Hi All,
I started this process a few weeks ago. Below is some of what I've been told by Sun Life, BCCPP, CRA, and a financial advisor. Please check important details with your own tax/financial advisor! Based on my specific circumstances, my advisor
recommended maximizing my purchase of service.
Best,
Dylan
--
Dylan
Cooke, PhD, Assistant Professor
Dept.
of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology
Simon
Fraser University
8888
University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6
778.782.7667
| dfcooke@sfu.ca
First to Steve's question: Can you buy fewer years than the statement of cost lists?
Yes. This is a maximum number of years. I have to buy somewhat less than the maximum because I'm limited by my RRSP contribution room (see below).
RRSP room limits for cash purchase of years of service
My understanding is that there are no tax consequences of using RRSP or Sun Life DCP $ to buy years of service. If you want to maximize your purchase amount and your DCP + RRSP balances total less than that cost of buying maximum years of service,
then you can also use cash to do this, but how much cash you can use is limited by your RRSP contribution room. To find your contribution room, log into your CRA account > tax returns > 2021 notice of assessment, then look for "available contribution room
for 2022". I was told by BCCPP and the CRA that this was the maximum amount of cash that could be used for service purchase. Apparently if you contribute cash over your RRSP limit, the CRA can reject the purchase. You should eventually receive a tax slip
from BCCPP for any cash used to purchase years of service (it's perhaps equivalent to an RRSP contribution).
Submitting forms
Both BCCPP and Sunlife said that digital signatures on forms are fine.
I submitted forms to Sun Life using their app. For Sun Life I think you can only submit images and not PDFs. You can either take photos with your phone or on a computer, open the PDF in acrobat > file >export to > image.
Which forms?
This was confusing at first.
I called BCCPP and was told that Sun Life would ask me to have BCCPP fill out a form but that that wasn't possible. Then I called Sun Life and indeed they wanted form T2151 filled out before they sent a cheque. After some more back and forth,
BCCPP said they could fill out T2151 after receiving the cheque from Sun Life and Sun Life said they could send the cheque
before receiving the form. I hope the messaging by agents is clearer now...
So I ended up filling out and sending form T2151 (supplied by Sun Life) and the entire statement of cost document (which includes the "Invoice" form and the "RRSP/RPP Transfer" form). I sent all of that to both BCCPP and Sun Life. Not sure if
this was overkill.
Dollar amount to enter on BCCPP RRSP/RPP Transfer form
If your Sun Life RPP is invested, the value varies daily, so the exact number you enter on the Transfer form is not important. Just specify that you want the whole balance transferred (if that's what you want).
Latency for Sun Life cheque
I submitted forms on July 8 and was told that the check should be sent to BCCPP by about July 28. BCCPP said that their system will show the cheque received after 1-2 weeks. BCCPP encouraged me to check that they received $ from Sun Life. After
BCCPP gets all $ from Sun Life and you, they begin a process with CRA verifying that the amount is allowed - this takes many weeks, so don't delay starting the process.
Contacting BCCPP and Sun Life
I've had pretty short wait times each time I've called BCCPP and Sun Life
BCCPP: 1-888-440-0111 x1(member of CPP) x4 (buy back), then enter your "person ID #" (from your statement of cost) 8-4:30p M-F PT
Sun Life: 1-866-733-8612 x1 x3. 8a-8p ET
You can also message BCCPP the same place where you submit documents (see above). Latency for written response is 1-2 days in my experience.
On 2022-07-25 2:20 p.m., Steve Kates wrote:
Hello colleagues.
I just spoke to a Sunlife representative and she told me that if we do nothing, SFUs arrangement with Sunlife continues until we retire or leave SFU.
Anke, I was careful to specify our situation but this sounds like different advice than what you received.
Comments?
Also - will the College pension allow us to buy fewer years than what they specify in their communications to us, or do we have to buy exactly the amount they state? Does anyone know?
who would be a good person to talk to at the college pension plan to answer this question?
Thanks. Take care, everyone.
Steve