We’re updating our Sun Life policy to reflect the new annuity purchase rate guarantee, referred to as the guaranteed minimum annuitization benefit (MAB). We’ll replace the fixed interest rate guarantee in the current MAB with an interest rate series that’ll change with underlying economic conditions. This will eliminate the need to update the basis in the future.
This rate may be used in the calculation for members who annuitize. The MAB rate is a factor amongst others in the determination of the annuity payment as described in section 2.5(b) of the policy found here. This amendment has been approved by Retraite Québec (RQ) and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
This change will take effect on October 1, 2021.
In addition to informing employers, we’ll also remind them of their important obligations as an employer offering the VRSP:
- Enrol their employees as they become eligible to participate (even if they plan to opt out).
- Deduct employee contributions at source and remit them to us. Use the payroll report to get employees’ current payroll contribution rates. All employees should be making payroll contribution rate changes on mysunlife.ca. This way, they can remit the contributions to us and we can track contributions to employees’ VRSP account.
- Keep us informed of employees who’ve opted out by asking them to complete this form. If you have trouble opening this form in your browser, please download it to your computer. Also, keep us informed of employees who want to rejoin the plan, who they no longer employ, who’ve retired or who are deceased.
For a full list of their responsibilities, please visit the RQ website (French-only).
We’re here to help. Visit the VRSP website for more information on the VRSP. You can also contact your GRS representative.
