Contributions to the Québec Pension Plan

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 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 payment of a retirement pension under the Plan begins
• the month of your 70th birthday
• the month of death

Even if the contributory period ends in the month preceding the one in which your retirement pension begins or the month of your 70th birthday, you must continue to contribute to the Québec Pension Plan as long as you work and your income is greater than the basic exemption of 3 500 $. In return, you will receive a retirement pension supplement.

What months are 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
• Months during which your earnings were the lowest (up to 15% of the period)