What is the tax rate when I withdraw some of my RRSP money? I know there is an amount taken off right away but what is the rate payable at tax time?

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I withdrew $20k under hbp as first time buyer. i was being aggressive in paying it back early and made an $8k payment to my rrsp this year (2007) which i intended to use as repayment towards my hbp balance (the mandatory hbp repayment amount was only like $2k or so). i haven't filed any claim/taxes with the cra with respect to this $8k amount (this will happen in early 2008). now i need the cash for other needs and wish i had not been aggressive in making the payment for this year. so the question is can i withdraw $8k - $2k (min req'd) = $6k from my rrsp account without it being hit with taxes?

Yes, but since you are withdrawing $6,000, the bank will have to withold 20% of the amount for taxes at the time you make the withdrawal, unless you fill out this form: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t3012a/t3012a-06e.pdf For more information on withdrawing unused contributions: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/individuals/topics/rrsp/withdrawals/unclaimed/menu-e.html

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Im not sure but, my dad says that when you retire they give you a reduced pension if you still have money left over from your rrsp. for example: person 1 saves and takes $2000 from rrsp when retires (-income tax), gets reduced pension of $1000 =$3000 in his pocket person 2 has no rrsp, gets 3000 from pension =$3000 in his pocket my dad says "whats the point of investing my money early in life when i couldve used it for something else, and then having the same amount of cash as another guy who has not payed a cent for rrsp?" is this true? do you have to use up your own money that you invested into rrsp, before you can have your full pension payment? cuz i always thought rrsp was for bonus cash when u retire

Your father is incorrect. Having an RRSP has NO effect on any pension. That being said, it can have an effect on OAS (but by the same token, so can pensions). So max out TFSAs before you start buying RRSPs.

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My family is trying to buy a house and we have a large amount of money to use towards the mortgage. my father recently took early retirement and he had the option of taking commuted value. commuted value is an option rather than taking a pension, that gives you a calculated value of money for a riff or rrsp to use like a pension along with a lump sum of cash based on your years of service. my father worked as a tmd (train movement director) for the city of toronto for 33 years. in total he will receive around $900,000 ($650,000 is for the riff and the other $250,000 is the lump sum). he gets the $550,000 automatically because that is the equivalent to his pension, but the lump sum is divided. he will get $150,000 with the $550,000 but the other $100,000 he will get at some point within the next 5 years. the reason they do this is because they are giving out a lot of cash all at once and they need to replenish a certain percentage before they can give out more. my dilemma is the fact that the bank is not taking that $100,000 into the equation when setting up our mortgage options. it's guaranteed within the next 5 years and the mortgage is going to be payed probably over 15 or 20 years yet they still don't factor it in. the problem is that they are giving us a limit of $300,000 to spend on a house which to be honest is nowhere near the size our family needs. we have waited a long time to have the kind of money you need to buy a house and i don't want to buy a small, cheaper house when i know within the next 5 years we're gonna have another $100,000 to put on top of that. i suggested the possibility of taking my fathers information sheet that explains everything about the commuted value and how the cash is distributed to a lawyer and get him/her to look it over and sign it as a witness. it doesn't make sense to me when a mortgage is payed over a long period of time and not all at once, that a guaranteed amount of cash within the beginning stages of that said mortgage can't be taken into account. it's signed by ttr executives and it's a binding contract. any help or ideas would be fantastic!!!! thanks!

Unfortunately in the bank's eyes, that money really isn't guaranteed. There have been instances recently where pensions we not paid out as promised because of the economy. An honest bank will not approve a mortgage based on income you have not yet earned.