The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) has implemented the pension assessment, which replaces the Annual Information Return (AIR) fee structure.
FSCO will send a pension assessment notice to all pension plan administrators in February of each year, beginning in 2008. Plan administrators are required to pay the assessment within 30 days of the date of the notice.
The first pension assessment period runs from April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, and applies to plans with fiscal year ends falling within this period. For plans fiscal years ending prior to April 1, 2007, the AIR fee structure still applies.
How the Pension Assessment is Calculated
The pension assessment has two components: a preliminary calculation, similar to the prior AIR fee structure, and an adjustment.
The Preliminary Calculation
The preliminary calculation is based on pension plan membership as provided in the most recent AIR on file that falls within the assessment period. The formula is $6.15 per member and $4.25 per former member and other plan beneficiaries, with a minimum of $250 and a maximum of $75,000 per plan.
The Adjustment
The adjustment reflects the difference between the total pension sector costs for the fiscal year, less the aggregate of all fees, and the amount that would be collected from all pension plans under the preliminary calculation.
- This difference is allocated among all pension plans on a pro rata basis using each pension plan’s preliminary amount and the total amount for all pension plans determined under the preliminary calculation.
- The adjustment may be positive or negative. While minimum and maximum limits apply to the preliminary calculation, the total pension assessment (preliminary calculation plus adjustment) may be less than the minimum or more than the maximum limits of the preliminary calculation.
The Pension Assessment
The pension assessment for a period will be the sum of the preliminary calculation and the adjustment for each pension plan.
Financial Services Commission of Ontario