A spousal RRSP is an RRSP owned by your spouse or common-law partner that you contribute to and deduct, so retirement income can later be taxed in the lower-income partner's hands.
Contributions use your RRSP room, not your partner's, and you claim the deduction. The account belongs to your partner, and withdrawals are normally taxed as their income.
There's a timing rule. If your partner withdraws money in a year when you contributed to any spousal RRSP for them, or in either of the two years before, all or part of the withdrawal can be taxed to you instead. Planners usually time contributions so withdrawals fall outside that window.
A spousal RRSP is most useful when one partner expects much more retirement income than the other, since it evens out income and can keep both partners in lower tax brackets.
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