All workers 18 or over must pay Québec Pension Plan (QPP) contributions, even in the following situations:

• He or she receives a retirement pension under the QPP or under the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
• He or she is 70 or older.

The QPP provides pension income to employees who retire or become disabled. If an employee dies, the QPP pays benefits to the employee's spouse or dependants. The QPP is equivalent to the CPP.

As an Indian, you do not have to make contributions to the QPP on employment income that gives entitlement to the deduction for employment income situated on a reserve or premises, unless your employer irrevocably elected to participate in the QPP for all of the employer's Indian employees who are resident in Canada and whose work in Québec is excluded from the QPP because of a tax exemption.

You may, however, elect to make an optional contribution to the QPP on your employment income that gives entitlement to the deduction on line 293 of the personal income tax return and from which a contribution to the QPP was not withheld. For more information, see the instructions for line 445 in the guide to the personal income tax return.

Self-employed person

If you are an Indian and you are self-employed, you must complete Work Chart 445 or form LE-35-V, as applicable, taking into account:

• on line 1 of Work Chart 445 or line 53 of form LE-35-V, the net business income that gives entitlement to a deduction on line 293, if you elect to make a contribution to the QPP on this income; 
• on line 2 of Work Chart 445 or line 54 of form LE-35-V, the pensionable earnings you received as a person responsible for a family-type resource or an intermediate resource that constitute income situated on a reserve or premises, if you elect to make a contribution to the QPP on such earnings; 
• on line 3 of Work Chart 445 or on line 55 of form LE-35-V, the employment income that gives entitlement to a deduction on line 293, on which a contribution to the QPP was not withheld and for which you elect to make an optional contribution to the QPP.