Foreign Service update on NRPC site

The following information was posted on the NRPC site on April 13th. Additionally I spoke personally to a Koskie Minsky representative regarding the potential impact of the CRA review of foreign service impacting pension calculations. It appears that the only people impacted to this point are those who have just requested a pension from Nortel.

Pensioners who are aleady being paid pensions have not been brought into this discussion. At least not yet. Since these calculations have been carried out for many decades in this manner, and in fact the pension plan contains references to foreign currency conversion, and the fact that the plan has been submitted and reviewed by the CRA every year, it seems very suspicious to me that the method should come into question at this point in time.

If the result of discussions between K.M. and the CRA are negative we could be severly impacted. In that event those of us in the USA and other countries who have a foreign service component in our pensions, need to organize legal action to defend our pensions.



Update on Foreign Service Pensions NRPC web site.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Koskie Minsky LLP have had preliminary consultation with the CRA regarding the issue around Nortel's method of calculating pensions for those with foreign service. KM have posted the following somewhat encouraging update on their website:

The CRA has been consulted regarding the foreign service earnings issue and the preliminary response was positive. The CRA is open to discussing the matter and to receiving written submissions. We are encouraged by CRA's willingness to listen and are hopeful that ultimately it will agree that foreign service earnings can be included in determining your pension from Nortel's registered pension plan. However, there is no certainty at this point concerning resolution of this matter. We expect to meet with the CRA in May and will provide a further up-date after that meeting.