How to Apply for the BC Seniors Supplement

The short answer

There is no separate application for the BC Seniors Supplement, and there is no supplement form. If you are a low-income senior receiving Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), with no other significant sources of taxable income such as the Canada Pension Plan, the BC government tops up your federal income automatically. You start to get the Senior's Supplement one month after your first OAS and GIS payment, and it is sent each month in the same way you receive OAS and GIS.

That means the application that matters is the GIS application. Everything in this guide is about getting the GIS in place, meeting the BC residency requirement, and keeping your tax filing current so the amount stays right. If you are 60 to 65 and receive the federal spouse's Allowance, you may also be eligible.

What the supplement pays

The BC government calculates the payment from how much financial assistance you get from OAS and GIS. Those amounts depend on the income you reported on your income tax the previous year. Depending on your OAS and GIS monthly amounts, you could receive:

• $1.00 to $99.30 a month for single seniors
• $2.00 to $220.50 a month for senior couples
• $1.00 to $99.83 a month as a spouse receiving the federal OAS Allowance

The supplement is a monthly top-up, not a lump sum. It arrives with the same payment method as your OAS and GIS.

Step 1: Apply for the GIS

Service Canada may try to enrol you for the GIS automatically — if it has enough information, you get a letter shortly after your 64th birthday confirming OAS enrolment and that it will try to enrol you for the GIS. If you are not enrolled automatically, Service Canada sends a letter inviting you to apply. If it has been one month since your 64th birthday and you still have no enrolment letter, contact Service Canada to find out if you need to apply.

If you need to apply, there are two routes, both run by Service Canada:

• Online through your My Service Canada Account. Sign in, go to the Old Age Security section of your dashboard, and choose "Apply for Old Age Security and manage my benefits." You can only apply online if you are at least one month past your 64th birthday, have not already applied or have no application still being assessed, and do not have a third party managing your OAS account. You will need your Social Insurance Number and date of birth, your spouse or common-law partner's information if you have one, where you have lived since age 18, and your banking information for direct deposit.
• By mail with a paper form. Use form ISP-3550 if you are applying for the OAS pension and the GIS together, or form ISP-3025 if you already receive OAS and are applying for only the GIS. Both forms are linked from the Canada.ca GIS application page.

The full GIS steps, including what to do if your letter contains incorrect information, are in our How to Apply for the Guaranteed Income Supplement guide. This guide does not repeat them.

Step 2: Meet the BC residency requirement

You must be a permanent resident of British Columbia to receive the Senior's Supplement. The province's page states three situations plainly:

• You can vacation out of the province for up to six months and continue to get your payment during that time.
• If you are leaving BC permanently, update your address with Service Canada and let the Senior's Supplement Program know.
• You can continue receiving the payment if you move into a long term care facility.

A move out of BC is the change most likely to stop the supplement, because the program is a BC payment for BC residents. Update your address with Service Canada first, since Service Canada is the channel that notifies the BC government of changes.

Step 3: File a tax return every year

The supplement amount depends on the income you reported on your income tax the previous year, and the GIS itself is recalculated from your tax return. File a return every year, even in a year with no income to report, so both the GIS and the supplement can be recalculated from current figures. A missing return leaves Service Canada and the province with nothing to recalculate from, and payments can fall or stop.

2026 payment dates

The Senior's Supplement payment dates for 2026 are January 27, February 27, March 27, April 27, May 27, June 29, July 27, August 27, September 28, October 27, November 27, and December 22. If a payment does not arrive, allow at least two business days for missed or in-transit payments before contacting the program.

If your income or marital status changes

Your OAS and GIS monthly amounts can change if your income changes, and the supplement follows them. Tell Service Canada if your marital status changes, or if your income changes from employment earnings, retirement pensions, the Canada Pension Plan or Quebec Pension Plan, alimony, or private disability payments. Service Canada will notify the BC government of these changes, and you could get retroactive payments or adjustments to your Senior's Supplement payment.

To request a retroactive payment, give the Senior's Supplement Program confirmation of your monthly OAS and GIS payments — a document you can get from Service Canada that shows the monthly OAS and GIS payment breakdown for each month you are requesting retroactive payments for. If you are eligible for retroactive payments, the money is added to your next payment.

What the opened pages do not state

The BC page publishes the supplement ranges but not the income cut-off at which the supplement reaches zero, and not a step-by-step rate table on the page itself, so this guide states neither. The page also does not state a phone number or mailing address for the Senior's Supplement Program on the page opened for this guide — use Service Canada as the contact for OAS and GIS changes, since Service Canada notifies the BC government. This guide gives no advice on whether you qualify — that is Service Canada's decision when it assesses your OAS and GIS, and the province's calculation from those amounts.

Related guides:

• How to Apply for the Guaranteed Income Supplement — the federal application the BC supplement depends on, with the full online and mail routes.
• How to Apply for Old Age Security in Canada — the federal pension that sits underneath the GIS and the supplement.
• How to Get a BC Services Card and MSP Coverage in British Columbia — BC's health coverage card, a separate provincial program with its own application.
• How to Apply for the Canada Child Benefit — the federal child benefit, also administered through the CRA, for families with children under 18.

Sources

• Government of British Columbia, Senior's Supplement — no separate application and payment automatic one month after the first OAS and GIS payment, the $1.00 to $99.30 single, $2.00 to $220.50 couple, and $1.00 to $99.83 Allowance spouse ranges, the BC residency requirement, the full 2026 payment dates, and the retroactive payment process.
• Government of Canada, Guaranteed Income Supplement — Apply — automatic enrolment letter after the 64th birthday, applying online through My Service Canada Account, and the paper forms ISP-3550 for OAS and GIS together and ISP-3025 for GIS only.