2011 RDSP Update

It is a pleasure to announce another new feature to our web site – videos about the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP), the Canada Disability Savings Grant and the Canada Disability Savings Bond in American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ). The Office for Disability Issues developed these videos to provide members of the Deaf and hard of Hearing communities with general Program information. These videos are equipped with closed captioning and voice narration.

Also, as you may have read in the information kit recently mailed to you, the Government of Canada introduced two improvements to the RDSP, the grant and the bond that provide more flexibility to Canadians with disabilities and their families when saving for the future.

• Effective January 2011, individuals can claim unused grant and bond entitlements from the past 10 years (starting from 2008, the year RDSPs became available). This applies to new and existing plans.

• · As of July 2011, parents or grandparents will be able to arrange for some or all of their retirement savings to be transferred, tax-free, to the RDSP of their financially dependent child or grandchild when they pass away.

More recently, in Budget 2011, the Government also announced a new provision that gives more flexibility to people with shortened life expectancies when making withdrawals from their RDSP. This measure is effective as of June 26, 2011.

The contents of this information kit have recently been added to the “In Focus” box on our web site.

We invite you to visit www.disabilitysavings.gc.ca to use these tools to promote awareness about the RDSP, grant and bond among your membership. Information about the RDSP, the grant and the bond continues to be available on our web site, or by calling 1 800 O-Canada (1 800-622-6232). TTY users may call 1-800-926-9105. A detailed brochure – available in alternate formats such as large print, Braille, audio cassette, CD, DAISY, and computer diskette – is also available by calling these numbers.

Should you wish to make an inquiry by e-mail, please send your message to rdsp-orgs-reei@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca.

Kindly,

RDSP, Grant and Bond Outreach Team

My apologies for mostly just passing on information received from others recently.  But it is good information and I try to tell myself that it's better to pass along such material then to post nothing at all. 

It's not that I don't have stuff of my own to write about, it's just that life can be ... complicated, at times.