the start of the year multiplied by a factor for your age at the start of the year.
- More, never less. You can take out more than the minimum, but not less.
- Your spouse's age. You can choose to use your spouse's or common-law partner's age instead, which gives a lower minimum if they are younger. You choose before the first payment, and the choice can't be changed later, even if your spouse dies.
The table
These factors are from the Canada Revenue Agency's page Chart – Prescribed factors, checked on October 27, 2026.
| Age at the start of the year | Minimum share of the RRIF's value |
|---|---|
| 70 or younger | 1 ÷ (90 less your age), such as 4% at 65 |
| 71 | 5.28% |
| 72 | 5.4% |
| 73 | 5.53% |
| 74 | 5.67% |
| 75 | 5.82% |
| 76 | 5.98% |
| 77 | 6.17% |
| 78 | 6.36% |
| 79 | 6.58% |
| 80 | 6.82% |
| 81 | 7.08% |
| 82 | 7.38% |
| 83 | 7.71% |
| 84 | 8.08% |
| 85 | 8.51% |
| 86 | 8.99% |
| 87 | 9.55% |
| 88 | 10.21% |
| 89 | 10.99% |
| 90 | 11.92% |
| 91 | 13.06% |
| 92 | 14.49% |
| 93 | 16.34% |
| 94 | 18.79% |
| 95 or older | 20% |
An example
Suppose your RRIF is worth $300,000 at the start of the year.
- At 72: 5.4% of $300,000 is a minimum of $16,200 that year.
- At 80: on the same balance, 6.82% is $20,460.
The share rises each year, so if the RRIF earns less than the minimum, its value goes down over time.
Tax
- Withdrawals are taxed as income in the year you take them.
- No tax is withheld from the minimum. On anything you take out above it, the RRIF's issuer withholds tax: 10% on up to $5,000, 20% on $5,000 to $15,000, and 30% on more than $15,000. In Quebec the federal rates are 5%, 10% and 15%, and Quebec tax is withheld as well. What is withheld may not cover all the tax you owe.
- From 65, RRIF income can be claimed for the pension income amount, and can be split with a spouse or common-law partner.
- The OAS clawback. RRIF withdrawals count as income, so large ones can add to it. See OAS clawback: the threshold and how much you repay.
These rules are from the Canada Revenue Agency's pages Receiving income from an RRSP, Minimum amount from a RRIF, Receiving income from a RRIF, Tax rates on withdrawals, the T4RSP and T4RIF guide and IC78-18R7 Registered Retirement Income Funds, checked on November 2, 2026.
In the income timeline
The income timeline turns an RRSP, DC pension or LIRA into a RRIF or LIF at 71, the latest the law allows, and from 72 pays at least the minimum each year, even where that is more than the amount it would otherwise pay. It leaves out the minimum on a RRIF set up sooner, and the most a LIF can pay each year.