Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the Department.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle du ministère.
MINISTER/DM'S OFFICE YS# 95-08665M
ADM'S OFFICE
RETURN TO 15TH FLOOR, ALBION TOWER
PENDING COPY
XXXXXXXXXX
Dear XXXXXXXXXX:
I am replying to your letter of November 15, 1995, addressed to the Honourable David Anderson, former Minister of National Revenue, and further to your telephone conversation of December 11, 1995, with Mr. G. Middleton, a departmental officer, regarding the entitlement of your client, XXXXXXXXXX to the guaranteed income supplement. I apologize for the delay in responding.
Section 13 of the Old Age Security Act provides that a person's income for a calendar year for the purpose of determining the person's entitlement to a guaranteed income supplement is the income of the person for that year computed in accordance with the Income Tax Act. The pension income XXXXXXXXXX received from the Dutch government in 1994 is required to be included in the computation of her income under section 56 of the Income Tax Act. Therefore, it is included in the computation of her income under section 13 of the Old Age Security Act for the purpose of determining her entitlement to the guaranteed income supplement.
With respect to the basic objective of the Agreement on Social Security between Canada and the Netherlands - July 1989 which reads "to ease or eliminate restrictions on the payment of social security benefits abroad", it would appear that, if pursuant to the Agreement your client began to receive a pension from the Netherlands, then the Agreement would in fact be achieving that objective. In addition, it is my understanding that there is no provision in the Agreement that overrides the requirement, as set out above, that XXXXXXXXXX pensions from the Netherlands be included in the computation of income to determine her eligibility for the guaranteed income supplement.
I trust my comments have explained the issue you raised.
Yours sincerely,
Pierre Gravelle, Q.C.
Greg Middleton
(957-2131)
December 18, 1995