Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)

Decision

[1] The appeal is dismissed.

[2] The Appellant, A. R., didn’t meet the presence requirement to receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). This means the Appellant wasn’t eligible for the GIS from July 2020 to December 2020.

[3] This decision explains why I am dismissing the appeal.

Overview

[4] The Minister of Employment and Social Development (Minister) started paying the Appellant an Old Age Security (OAS) pension and the GIS in January 2009.^{Footnote 1}

[5] One requirement for getting the GIS is that, for each payment period,^{Footnote 2} the person and their spouse must give the Minister a statement of their income for the previous calendar year.^{Footnote 3} Another requirement is that the person must stay in Canada. If they leave Canada for more than six months, they are no longer eligible for the GIS.^{Footnote 4}

[6] In January 2021, the Minister decided the Appellant wasn’t eligible for the GIS from July 2020 to December 2020. The Minister said the Appellant had to pay back $3,782.28 he received in GIS during that period. (This is called an overpayment.) At the time, the Minister’s reason was that the Appellant and his wife had not submitted a statement of their 2019 income.^{Footnote 5}

[7] The Appellant asked the Minister to reconsider the decision in February 2021. In his request, he enclosed a statement of income for 2019. He said that he had left Canada more than a year earlier. He had planned to return in March 2020, but couldn’t because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Once travel was permitted, his health prevented him from returning.^{Footnote 6}

[8] In January 2024, the Minister asked the Appellant to complete a questionnaire.^{Footnote 7} In response, the Appellant said that he left Canada in October 2019. He returned in November 2021, but left again the following month. He said that he had been in Portugal ever since.^{Footnote 8}

[9] The Minister issued its reconsideration decision. It didn’t change the result, but it gave new reasons for why the Appellant wasn’t eligible for the GIS. The Minister said the Appellant wasn’t eligible because of his absence from Canada.^{Footnote 9}

[10] The Appellant appealed the Minister’s decision to the Social Security Tribunal’s General Division.

[11] The Appellant says he always planned to return to Canada but couldn’t because of pandemic travel restrictions and his health.^{Footnote 10}

[12] The Minister says that, because the Appellant left Canada in October 2019, he wasn’t eligible for the GIS after April 2020. The Minister says the Tribunal doesn’t have the authority to review its decisions about overpayments.

What I have to decide

[13] This appeal is only about whether the Appellant was eligible for the GIS from July 2020 to December 2020.

[14] I agree with the Minister that the Tribunal doesn’t have any authority over a decision about an overpayment. But, it does have authority to decide if a benefit was payable.^{Footnote 11} If I decide the Appellant was eligible for the GIS during the period in question, then there isn’t an overpayment.

[15] There is another decision about the Appellant’s GIS, but it concerns his eligibility for the periods May to June 2020, and July 2021 to March 2024. It was made on the same day as the reconsideration decision in this appeal.^{Footnote 12}

[16] At the hearing, I explained that the Tribunal can only hear appeals of reconsideration decisions. There isn’t a reconsideration decision about the other periods, so they aren’t part of this appeal.

[17] The Minister’s representative gave the Appellant information about how to ask for reconsideration of the other decision, and possibly get some relief because of his financial situation. I also explained that the Tribunal doesn’t have the power to consider financial or other circumstances when deciding appeals, so the Appellant should pursue this with the Minister.^{Footnote 13}

[18] I have to decide if the Appellant was eligible to receive the GIS from July 2020 to December 2020. If he wasn’t eligible, I don’t have the power to do anything about the overpayment of $3,782.28.

Reasons for my decision

[19] I find that the Appellant wasn’t eligible to receive the GIS from July 2020 to December 2020. Here are the reasons for my decision.

The Appellant was absent from Canada for more than six months

[20] The law says that a person can’t receive the GIS if they are absent from Canada for six consecutive months, not including the month they left.^{Footnote 14}

[21] A person is present in Canada when they are physically present in any part of Canada.^{Footnote 15} So, a person is absent from Canada if they are not physically present in any part of Canada.

[22] The Appellant doesn’t dispute that he left Canada in October 2019. He says he didn’t return until November 2021. So, as of May 2020, he had been absent from Canada for more than six months. He was absent for the entire period that is at issue in this appeal—July 2020 to December 2020.

[23] The law doesn’t make exceptions for situations like the Appellant’s, where he planned to return to Canada within six months but could not for reasons beyond his control. This means he didn’t meet the presence requirement to receive the GIS during that period.

Conclusion

[24] The Appellant didn’t meet the presence requirement to receive the GIS. So, he wasn’t eligible for the GIS from July 2020 to December 2020.

[25] This means the appeal is dismissed.