Withdraw from your LIF

With a Life Income Fund (LIF), you have a minimum amount that you must withdraw, as well as a maximum amount that you are allowed to withdraw, each year. 

Quebec LIF changes
The Province of Quebec has introduced significant changes to the LIF payment regulations, which will come into effect on January 1, 2025.

Highlights of the changes:
  • As of 1 January 2025, there is no upper limit related to withdrawals (no maximum income) for annuitants aged 55 or over at the time of withdrawal application. The minimum amount remains unchanged.
  • As of 1 January 2025, no amount can be directly transferred from a LIF to a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), a registered retirement income fund (RRIF), or a non-locked-in account under a voluntary retirement savings plan (VRSP).
  • As of 1 January 2025, you can no longer request a refund of the balance (unlocking) of a life income fund (LIF) in either of the following two situations:
    • Small amount unlocking: You’re 65 and over and the total of the locked-in amounts accrued does not exceed 40% of the maximum pensionable earnings (MPE) of the year
    • Non-resident unlocking: You haven’t lived in Canada for at least 2 years

For more details, please review the following link from Retraite Québec: Amendments to LIFs as of 2025 (English, French).

Find your minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts

Both your minimum and maximum amounts are determined by the government. When you make a withdrawal through Wealthsimple, we’ll help you stay within these limits.

Note: If you do not make a withdrawal for your minimum amount by the end of the calendar year, the CRA requires us to manually make a withdrawal on your behalf. 

To find your minimum and maximum withdrawal amount, follow these steps: 

Web Mobile app
  1. Log in to your Wealthsimple account
  2. Select Move money from the Home page
  3. In the From field, select your LIF
  4. You will see your minimum and maximum withdrawal amount
Note: You'll be redirected to our old website. This is expected. 
  1. Log in to your Wealthsimple mobile app
  2. Tap the Move tab at the bottom of your screen
  3. Select the Withdraw menu item
  4. Select your LIF and tap Next
  5. Choose the destination for your withdrawal and tap Next
  6. Here, you will see your Yearly minimum remaining which is the amount you must withdraw by the end of the calendar year

Withdrawing more than your minimum amount

When you withdraw more than your annual minimum, the extra amount you withdraw will be subject to a withholding tax. We'll automatically take the holding tax out of your withdrawal and pay it to the government. The amount of withholding tax we send depends on which province you live in.

If you withdraw:

Withholding tax rate (excluding Quebec):

Withholding tax rate (Quebec residents):

Up to $5,000

10%

20%

Between $5,001 and $15,000

20%

25%

More than $15,001

30%

30%

There is no minimum withdrawal amount in the calendar year that you convert your LIRA into a LIF. You won't need to make a minimum withdrawal that year, and any withdrawal that you do make will be subject to a withholding tax.

There will also not automatically be a maximum setup for your account during the calendar year that you convert your LIRA into a LIF. If you wish to make a withdrawal, we will need to generate this maximum manually. Please reach out to our support team so that we can provide you with a maximum amount for the year, and help you set up your withdrawal.

Example

If you convert your LIRA this calendar year into a LIF, you aren’t required to withdraw any amount from your LIF until the following calendar year. If you decide to withdraw funds this year, they will be subject to withholding tax.

The following calendar year, you will be required to withdraw the minimum amount which won’t be subject to withholding tax. Any amount withdrawn over the minimum in the next calendar year will be subject to withholding tax.

Tip: You can learn more about withdrawing from a LIF here.

How to make a withdrawal

When you make a withdrawal from an LIF, you can choose whether to withdraw your annual minimum amount, your annual maximum amount, or some other amount.

Web Mobile app
  1. Sign in to your Wealthsimple account
  2. Select Move money from the Home page
  3. In the From field, select your LIF
  4. In the To field, select your desired bank account
  5. Choose your Reason for withdrawal
  6. In the Amount field, enter an amount
  7. Under Amount, you can select Minimum, Maximum, or Other
  8. Select your Frequency
  9. Click Set withdrawal
  10. Set withdrawal
  1. Log in to your Wealthsimple mobile app
  2. Tap the Move tab at the bottom of your screen
  3. Select Withdraw
  4. Choose your LIF and tap Next
  5. Follow the prompts to continue setting up your withdrawal
Note: When you make a withdrawal from an LIF, you can choose whether to withdraw your annual minimum amount or some other amount within you maximum limit. You must withdraw the minimum amount by the end of the calendar year. You may choose to withdraw up to maximum, however any amount greater than your minimum will be subject to withholding tax.

Why do I need to withdraw my minimum before an internal transfer?

This is a requirement mandated by the CRA that Wealthsimple must follow when processing your internal transfer request.

Was this article helpful?

Have more questions? Submit a request

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Withdraw from your account

Want to talk to a human?

Our Client Success team is here to help.