Contributions to the Québec Pension Plan

• Who contributes to the Québec Pension Plan?
• How long does the contributory period last?
• Which months may be excluded from the contributory period?

We invite you to find answers to these questions.

Who contributes to the Québec Pension Plan?

You contribute to the Québec Pension Plan if:

• you are 18 years of age or over, and
• your employment earnings are greater than the basic exemption of 3 500 $

If you receive a disability pension, you do not contribute to the Plan.

Basic exemption

You must contribute to the Plan if your employment earnings are greater than 3 500 $. The amount of the exemption is reduced if you were not entitled to participate in the Plan for the whole year. This would be the case if you turned 18 during the year. It would also be the case if you began or stopped receiving a disability pension. The amount of the exemption is also reduced for the year in which you begin receiving a retirement pension or for the year of the contributor's death.

How long does the contributory period last?

For everybody, whether or not they work, the contributory period begins in the month following the 18th birthday, or on 1 January 1966 if a person turned 18 before that date.  

The contributory period ends at the end of the first of the following months:  

• the month preceding the one in which a retirement pension begins;
• the month of the 70th birthday;
• the month of the death.

 
Even if the contributory period ends in the month before your retirement pension begins being paid or the month of your 70th birthday, you will continue to contribute to the Plan as long as you work. Your retirement pension could be increased on the basis of such contributions if your earnings are greater than those of a year that was taken into consideration in the calculation of your pension.

Which months may be excluded from the contributory period ?

• months for which you received either a disability pension under the Québec Pension Plan or the Canada Pension Plan or an unreduced income replacement indemnity from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST)
• starting in 1966¹, the months for which you received family benefits from Québec or Canada in your own name for a child under the age of 7 or the months during which you were eligible for such benefits but none were payable
• the months during which your earnings were the lowest (up to 15% of the period)

1 Year in which the Québec Pension Plan came into effect

To find out more on:

• Calculating contribution
• Calculating pensions
• Partition of earnings
• The future of the Québec Pension Plan
• International Agreements
• Québec Pension Plan Figures 
• What to do if...