I have a T4RIF issued to the surviving spouse for over $160,000. Sun Life has also issued an RRSP Contribution Receipt to the surviving spouse for the same amount, with a note “Transfer in 60 L”
I have entered the T4RIF under Box 16, the full amount is also in Box 24, I have designated Box 24 as Amounts transferred to RRIF. So no income inclusion.
The Question: What do I do with the RRSP Contribution Receipt? The surviving spouse is 84 years old??
If you are E-filing the T1 return then you really don’t do anything with the RRSP Contribution Receipt other than keep a copy of it on file in case you get asked for documentation to support a line 232 deduction. You do not enter the receipt in the tax software.
Technically speaking, the financial institution is not supposed to issue an RRSP Contribution receipt, but they are to issue a receipt or letter stating the funds were transferred to a RRIF. It gets a bit confusing for some of them because you can’t make a contribution to a RIF. Some institutions don’t have such a receipt in their arsenal, so they issue an RRSP receipt as if it was a RRIF receipt. Personally, I have never come across a situation where the CRA has not accepted an RRSP receipt in lieu of a RRIF receipt to support a line 232 deduction.
I often wondered about that when I saw this situation. Thanks so much for the clarification.
I found your reply to be helpful in clarifying the documentation in transferring RIF to beneficiary spouse after death of the named account holder.
The entire domain of topic of RRSP, RIF, LRSP, LRIF, HBP, LLLP, transferring of retiring allowance, contribution vs spousal contribution, 1st 60 days + remainder VS calendar year - all of this is so overwhelming to most of my clients.
Often the support at the bank branch level is unclear or unhelpful.
I helps me to understand how to deal with difficult or confusing situations by learning what other tax preparers experience and how they handle the documentation. You in particular I find to be very generous with sharing your experience, tips, and tools.
Thank you.
Thank you for your help with this. It did seem that I shouldn’t have the receipt, but I do doubt myself in the face of bureaucracy.
This is an interesting situation!
What I am most curious about in this conversation is that why wasn’t the RRSP converted to a RRIF at age 71? ?
Or was the deceased spouse a lot younger? ?
If it had been converted to a RRIF transfer of ownership is easy
If it should have been converted and wasn’t what tax implications are involved?
Since the surviving spouse is 84 I am assuming the RRSP must be immediately converted to a RRIF
Paul
My understanding is it was likely a RIF to RIF transfer. A T4RIF was generated for the deemed proceeds on death, and an RRSP contribution receipt (rather than a formal RIF deduction receipt) was issued to indicate the proceeds were transferred under 60 L to the surviving spouse’s RIF.
CRA has a decent summary here:
Yes, I’ve seen a few RRSP slips get issued when it really was transferred to a RIF.
When there is a transfer from a RRIF to RRSP, per the T4RIF slip, should TaxCycle automatically recognize the deduction from income? Per @gaywise and @snoplowguy in this thread, it sounds like it should. I just had a client with this exact situation (for 2021) and TaxCycle shows the income on line 13000, but no deduction anywhere. I had to enter a bogus RRSP contribution receipt to reflect this fact. Am I missing something???
Yours is a different situation @Nezzer. In your case the transfer was from a RRIF to an RRSP (not a RRIF to RRIF) so you are required to have an offsetting RRSP contribution receipt that you will enter in the RRSP Contributions Worksheet. If the client does not have a proper RRSP receipt they need to contact their financial institution… a “bogus receipt” doesn’t count. 
If you look at the T4RIF input screen you will notice 3 selections for Box 24 (Withdrawal, Transfer to RRIF, and transfer to RRSP). If you enter the withdrawal in the “Transfer to RRIF” box 24 then TaxCycle automatically claims the deduction on line 23200 (although you are still required to have some type of receipt to prove the amount was transferred to a surviving RRIF). If you enter the withdrawal in the “Transfer to RRSP” box 24 the deduction requires an RRSP contribution be entered in the RRSP Contributions worksheet and the deduction is taken on line 20800 of the T1 return. Once again, the client should have an RRSP contribution receipt.
By selecting Box 24 - Transfer to RRSP on the T4RIF it ensures the contribution does not have an impact on the client’s RRSP deduction limit… essentially any amount can be transferred to the survivor’s RRSP regardless of whether they have contribution room or not.
Aha. Thanks. Sorry, I didn’t re-read the initial post close enough. But, anyways, I didn’t realize the client needs an official contribution receipt.