Delay OAS to 70 in 2026? The 36% Increase, the Age-83 Break-Even, and the Clawback

OAS is not CPP. You cannot start it at 60. You can start it at 65, or delay it up to 70. Each month of delay adds 0.6% - 7.2% a year, 36% at 70. CPP's late bonus is larger, at 0.7% a month. Using the OAS rate for a CPP decision, or the reverse, gets the pension wrong.

Service Canada's when-to-start table for October to December 2026 turns the maximum of $762.50 into $1,037.00 if you wait until 70. The running totals cross shortly after your 83rd birthday, before tax. Model your own amount in the CPP and OAS timing calculator. The CPP side of the same choice is in when to take CPP.

The October 2026 deferral table

These are maximums for someone who lived in Canada at least 40 years after age 18. A partial pension (10 to 39 years) is that fraction of the maximum, and the same percentage increase applies to it. Do not read $762.50 as your payment if you immigrated as an adult. Amounts are from Service Canada and are indexed each January, April, July, and October. They do not fall if the CPI falls.

Annual maximums: $9,150 starting at 65, and $12,444 starting at 70. There is no further increase past 70. Service Canada also says that if you are already over 65 when you apply, a retroactive payment can cover up to 11 months - but not months you chose to defer.

The 10% increase at 75 still happens

At 75, OAS rises by a permanent 10%, on whatever pension you are already being paid. For someone who started at 65, the October to December 2026 maximum goes from $762.50 to $838.75. For someone who deferred to 70, the 10% applies to the already-increased pension: $1,037.00 × 1.10 = $1,140.70. Deferring does not replace the age-75 boost, and the boost does not replace the deferral.

Where the dollars cross

Starting at 65 pays five extra years of $762.50 ($45,750) that the age-70 start never receives. From 70 to 75 the deferred pension is $274.50 a month larger. From 75 on, after the 10% boost, it is $301.95 a month larger ($1,140.70 versus $838.75). Totals below are received by that birthday, using the October 2026 maximum and no further indexation. Indexation raises both pensions, so the age matters more than these dollar totals.

At the 83rd birthday the age-65 start is still ahead by about $293. One more month of the $301.95 gap closes it. Break-even is shortly after age 83, before income tax. A 65-year-old Canadian's remaining life expectancy sits past that for many people, which is why delay is the better lifetime total when three things are true: you can cover ages 65 to 70 without OAS, you are not eligible for GIS, and clawback will not eat the increase.

Clawback does not disappear because you waited

The recovery tax is 15% of net world income above the threshold, until that year's OAS is gone. For the 2026 income year the threshold is $95,323. Those months of OAS are the ones paid from July 2027 to June 2028. The cheques you are receiving now (July 2026 to June 2027) still look at 2025 income and a $93,454 threshold. OAS itself is included in the income being tested. The full walk-through is in how RRIF withdrawals trigger the clawback.

Take $100,000 of other income (CPP, pension, RRIF, interest) and add OAS on top. Ages 65 to 74, 2026 threshold:

The gross raise from waiting is $3,294 a year. Clawback takes 15% of that raise ($494) because the extra OAS is itself income over the line. You keep about $2,800 of it, and regular income tax applies to the OAS you keep. Under the threshold - say $70,000 of other income plus either OAS amount - the recovery tax is $0 and the full increase survives.

Full recovery, using threshold plus that year's OAS divided by 15%, is about $156,323 for a maximum age-65 pension ($95,323 + $9,150 / 0.15). The same formula on a pension deferred to 70 is about $178,283 ($95,323 + $12,444 / 0.15). If other income is already high enough to wipe out OAS either way, a bigger pension does not reach you. Estimate your own line in the OAS clawback calculator.

Who should start at 65

• You qualify for the Guaranteed Income Supplement. Service Canada says there is no advantage to waiting. GIS is paid only while you are receiving OAS, and it is aimed at a much lower income band than the $95,323 clawback.
• You need the cash to live on from 65 to 70, and the alternative is drawing savings you cannot replace.
• Health or family history makes the early 80s unlikely. The break-even is about 83 before tax, and later after tax.
• You do nothing. If an enrollment letter arrives around your 64th birthday, the pension starts at 65 unless you delay it in My Service Canada Account. You can cancel within six months of the first payment, repay it, and defer. After six months the start date sticks.

Who should delay toward 70

• Other income covers 65 to 70 - a pension, CPP, part-time work, or a TFSA you can draw without adding to net income.
• You expect to live past the early 80s and you want a larger inflation-indexed payment later, when savings are thinner.
• Clawback is not in the picture, or you are only slightly over the line. In the $100,000 example you still keep most of the increase.

CPP and OAS do not have to start together. Some people take CPP earlier to fund the years they delay OAS. The rates differ: CPP grows 0.7% a month after 65 (42% at 70) and can start as early as 60 at a 36% cut. OAS grows 0.6% a month and cannot start early. A RRIF minimum during those same years is taxable and can push you over $95,323 even if you delayed OAS to "keep income down." Run the RRIF calculator and the clawback calculator on the same set of numbers, not one at a time.

Payment amounts are Service Canada's October to December 2026 maximums. The deferral percentages are from Service Canada's when-to-start page. The $95,323 threshold is the CRA recovery-tax figure for the 2026 income year. This is not advice about when you should start. A licensed advisor, or Service Canada with your own file, should confirm GIS eligibility and your partial-pension years before you lock a start date.