If you are a British citizen who has settled in France since Brexit and you receive, or are about to receive, the UK State Pension (the flat-rate pension paid by the British government on the basis of your National Insurance record), one question dominates every conversation with your accountant: which country actually taxes it? British friends will tell you it is taxed in England, French neighbours will tell you it is taxed in France, and both cannot be right. The answer matters because it decides which return you file, which boxes you tick, whether French social charges apply on top of income tax, and what you do when a bill arrives from the wrong administration.

This guide explains, for a British reader, how the UK State Pension is treated when you are fiscally domiciled in France (your domicile fiscal, the connecting factor that makes you liable to French tax on worldwide income). Every French term is explained at first use, and every decisive legal proposition is linked to its official text so you can check it yourself. Part I deals with income tax: why the France–UK double tax treaty gives France the exclusive right to tax your State Pension, how you declare it on the French forms 2047 and 2042 (the annexe for foreign-source income and the main income tax return), and how you stop HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC, the British tax administration) from taxing the same money. Part II deals with the second bill that surprises most pensioners: French social charges (the prélèvements sociaux, levied alongside income tax), the rates that apply to pensions, and how the S1 healthcare certificate (the portable document that keeps you covered by the British health system while you live in France) can remove those charges entirely. It closes with the remedies: the exact deadlines and routes for challenging a wrong assessment in either country.

I. Where is my UK State Pension taxed if I live in France, and how do I declare it?

A. Is my UK State Pension taxable only in France under the France–UK tax treaty?

The starting point is your French tax residence. Article 4 B of the General Tax Code (Code général des impôts) provides: “Sont considérées comme ayant leur domicile fiscal en France au sens de l’article 4 A : a. Les personnes qui ont en France leur foyer ou le lieu de leur séjour principal” (Article 4 B of the General Tax Code, Légifrance). If your home (foyer) or your main place of stay is in France, you are fiscally domiciled in France, and the same code taxes you on your worldwide income. The French courts apply this exactly as written: a taxpayer domiciled in France is, in principle and subject to specific treaty provisions, liable to French income tax on all of his income, including foreign-source income, as the Bordeaux administrative court of appeal recalled in a pension case: “M. B… est, en principe et sous réserve de stipulations conventionnelles particulières, passible en France de l’impôt sur le revenu en raison de l’ensemble de ses revenus, y compris ses revenus de source étrangère” (CAA Bordeaux, 3 October 2023, no. 21BX02149, Légifrance).

That worldwide principle is then divided between the two States by the France–UK double tax treaty signed on 19 June 2008 (the convention fiscale franco-britannique), whose consolidated official text is published by the French tax administration. For the State Pension, the applicable rule is Article 18 of that treaty, under which pensions and similar remuneration paid to a resident of one State for past employment are taxable only in that State, subject only to the government-service rule in Article 19(2) (France–UK tax treaty, official consolidated text, impots.gouv.fr). In plain English: a pension paid for past employment to a person who lives in France is taxable only in France. The UK State Pension, paid by the Department for Work and Pensions on the basis of your contribution record rather than for service to the British State as an employer, falls squarely under this article. France alone taxes it; the United Kingdom must stand back.

One reservation in that quotation needs attention: “sous réserve”, subject to Article 19(2). That second article covers a different animal, pensions for past government service (fonctions publiques): pensions paid by a contracting State, one of its local authorities or, for France, a public-law body, directly or from funds set up for the purpose, to an individual for services rendered to that State or body are taxable only in that paying State (Article 19(2) of the France–UK tax treaty, official consolidated text, impots.gouv.fr). If, alongside your State Pension, you receive a British civil service, local authority, police or armed forces pension for work you did for the British State, that pension is in principle taxable only in the United Kingdom, not in France. Confusing the two articles is the single most common error we see: pensioners declare everything in France, or HMRC taxes everything in the United Kingdom, and both positions are half wrong. Check each pension separately against your award letters and your P60 (the British end-of-year statement of pension paid and tax deducted, if any). Our companion briefing on the voluntary National Insurance route explains how to protect the amount of the State Pension itself (Moving to France from the UK: voluntary National Insurance and your State Pension); this article deals with what happens once the pension is in payment.

A related question is whether moving to France freezes or reduces the pension. It does not. The British government confirms that the pension only rises each year for residents of certain places, including the European Economic Area (EEA), Gibraltar and Switzerland alongside some agreement countries, while pensioners living anywhere else do not receive yearly increases (State Pension if you retire abroad: rates, GOV.UK). France is in the European Economic Area, so a British pensioner living in Dordogne, Brittany or Paris receives the same annual uprating (revalorisation annuelle, the yearly increase under the triple lock) as a pensioner in Leeds. Keep the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) notified of your French address so the increase is applied; an unreported move is the usual cause of a mysteriously static pension.

B. Which French forms do I file, and how do I stop HMRC taxing the same pension?

In France, pensions fall inside the general income tax base. Article 79 of the General Tax Code provides: “Les traitements, indemnités, émoluments, salaires, pensions et rentes viagères concourent à la formation du revenu global servant de base à l’impôt sur le revenu” (Article 79 of the General Tax Code, Légifrance). Your State Pension therefore joins your worldwide taxable income (revenu global), converted into euros at the rate ruling on the dates of payment. Before the rate scale (barème) is applied, pensions benefit from a statutory allowance (abattement, a fixed deduction): Article 158, 5, a of the General Tax Code states “Les pensions et retraites font l’objet d’un abattement de 10 % qui ne peut excéder 4 439 €” and adds “L’abattement indiqué au deuxième alinéa ne peut être inférieur à 454 €” (Article 158, 5, a of the General Tax Code, Légifrance). In practice, declare the gross annual State Pension, and the 10 per cent allowance, within those floor and ceiling figures, is applied automatically.

The filing itself runs through two forms. The French tax administration presents form 2042 as the main return and annexe 2047 as the schedule detailing income received abroad, including wages, pensions, rental income, dividends and interest, with its first section covering work-related income such as wages and pensions (How foreign-source income is taxed, impots.gouv.fr). Enter the gross State Pension in cadre 1 of the 2047, then carry the total onto the 2042 as the notice instructs. If the pension is paid into a British bank or building society account that you still hold, a second declaration is compulsory: Article 1649 A of the General Tax Code provides “Les personnes physiques, les associations, les sociétés n’ayant pas la forme commerciale, domiciliées ou établies en France, sont tenues de déclarer, en même temps que leur déclaration de revenus ou de résultats, les références des comptes ouverts, détenus, utilisés ou clos à l’étranger” (Article 1649 A of the General Tax Code, Légifrance). Declare the account each year on form 3916 (the foreign-account schedule) even if it receives only your pension; an undeclared account draws its own penalty, separate from any income tax.

On the British side, the good news is that the State Pension is normally paid gross, with no tax deducted at source, so there is usually nothing to reclaim on it. Difficulty arises where HMRC, unaware of your French residence, collects tax on the pension through your tax code (code, the PAYE coding applied to another British income) or where a government-service pension paid alongside it suffers British withholding that France must recognise. The treaty machinery for releasing British withholding on pensions paid to French residents is set out in the French administration’s own doctrine: a separate claim for each British payer, both language versions completed, signed and sent to the claimant’s local French tax office for verification and certification, with the post-2012 procedure for exempting British-source private pensions from withholding at source running through that certified claim (BOI-INT-CVB-GBR-10-30, §§ 310–380, BOFiP-Impôts). In practice, that means the France-Individual claim form (Form France-Individual), certified by your French tax office (service des impôts des particuliers) and sent to HMRC, which then issues a no-tax (NT) code to the payer. File it as soon as you arrive; every month of British withholding is a month of cash flow lost and paperwork to recover.

II. Do I pay French social charges on my UK State Pension, and what does my S1 change?

A. CSG and CRDS on a British State Pension: rates, thresholds and the S1 exemption

Income tax is only half the French bill. Pensions paid to French residents can also bear French social levies on top of income tax: the CSG (the contribution sociale généralisée, the general social contribution) and the CRDS (the contribution au remboursement de la dette sociale, the contribution repaying the social debt). The public service guidance confirms that both the CSG and the CRDS apply to earned income and to replacement income, expressly including retirement pensions, with rates varying by situation (CSG and CRDS on activity and replacement income, service-public.fr). A pension paid in place of earnings (revenu de remplacement) is therefore within the charge, and the question is at what rate, and whether your personal situation takes you out of it.

The decisive test is in Article L136-1 of the Social Security Code (Code de la sécurité sociale): “Il est institué une contribution sociale sur les revenus d’activité et sur les revenus de remplacement à laquelle sont assujettis : 1° Les personnes physiques qui sont à la fois considérées comme domiciliées en France pour l’établissement de l’impôt sur le revenu et à la charge, à quelque titre que ce soit, d’un régime obligatoire français d’assurance maladie” (Article L136-1 of the Social Security Code, Légifrance). Two cumulative conditions: French fiscal domicile and cover by a compulsory French health insurance scheme (régime obligatoire français d’assurance maladie). If you hold a valid S1 and are consequently covered for healthcare in France at the United Kingdom’s expense rather than by the French scheme, the second condition fails and the CSG is not due. That is the whole secret of the S1: it is not merely a healthcare document, it is a social-charges shield. The S1 is the portable certificate that superseded the former E106, E109, E120 and E121 forms, used to transfer health-insurance rights within the EU–Iceland–Liechtenstein–Norway–Switzerland area, including for pension holders and their families (Portable document S1, Cleiss). For a British State pensioner, the equivalent route runs through the British authorities: before leaving, the pensioner requests the certificate, and once settled the document allows registration with the local social security body, with care then covered under local rules (Retirement abroad: cover for your care, ameli.fr). Register the S1 with your local CPAM (the caisse primaire d’assurance maladie, the local health insurance fund) on arrival, keep the registration certificate, and copy it to your tax file: it is your evidence if the levies are ever charged.

Without an S1, the rates bite. Article L136-8 of the Social Security Code provides: “Sont assujetties à la contribution au taux de 8,3 % les pensions de retraite, et les pensions d’invalidité”, with a reduced rate in these terms: “sont assujettis à la contribution sociale au taux de 3,8 % les revenus mentionnés au 1° et au premier alinéa du 4° du II de l’article L. 136-1-2 des personnes : 1° D’une part, dont les revenus définis au IV de l’article 1417 du code général des impôts perçus l’avant-dernière année excèdent 11 128 € pour la première part de quotient familial, majorés de 2 971 € pour chaque demi-part supplémentaire” (Article L136-8 of the Social Security Code, Légifrance). The economy ministry’s guidance presents the pension table as varying with reference tax income and family quotient, from exemption through 3.8 and 6.6 per cent to the full 8.3 per cent CSG, with CRDS at 0.50 per cent in every paying band (CSG and CRDS: how they work, economie.gouv.fr). Which band applies depends on your revenu fiscal de référence (the reference tax income shown on your French tax notice) for the year before last: below the floor you pay nothing, then 3.8 per cent CSG with 0.5 per cent CRDS, then 6.6 per cent, then the full 8.3 per cent with 0.5 per cent CRDS. A newly arrived pensioner with a modest first-year French income can therefore be exempt in year one and charged in year three as the reference income catches up; budget for the step-up rather than discovering it on the pension statement.

The European coordination behind the S1 shield has been tested repeatedly before the French high courts, and their reasoning protects pensioners directly. The Conseil d’État (the supreme administrative court) holds that persons within the scope of the coordination regulation “ne sont soumises qu’à la législation d’un seul Etat membre, déterminée selon les règles définies aux articles 11 à 16 de ce règlement, ce qui exclut dès lors toute possibilité de cumul de plusieurs législations nationales pour une même période et, de manière corollaire, qu’un même revenu soit exposé au paiement de doubles cotisations” (CE, 25 October 2024, no. 473997, Légifrance). One State, one legislation, no double contributions on the same income for the same period. The same court adds, for pension holders drawing from more than one State, that “Lorsqu’une personne perçoit une pension provenant de plus d’un État membre, le montant des cotisations prélevées sur toutes les pensions versées ne peut en aucun cas être supérieur au montant qui serait prélevé auprès d’une personne recevant une pension du même montant provenant de l’État membre compétent” (CE, 25 October 2024, no. 473997, Légifrance). And the Cour de cassation (the supreme civil court) upholds decisions finding that a levy “ne méconnaît pas les principes d’unicité d’affiliation à un régime de sécurité sociale et d’unicité de cotisations” (Cass., 2nd civil chamber, 25 September 2025, no. 22-24.634, Cour de cassation). In practical terms: if the United Kingdom is the competent State for your healthcare through the S1, France cannot add a second layer of social charges on the same pension. Readers who want the full picture on the healthcare registration itself can consult our briefing on S1 registration and reimbursement (S1 healthcare in France: recovering costs before CPAM registration) and our analysis of the CSG refund route for British pensions (CSG on a UK pension: S1, rates and how to claim a refund).

Two practical points complete the picture. First, the return itself must reflect your S1 status, or the computer will charge the levies automatically. The tax administration instructs taxpayers covered by another EEA or Swiss social security scheme, and not by a compulsory French scheme, to tick boxes 8SH or 8SI in the miscellaneous section of the complementary 2042-C return, while income actually liable to social charges goes in boxes 8TQ and following (How foreign-source income is taxed, impots.gouv.fr). Tick 8SH or 8SI every year you hold the S1; a missing tick is the most frequent cause of a wrongful CSG bill we see, and it is also the easiest to fix. Second, the S1 position is not static: if you take French employment or register a French self-employed activity alongside the pension, you can move into the French scheme and lose the shield for later years. Review your affiliation each spring before filing, and keep the S1, the CPAM registration and the DWP pension letters together in one file.

B. Taxed twice or billed wrongly: how do I challenge the bill and get money back?

Start with diagnosis, because each wrong bill has its own judge and its own clock. Three situations cover almost everything. First, HMRC has taxed pension income that Article 18 reserves to France. Second, the French return shows the pension in the wrong place: an Article 19 government-service pension declared as an Article 18 pension, or the reverse, so the credit mechanism misfires. Third, French social charges have been levied although you hold an S1, usually because boxes 8SH or 8SI were left unticked. Identify which of the three you face before writing anything; a letter sent to the wrong administration restarts nothing and suspends no deadline.

For a French income tax assessment (avis d’imposition, the annual tax bill), the route is the contentious claim (réclamation contentieuse, the formal written challenge to the tax office). Article R*196-1 of the Tax Procedures Book (Livre des procédures fiscales) sets the deadline: “Pour être recevables, les réclamations relatives aux impôts autres que les impôts directs locaux et les taxes annexes à ces impôts, doivent être présentées à l’administration au plus tard le 31 décembre de la deuxième année suivant celle”, running from “De la mise en recouvrement du rôle ou de la notification d’un avis de mise en recouvrement” (Article R*196-1 of the Tax Procedures Book, Légifrance). File online through your personal account (espace particulier) or by recorded delivery (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception), attach the award letters, the 2047, the S1 and the calculation showing the double charge, and ask expressly for the treaty relief. If the administration rejects the claim or stays silent for six months, appeal to the administrative court (tribunal administratif) within two months of the rejection. Never let the 31 December deadline pass while negotiating informally: file the protective claim first and keep talking afterwards.

The treaty’s own relief mechanics support that claim. Where British tax has lawfully been levied in a way the treaty allows, and the income must still be recognised in France, the treaty does not simply exempt the income: it keeps worldwide capacity in view and neutralises the double hit with a credit. The French courts describe the architecture in these terms: the treaty provides “que, pour le calcul de l’impôt dont l’intéressé est, par ailleurs, redevable en France, sa capacité contributive est déterminée sur la base de la totalité des revenus qu’il perçoit, quelle que soit leur origine, et que la double imposition est éliminée par l’attribution d’un crédit d’impôt imputable sur le montant de l’impôt français et égal au montant de l’impôt français correspondant aux revenus imposables” in the source State (CAA Bordeaux, 3 October 2023, no. 21BX02149, Légifrance). The treaty text confirms the method for the British side of the mirror: where the treaty allocates taxing rights so that British tax stands, that tax is not deductible, but the French resident receives a credit against French tax equal, for income of this class, to the French tax attributable to that income, provided the resident was subject to United Kingdom tax on it (Article 24 of the France–UK tax treaty, official consolidated text, impots.gouv.fr). The administration’s public guidance summarises the result in plain terms: where the same income has already been taxed abroad, the treaties in most cases provide a credit that reduces the French tax (How foreign-source income is taxed, impots.gouv.fr). For a pure State Pension under Article 18, the cleaner outcome is that no British tax should have been levied at all, so the claim is for exemption at source plus refund; for mixed cases with an Article 19 pension alongside, the credit finishes the job on the French side.

For British tax wrongly deducted, claim directly from HMRC with the certified France-Individual form and a copy of your French tax notice; keep the French assessment as proof of residence and liability. For French social charges wrongly levied despite the S1, write first to the body that collected them with the S1 registration certificate and a copy of the return showing boxes 8SH or 8SI, then use the social courts route (the tribunal judiciaire, the ordinary civil court now hearing social security disputes) if the refund is refused. In every case, quantify the claim year by year, keep proof of every posting, and diary the appeal dates the day you file. Double taxation is not a fatality in the Franco-British corridor; it is an administrative error with a written procedure and a judge at the end, and files prepared early almost always settle before the hearing.

Conclusion

For a British resident in France, the UK State Pension follows a clear three-step path. First, the treaty gives France the exclusive right to tax it: Article 18 reserves pensions for past employment to the State of residence, so the pension joins your French worldwide income under Article 79, benefits from the 10 per cent allowance within its floor and ceiling, and is declared through annexe 2047 carried onto the 2042, while any British account receiving it is declared separately under Article 1649 A. Second, the same treaty reserves a different fate for government-service pensions under Article 19, taxable only in the United Kingdom, so each pension in the household must be classified on its own award documents before anything is filed, with the France-Individual procedure releasing any British withholding at source. Third, French social charges depend on healthcare affiliation rather than on the pension itself: at 8.3, 6.6 or 3.8 per cent CSG plus 0.5 per cent CRDS, they fall away entirely where a valid S1 keeps the United Kingdom competent, provided boxes 8SH or 8SI record that status each year. Behind all three steps stands the single-legislation principle the high courts repeat in the same words: one State, one scheme, no double contributions on the same income. Prepare the file once, file it correctly every spring, challenge any departure from this scheme within the deadlines, and the Franco-British pension corridor works exactly as the treaty designed it.

Need a quick opinion on your case

Telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer from the firm. We can review your State Pension award letters, your S1 registration and any letter from the French or British tax administration with you. Call Maître Reda Kohen at +33 6 46 60 58 22. Contact the firm.