If they are the exact same fund and class of units, there will be no difference no matter which account you hold them in. The fund doesn't care where it's held. My guess is that if you are sure that you hold the same fund, you must be holding a different class of units (i.e. class A versus class B - which could be DSC versus Front End, or corporate class versus unit trust class, etc.).
Let us know what you find out...
Preet, it was actually Manulife that drew my attention to the difference in IMF for the same funds held in RRSP and RRIF. What I had noticed at first was that the funds had different unit values and I inquired about that. I was then informed about the difference between the IMF. Since the management fee is deducted from the unit value on a monthly basis, the larger fee on RRIF funds naturally causes the unit value to decrease relative to the same fund in the RRSP.
Case in point. The ML MMF Monthly High Income fund has an IMF of 1.9 in my RRIF but only 1.448 in my RRSP. Today, the value of a unit held in my RRSP is 10.194 but it is only 10.08 in my RRIF.
I was very glad to have made this discovery when I did. Once I turned 65, although under no obligation to convert to RRIF, I opened a small RRIF and started monthly payments in order to generate some income that qualifies for the tax credit on pension income.
I get a discount of .25 on IMF for funds held in an RRSP when the account is over $60,000. I had begun to think that I should increase the funds in my RRIF in order to get the advantage of the IMF discount. Thankfully, I discovered the IMF difference in time, before making that transfer.
This is what prompted my other question about Etraded funds in a RRIF account. I am happy to have heard that this is no problem. Once I reach the age when all of my RRSPs must be converted to RRIF, I will give very serious consideration to transferring my registered retirement funds to an Etraded account, in order to avoid the higher IMF costs with Manulife.
