What to do if you went over your RRSP contribution limit + MORE Sep 16th

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Long before I turned 60, I fantasized that a foundation piece of my ultimate financial independence would be taking the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) as early as possible: at age 60.
Mind you, there used to be a slight actuarial advantage to taking early CPP at 60 but that was negated a few years ago. And while several friends I know are happy to have collected it at 60, here I am at 63, and have still not opted to receive CPP. (However, as we wrote in my previous column “Why I’m taking OAS right at 65,” even though there is a premium paid to those who defer starting their OAS, I DO plan to take OAS as soon as it’s on offer when I turn 65.)
CPP guru Doug Dahmer, CEO of Burlington, Ont.-based Emeritus Financial (see their CPP Optimizer tool) insists an uninformed decision about when to start collecting CPP can cost hundreds of thousands in potential benefits…

Canada Post could start charging annual fees for door-to-door delivery, resume its push to community mail boxes, or distribute legalized marijuana, but the troubled Crown corporation won’t be financially “self-sustaining” over the next decade unless it deals with its looming pension crisis. So says a task force that’s been looking at options for the future of the nation’s postal service. […]

Q: I over-contributed about $900 to my RRSP but I’ve already submitted my taxes. I want to remove the excess and put it in my TFSA. If I do that, what steps do I have to take to adjust my tax return and will I owe a penalty?
—Eileen Tan, Toronto
A: Take a deep breath. You don’t need to do anything. You are within the $2,000 of wiggle room the CRA provides on over-contributions. And if the $900 contribution was made in the first two months of the year, it can be applied to either the prior year or current year.
Even though you aren’t facing a penalty, there are a few ways to shift that amount to your TFSA if you really want to. Ian Collings, a CFA and CFP at Vancouver-based Collings Financial, says, “the most complex way to transfer the funds is to file a T3012A and withdraw the funds. Then file a T1OVP to calculate your penalties.” Yaaaawwwn. I’m way, way too lazy to do that, so luckily Collings has another option. “The simplest is to reduce your future RRSP contributions and save in your TFSA…

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