As a rule, if you contribute or transfer certain amounts to your spouse's registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), you may have to include in your income the amount your spouse withdraws from the RRSP, up to the total amount of contributions you made to the RRSP during the year of the withdrawal and the previous two years.

This rule does not apply if, at the time of the withdrawal, you and your spouse were living apart because of the breakdown of your relationship. This means that, following a divorce or separation, the amounts withdrawn by your former spouse from an RRSP of which he or she is the annuitant and to which you contributed must be included in your former spouse's income.