An Individual Pension Plan or IPP is a Canadian retirement savings vehicle. An IPP is a one-person maximum Defined Benefit Pension Plan (DB Plan) which allows the plan member to accrue retirement income on a tax-deferred basis. As such, an IPP must conform to the Canadian Income Tax Act (ITA) and regulations (ITR) as well as the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) with respect to defined benefit pension plans.
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Some of these rules and regulations are:
a) The plan sponsor is an incorporated, active company;
b) The plan member is an employee of the corporation who earns T4 or T4PS employment income from the corporation;
c) The pension plan document indicates a formula defining the amount of benefit to be earned by the plan member;
d) Plan Investments must follow strict guidelines;
e) Plan sponsor contributions to an IPP, as certified by an actuary, are deductible from corporate income; and
f) Benefits paid out of the IPP are taxed upon receipt.
The IPP member is a Connected Person or a Highly-paid Employee (who is a non-Connected Person). The ITR defines these members as Specified Individuals.
The plan sponsor is the corporation employing the member and paying the member's T4 income. IPP contributions are essentially a portion of the member’s T4 income transferred via the corporation to the IPP funding vehicle.
DB Plan contributions must be calculated by an Actuary based on the Pension benefit formula, the member’s age and T4 earnings history, and a set of actuarial assumptions.
Because the IPP only provides benefits to Specified Individuals, the IPP is termed a Designated Plan. While a Designated Plan, the IPP is subject to maximum funding restrictions.
Maximum funding restrictions require the actuary to use ITR-mandated actuarial assumptions. When the IPP is no longer a Designated Plan, the actuary may use his discretion to determine appropriate actuarial assumptions.