In a spousal RRSP one partner, the contributor, puts money into an account owned by the other, the annuitant. The contributor uses their own RRSP room and takes the deduction. The annuitant owns the money and pays tax when it is withdrawn. The purpose is to move retirement income to the partner who will have the lower rate, which is the same aim as pension income splitting later in life.
The three-year rule
If the annuitant withdraws money before the plan matures, the contributor is taxed on the withdrawal instead, up to the premiums they paid into any spousal plan in the year of the withdrawal and the two years before it. The earliest premiums are counted first, and the annuitant's own inclusion is reduced by the same amount.[1] The rule does not apply when the couple is living apart because of a relationship breakdown.
So the benefit arrives only if the money stays in the plan for more than two full calendar years after the last contribution.
What the planner does
The planner has no spousal RRSP. Each person has their own RRSP, funded from their own income, deducted at their own marginal rate and taxed when they withdraw it; see taxes are per person. If you hold a spousal plan, entering it as your partner's RRSP puts the money under their room and their deduction, which is not how the contribution was treated for tax.
The engine can name a contributor on a spousal plan, charge the contribution to the contributor's room and deduction, and attribute a withdrawal within three years back to them. It refuses transfers into or out of a spousal plan and the special minimum rules for a spousal RRIF. The planner does not supply the contributor, so none of this appears in a plan.