Moving to France does not automatically stop a UK pension provider from deducting UK Income Tax. A British resident may therefore receive a lower payment, declare the pension in France, and wonder whether the same income is being taxed twice. The answer depends on the legal category of the pension, the person’s tax residence, the date of payment and the precise France–UK treaty provision. A PAYE deduction made by a UK payer is not, by itself, proof that the United Kingdom has the final right to tax the payment.

For most private, occupational and State Pension payments paid for a former employment, the current treaty generally places the taxing right in the country where the recipient is resident. A UK government or local-authority pension follows a different public-service rule. A lump sum, purchased annuity, incapacity benefit or death benefit may also require separate classification. Brexit changed immigration and social-security arrangements, but it did not remove the France–UK income-tax convention.

This article explains how a British person living in France can identify the problem, document French tax residence, complete Form France Individual DT, seek relief at source and recover UK tax already deducted. It also explains how the payment should be reported in France and what to do if HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) or the French tax administration rejects the claim. For the broader pension framework, see our guide to UK pensions in France after Brexit; this article deals specifically with UK tax already withheld and the recovery route.

I. Why is UK tax being withheld from a pension while you live in France?

A. Is the pension taxable in France or in the United Kingdom under the treaty?

The first question is not where the pension bank account is located. It is where the recipient is tax resident and what the payment legally represents. A British passport, a French residence permit, a UK bank account and the fact that a pension was earned through National Insurance do not answer all four questions. The file needs a residence analysis and a pension classification before a refund request is sent.

Under Article 4 A of the French General Tax Code, a person whose French tax domicile, or domicile fiscal, is in France is liable to French income tax on the whole of that person’s income. The official provision states: Les personnes qui ont en France leur domicile fiscal sont passibles de l’impôt sur le revenu en raison de l’ensemble de leurs revenus. In plain terms, a person who has moved the centre of his or her personal and economic life to France normally has to include UK pension income in the French tax analysis, even when the pension is paid in pounds into a British account.

French tax residence is a factual question. The home where the family normally lives, the main professional activity, the centre of financial interests and the pattern of actual presence can all matter. The French residence permit is relevant to immigration status, but it is not a substitute for the tax-residence test. Conversely, a person can be French tax resident without holding a particular long-term residence card. The evidence should be assembled for the relevant tax year rather than inferred from nationality.

The governing income-tax instrument is the France–United Kingdom Double Taxation Convention signed on 19 June 2008 and published by Decree no. 2010-20. Its Article 18 addresses pensions. It provides: Sous réserve des dispositions du paragraphe 2 de l’article 19, les pensions et autres rémunérations similaires payées à un résident d’un Etat contractant au titre d’un emploi antérieur ne sont imposables que dans cet Etat. For an ordinary private or occupational pension paid to a resident of France, that wording points to France as the taxing state.

The practical categories usually include the following:

UK payment	Initial treaty question	Evidence to preserve
UK State Pension	Is the recipient resident in France and is the payment being treated as a pension under Article 18?	State Pension award, payment statements, tax deducted, residence evidence and the start date of payments
Private or workplace pension	Is it paid for a former employment and does Article 18 apply?	Pension scheme statement, P60, payslips, scheme classification and payer details
UK government or local-authority pension	Does the public-service rule in Article 19 leave the taxing right with the United Kingdom?	Employer or authority history, pension award, nationality and residence evidence
Annuity, lump sum or incapacity payment	Is it an ordinary pension, a special benefit, a capital payment or another treaty category?	Contract, payment notice, tax calculation, date and the legal description used by the payer

Article 19 is the main exception for a British public-service pension. The treaty states that pensions paid by a contracting State, local authority or relevant public body for services to that body are taxable only in that State. It then adds a nationality exception. The official wording is: Toutefois, ces pensions ne sont imposables que dans l’autre Etat contractant si la personne physique est un résident de cet Etat et en possède la nationalité sans posséder en même temps la nationalité du premier Etat. A British national living in France cannot normally rely on the final exception merely because the person has also acquired a French connection. The dual-nationality wording must be read carefully.

The treaty also has a specific provision for certain pensions listed in the United Kingdom’s tax legislation, including some injury or invalidity pensions. Article 19(4) can exempt a listed payment from French tax when it is exempt from UK tax, while the public-service rule can apply to a part that is not exempt. A payment described informally as a “government pension” should therefore be checked against the paying body, the employment and the precise award notice. Do not submit an ordinary private-pension claim when the payer is a public authority without first checking this distinction.

The French tax administration’s published convention guidance states, in general terms, that private pensions paid for a former employment are exclusively taxable in the beneficiary’s state of residence. The current official BOFiP guidance on treaty pensions also explains that a French domestic withholding rule cannot be applied without regard to the treaty. That guidance is not a replacement for reading the France–UK convention, but it confirms why the pension category and the residence evidence must be matched.

The distinction matters because France and the United Kingdom use different collection mechanisms. A French-resident recipient may have a French tax instalment calculated from declared foreign income. A UK payer may meanwhile apply PAYE, meaning “Pay As You Earn”, because its records still show a UK tax code or because no treaty relief has yet been authorised. The two deductions are not automatically interchangeable. One is a UK collection decision; the other is the French assessment of the declared income.

The most relevant judicial lesson is that treaty residence must be proved with documents. In Conseil d’État, 14 February 1979, no. 06961, concerning the former France–UK convention, the court held that la seule circonstance qu’il soit de nationalité britannique et perçoive, en sa qualité d’officier en retraite, une pension versée par la Couronne Britannique ne suffit pas à établir residence in the United Kingdom. The decision predates the current convention, so it should not be copied as if it decided a present-day Article 18 claim. Its evidential warning remains useful: nationality and the existence of a UK pension are not a complete residence certificate.

In Cour administrative d’appel de Paris, 17 February 2012, no. 10PA01988, the court considered a certificate issued by the UK tax authority. The decision records that le requérant apporte par ce document, dont l’administration française ne conteste pas l’authenticité, la preuve of being subject to UK income tax because of residence for the relevant years. That is a practical point for a British person in France: an official residence document covering the exact tax years is stronger than a passport, a mortgage statement or a general assertion that the person “still pays tax in Britain”.

Dual-residence cases require additional care. A person may be treated as resident under domestic rules in both countries for part of a year, especially during the move from the UK. The treaty tie-breaker and the facts of the move then matter. In Conseil d’État, 27 July 2012, no. 337656, the court considered the former France–UK convention and held that a person subject to UK tax because of residence was not automatically stripped of treaty residence merely because the remittance-basis rules affected when foreign income was taxed. The decision says that such a person n’est pas susceptible de perdre la qualité de résident fiscal du Royaume-Uni for that reason alone. The case concerned dividends and an earlier treaty, not a French-resident pension claim, but it shows why the correct residence analysis cannot be reduced to the place where money is transferred.

Brexit does not convert an ordinary private pension into a business payment, a property payment or a social-security contribution. The 2008 income-tax convention remains the starting point for the tax allocation. The Withdrawal Agreement, the residence card rules and the social-security coordination rules can be important elsewhere, particularly for healthcare and insurance periods, but they do not justify applying UK PAYE to a private pension when the treaty assigns the taxing right to France.

B. Does a UK PAYE deduction prove that the United Kingdom has the final right to tax?

No. A deduction may reflect the payer’s default administration rather than the final treaty result. The pension provider may not know that the recipient has become French tax resident. HMRC may not have received a completed treaty claim. A previous UK tax code may remain in the payroll system. The provider may also have classified a payment as a pension without knowing whether it is private, public, a purchased annuity or a special lump sum. Each situation creates a different evidential question.

GOV.UK itself describes the possibility of an apparent overlap in general terms: its guidance on tax when receiving a pension while living abroad says, “You may be taxed on your pension by the country where you’re resident and by the UK.” The same official page says that the amount depends on income and that the taxpayer must tell HMRC when moving abroad. That guidance is deliberately general. It does not override the France–UK treaty, which is why a British resident in France must identify the relevant pension article rather than accept two tax charges as inevitable.

For a French resident with an ordinary UK State Pension or private pension, the principal corrective instrument is Form France Individual DT. The document’s title is explicit: Application to claim relief at source from UK Income Tax and repayment of UK Income Tax. It says that the form is for an individual resident in France receiving a UK State Pension, incapacity benefit, pensions, purchased annuities, interest or royalties arising in the UK. It is therefore designed for two linked requests: stop or reduce UK tax on future payments and recover UK tax already taken off.

The form is not a declaration that every UK payment is exempt from UK tax. It asks for the payer, the nature of the income, residence dates, tax details, nationality and the basis for the claim. A claimant who completes the form without identifying the pension type can invite a refusal or a request for more evidence. A claimant who lists every UK payment in the same box can also obscure the difference between a private pension, a government pension and a capital payment.

The form asks for a French tax reference number and the address of the French Service des impôts des particuliers, or SIP, which means the local individual tax office. The residence section asks when the person became resident in France and from what date the income is, or will be, taxed in France. That second date can differ from the date of arrival. A person who arrived late in a French tax year should prepare a short chronology showing arrival, home availability, family move, work or retirement date, and the date from which the person was treated as French tax resident.

The form’s instructions also explain the certification route. The completed form is sent to the relevant SIP in France for certification of residence, then passed to HMRC. The official form says: The Service des Impôts Particuliers in France will certify that you are resident in France for the purposes of the United Kingdom/France Double Taxation Convention. The French office is not being asked to decide the whole UK refund. It is being asked to certify the French residence fact needed by the UK treaty procedure.

A UK tax deduction can also be too high even where the United Kingdom retains a taxing right. For example, a public-service pension can remain taxable in the UK under Article 19, while the recipient may still need to check a personal allowance, the correct PAYE code, the UK tax-year calculation and any French reporting consequence. A tax refund should not be demanded under Article 18 simply because the payment arrives from a UK government body. The award letter and employment history should be read first.

The recipient should also distinguish tax from social contributions. A French-resident person receiving UK pension income may have healthcare or social-security rights arising from an S1, a certificate of entitlement or another coordination rule. Those questions can affect French social charges or healthcare registration, but they do not automatically determine whether the UK has withheld income tax lawfully. Keep the income-tax claim and the healthcare file separate while cross-referencing dates and pension statements.

The France–UK treaty’s Article 24 provides mechanisms for eliminating double taxation, but a credit is not a universal substitute for a repayment from the wrong country. If Article 18 gives France the exclusive right to tax an ordinary pension, the normal solution is to report the gross income in France and ask HMRC to repay or stop the UK deduction. A French tax credit for UK PAYE may be unavailable or conceptually wrong because the UK tax was not due under the treaty. If Article 19 or another provision allows the UK to tax, the Article 24 method and the domestic reporting rules must be analysed separately.

This distinction was examined by the Conseil d’État in 12 February 2020, no. 435907, in relation to the France–UK convention’s credit mechanism. The court explained that the relevant income must be included in the UK tax base, without the resident being exempt because of status or activity, for the relevant treaty condition. The decision records the phrase les revenus en cause doivent être compris dans la base de ” l’impôt du Royaume-Uni “. It also states that an effective UK payment is not always required for the treaty condition in the context before the court. That reasoning should not be used to claim a French credit for a UK withholding that should instead be repaid; it shows why the treaty article and the income category must come before the arithmetic.

II. How do I stop the UK deduction and recover the tax from France?

A. How do I complete Form France Individual DT and recover past PAYE?

The claim works best as one chronological file. HMRC and the French tax office need to see what was paid, which country had the treaty taxing right, when French residence began and how much UK tax was deducted. A clear file also protects the claimant if the pension provider changes the tax code but does not repay every historic payment.

Start by preparing a payment schedule. For each payment, record the gross amount, the date received, the amount of UK tax deducted, the net amount, the payer, the pension type and the currency. Keep the UK tax year, which normally runs from 6 April to 5 April, separate from the French calendar tax year. Do not merge payments simply because they appear on one bank statement. A tax year ending in the UK and a French return covering a calendar year may require a reconciliation rather than a single annual figure.

The following sequence gives a reliable working order:

1. Classify the pension. Obtain the award letter, scheme statement and payer description. Identify whether the payment is the UK State Pension, a private or workplace pension, a purchased annuity, a public-service pension, a lump sum or another benefit. If the description is vague, ask the payer for the legal or administrative category in writing.
2. Fix the residence period. Identify the date on which French tax residence began for the relevant income. Gather the French tax number, the latest French return, the relevant tax assessment notice, proof of the French home, family and work or retirement chronology. If the move occurred during a year, show the UK departure date and any split-year treatment separately.
3. Separate future relief from past recovery. A request to stop future PAYE is not the same as a request to recover deductions already made. Complete the appropriate sections of Form France Individual DT for both purposes, but list the historic payments and tax separately so HMRC can identify the repayment period.
4. Complete the personal and residence sections consistently. Use the same name, address, National Insurance number, French tax reference, pension payer and dates as appear in the supporting records. Explain any gap between arrival in France, the date of the first pension payment and the date from which the pension was included in French taxation.
5. Attach or retain the right pension evidence. The current form and notes refer to P60 evidence for work pensions and annuities. Keep payslips, P60s, pension award notices, PAYE coding notices and bank statements. The HMRC notes say tax vouchers do not normally need to be sent with the form, but they should be kept in case they are requested later.
6. Send the form to the French SIP for residence certification. Use the SIP for the district where the claimant resides or the office identified by the latest French return. Ask for confirmation of receipt and keep a copy of the complete signed form. If the claimant is newly resident and has not yet received a French assessment, explain the situation and provide the available evidence rather than leaving the residence section unsupported.
7. Send the certified form to HMRC. The form directs the claimant to HMRC, Pay as You Earn and Self Assessment, BX9 1AS, United Kingdom. Use the address and submission instructions in the current official form and retain proof of posting or electronic transmission where available. The French certification is important, but HMRC still needs to examine the payer, the pension category and the repayment period.
8. Check the pension payment after relief is granted. Compare the next gross and net payment with the HMRC or provider decision. Confirm that the tax code or payment instruction has changed and that historic deductions have been included in the repayment. A provider can correct future PAYE while an older tax year remains unresolved.

The official HMRC collection containing the France DT notes explains that relief depends on the beneficial owner of the income being resident in France. The linked notes say that the form provides for exemption from UK Income Tax on a UK State Pension and UK-source pensions, purchased annuities, royalties and interest, and for repayment when UK tax has already been deducted. The notes are labelled HMRC 01/20, so a claimant should verify on GOV.UK that the linked form remains the current route before sending an original document.

The notes contain a useful backdating rule for PAYE pension adjustments. Where a work pension or purchased annuity has been taxed under PAYE, the adjustment goes back to the latest of the date French tax residence began, the date payments began and the earliest UK tax year still in time for repayment. That means a claimant should not simply ask for “all tax since Brexit”. The dates must be calculated and supported. A payment made before French tax residence began may fall outside the treaty claim even if the same pension was later paid in France.

For a UK State Pension, the notes explain that it is normally taxable in the UK but is usually paid without deduction of tax, and that a French resident can apply for exemption under the France–UK convention. If tax has nevertheless been deducted, list the deduction and the payment dates. For a private pension, attach the provider’s annual statement and the latest P60 where available. For a purchased annuity, keep the purchase document because the origin of the payment can affect its classification.

The supporting evidence should be practical rather than excessive. A good core file normally includes:

• the complete Form France Individual DT, signed personally unless an authorised representative is legally entitled to act;
• French tax residence evidence for each period claimed, including the French tax reference and the relevant assessment or return;
• the pension award or scheme documents identifying the payer and the nature of the payment;
• P60s, payslips, coding notices and a schedule of gross payment, UK tax deducted and net payment;
• the UK National Insurance number and, if relevant, evidence of the date of departure from the UK;
• the French tax returns and Forms 2047 that show how the pension was or will be declared;
• correspondence with the pension provider and HMRC, including any refusal or request for more information; and
• proof of submission to the French SIP and HMRC, followed by a record of every repayment or revised payment.

Do not send a generic letter saying that the person has “moved abroad” without attaching the pension details. HMRC needs to know whether the payment is a private pension, a government pension or another benefit. Do not send only the net bank credit. The treaty analysis starts with the gross income and the tax separately deducted. A bank statement can prove receipt; it rarely proves the legal classification.

British citizenship can also matter to a separate UK personal-allowance claim. GOV.UK’s personal-allowance guidance says that a British citizen living abroad may receive a UK personal allowance and identifies Form R43 as the route for a non-resident claim at the end of a tax year. That route is not a substitute for Form France Individual DT. It becomes relevant where the United Kingdom retains a taxing right, where treaty exemption does not apply to the payment, or where HMRC asks the taxpayer to calculate a UK liability after the treaty analysis.

The pension provider should also receive the practical outcome, but it should not be asked to decide the treaty. Send the provider the HMRC relief-at-source or repayment decision and request written confirmation of the new tax code or payment instruction. If the provider refuses to act because its records differ from HMRC’s, ask which record is missing and send the response into the HMRC file. A telephone assurance without a written reference is difficult to audit later.

B. What if HMRC refuses, France challenges the declaration, or the money is not repaid?

A refusal should be divided into the correct forum. HMRC deals with UK Income Tax withheld by a UK payer. The French tax office deals with the French return, the French assessment and any French tax credit or social-contribution question. A French accountant or adviser may help prepare both calculations, but a French complaint does not automatically force HMRC to refund UK PAYE, and an HMRC refund does not automatically amend a French assessment already issued.

If HMRC refuses Form France Individual DT, request the reason in writing and identify the exact disputed issue. The refusal may concern French residence, the pension category, the period claimed, missing payer information, public-service status, a mismatch in the National Insurance number or the view that the payment is not covered by the requested article. Answer that issue directly. A second copy of the same form rarely cures a classification error.

Where the issue is the public-service exception, obtain the employment and paying-body history. Article 19 may leave a UK government or local-authority pension taxable in the United Kingdom. Where the issue is a private pension, ask the payer to confirm that it is paid for a former employment and is not a payment of capital, a trust distribution or an unrelated benefit. If the payment is a lump sum, obtain the scheme’s explanation of the legal basis and tax treatment before claiming that the ordinary pension article applies.

The French reporting side must be kept accurate even while the UK refund is pending. The official French Form 2047 page says that the form is used by a person domiciled in France who has received income outside metropolitan France and the overseas departments. The page states: Cette déclaration doit être souscrite si vous êtes domicilié en France et si vous avez encaissé des revenus hors de France métropolitaine et des DOM. The French administration’s foreign-income guidance further says: Lorsque les revenus de source étrangère doivent être déclarés en France, remplissez en premier lieu la déclaration n°2047. In practice, the claimant should declare the gross UK pension through the appropriate 2047 and 2042 route, then apply the treaty method that matches the pension category.

The French guidance on foreign-source income distinguishes income exempt in France from income taxable in France with a credit. It says that the convention must be read first, and that Forms 2042, 2042C and 2047 can be required for pensions. This prevents a common error: entering only the net amount received after UK PAYE. If the UK withholding is being challenged because France has the exclusive taxing right, the French return should not be artificially reduced by the disputed UK deduction. The repayment claim belongs in the UK file.

The French pension page also distinguishes foreign pensions that open a right to a credit equal to the French tax from those that do not. Its official instructions direct taxpayers to different pension fields and the Form 2047 depending on the treaty mechanism. They also explain that foreign pensions taxable in France without that particular credit are not subject to the same French withholding mechanism as a French pension, but can be subject to a French instalment. The exact fields can change with the tax year, so use the current form and notice rather than copying a box number from an older return.

If the French tax office has treated the pension as exempt, taxable, or credit-bearing under the wrong treaty article, use a formal réclamation, meaning a written tax claim seeking correction of an assessment. Article L. 190 of the French Tax Procedures Book recognises claims seeking correction of errors in the basis or calculation of tax and the benefit of a right arising from legislation. The text refers to la réparation d’erreurs commises dans l’assiette ou le calcul des impositions. Attach the treaty article, the pension award, the gross-payment schedule, the French forms and the HMRC correspondence.

The deadline must be calculated from the type of French claim, the notice and the relevant payment or assessment. Article R*196-1 of the French Tax Procedures Book, in the version shown as in force from 30 July 2026, sets out a general rule under which many claims are presented by 31 December of the second year following the relevant assessment, payment or event. The provision begins: Pour être recevables, les réclamations relatives aux impôts autres que les impôts directs locaux. It also contains distinct rules for particular withholding and direct-tax situations. Do not assume that a French claim deadline controls an HMRC repayment period, or that an HMRC deadline preserves a French court claim.

The domestic French claim normally comes before proceedings in the administrative court. Include a clear request: correction of the assessment, recognition of the treaty treatment, repayment of an overpayment or correction of a credit calculation. Ask the tax office to state its position on the pension’s treaty category. If the authority later rejects the claim, the written rejection and the date of receipt become important for any administrative-court filing.

Evidence must be filed as if a judge may need to reconstruct the case without a telephone explanation. In Conseil d’État, 26 January 2011, no. 311808, the court addressed tax litigation evidence and stated that the administrative judge must rule qu’au vu des seules pièces du dossier qui ont été communiquées aux parties. A claimant should therefore communicate the documents on which the treaty argument depends, not merely refer to records held by a pension provider or HMRC.

Article 24 is relevant when both countries are permitted to tax or when a treaty mechanism requires a credit. The same France–UK convention provides that, for France, income taxable only in the United Kingdom can still be taken into account under the convention’s method, with a credit subject to its conditions. The wording is technical and the method differs according to the paragraph and category of income. It cannot be used as a general instruction to deduct any foreign PAYE from the French gross pension.

If the two administrations take positions that together produce taxation contrary to the treaty, Article 26 provides a mutual-agreement route in addition to domestic remedies. The provision says that a resident can submit the case to the competent authority independently of domestic appeals, using the phrase indépendamment des recours prévus par le droit interne de ces Etats. It sets a three-year period from the first notification of the measure producing treaty-inconsistent taxation, or a six-year period from the end of the relevant tax year or assessment period. Those treaty periods should be diarised separately from French and UK domestic deadlines.

A mutual-agreement request is not a reason to stop gathering documents or to ignore a French claim deadline. It is a coordinated treaty procedure, not an automatic refund service. The request should identify the taxpayer, both countries, the pension category, the residence period, the payments, the tax withheld in each country, the relief requested and the first notification. A copy of the HMRC refusal and the French assessment or decision should be included where available.

Three examples show why the route changes with the payment:

Private workplace pension. A British citizen becomes French tax resident on 1 September and continues receiving a UK workplace pension. The provider deducts UK PAYE for six months. If the payment is an ordinary pension under Article 18, the claimant normally reports the gross relevant income in France, asks the French SIP to certify residence on Form France Individual DT and asks HMRC to stop the UK deduction and repay the eligible period. The claim should not be described as a French tax credit for UK PAYE without analysing Article 24.

UK government pension. A former UK local-authority employee moves to France and receives a pension from the authority. Article 19 may leave the pension taxable in the United Kingdom. The claimant should not rely on the ordinary private-pension explanation. The file must prove the public employer, the services that generated the pension, the residence and the nationalities. French reporting and any relief must then follow the public-service rule.

Capital or special payment. A UK scheme pays a one-off amount described as a commutation, annuity surrender, death benefit or incapacity payment. The date of payment and the scheme documents become decisive. The French administration may ask whether it is a pension, an annuity, a capital payment or a benefit governed by a special article. A refund request based only on the word “pension” can therefore be rejected even if the recipient lives in France.

The safest approach after a refusal is a written decision tree. First, identify the payment. Second, prove the residence period. Third, select the treaty article. Fourth, calculate gross income and tax separately. Fifth, send the UK relief or repayment claim. Sixth, submit or correct the French return. Seventh, challenge the correct administration within its own deadline. That sequence prevents the common error of asking France to refund UK tax or asking HMRC to correct a French assessment.

Conclusion

A UK pension tax deduction is not automatically final merely because it appears on a payslip. For an ordinary private, workplace or State Pension paid to a person who is tax resident in France, Article 18 of the France–UK convention commonly makes France the taxing state. A UK government or local-authority pension can follow Article 19, and a lump sum or special benefit must be classified before the refund route is chosen.

Prepare a gross-payment and tax-deduction schedule, prove the French residence period, complete Form France Individual DT, obtain certification from the French SIP and send the certified claim to HMRC. At the same time, declare the income correctly in France using the current 2047 and 2042 instructions. If a tax office or HMRC refuses the claim, demand the precise reason, file the appropriate domestic claim, protect the separate deadlines and consider the treaty mutual-agreement procedure where the two countries’ positions remain inconsistent.

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