Moving from the United Kingdom to France can leave a British pension being paid through a UK payroll system even after the recipient has become tax resident in France. The first payslip may then show UK Income Tax deducted at source, while the French return asks for the same pension to be reported as foreign income. That apparent double charge is not solved by changing a bank address or by assuming that Brexit ended the France–UK double-taxation convention.

For many ordinary UK occupational or personal pensions, the decisive questions are whether you are treaty resident in France, whether the payment is truly a pension for past employment, and whether a public-service or special exemption changes the result. If the treaty assigns the taxing right to France, the usual practical route for UK tax already deducted is the HM Revenue & Customs Form France-Individual, also called the DT-Individual form in some correspondence. It can support relief at source or a repayment claim, but it must be backed by evidence from the French tax administration.

This guide explains the legal classification, the French filing side, the evidence HMRC and a pension provider normally need, and the steps to take when deductions continue. It is aimed at a British individual settling in France after Brexit. It does not cover the purchase of French property or the creation of a company. The separate question of pension entitlement, including the aggregation of UK and French insurance periods, must also be kept distinct from the question of where the pension is taxed.

I. Can a UK pension be taxed in France only after you move? Residence, treaty rights and the refund trigger

A. When does France become the country of residence for the pension treaty?

For the wider classification and declaration framework, see the British desk’s guide to UK pensions in France after Brexit. This article takes the narrower, action-led question: how can a French resident challenge UK tax already deducted from a pension?

The refund analysis begins with residence, not with the nationality of the pension provider and not with the currency in which the payment arrives. Under French domestic law, the expression domicile fiscal means tax domicile. Article 4 A of the French General Tax Code, the Code général des impôts or CGI, 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.” The same article adds that a person whose tax domicile is outside France is assessed in France on French-source income. The official text is available in Article 4 A CGI on Légifrance.

This is a starting rule, not the end of the analysis. A person who moved their household to France may be French tax resident even if their pension remains paid by a UK institution into a UK account. The French home, the place where the spouse and children live, the ordinary pattern of life, professional activity and the centre of economic interests can all matter. A French residence permit proves an immigration status; it does not by itself decide tax residence. A National Insurance record and a British passport do not decide it either.

Keep a dated residence file. It should show the date the household moved, the date the French home became available, the end of the UK home if there was one, utility records, school or medical registrations, travel days, employment changes, bank correspondence and the first French tax registration. If you moved during a tax year, retain the evidence for both periods. The question is not simply how many days you spent in France. The chronology must explain where the centre of ordinary life was and whether a treaty tie-breaker is needed because both countries regard you as resident under their internal rules.

The France–UK convention then supplies the treaty framework. The current English text of the 2008 UK–France Double Taxation Convention published by GOV.UK uses permanent home, closer personal and economic relations, habitual abode and nationality as part of the residence sequence. The treaty question is therefore separate from the date on which a prefecture issued a residence card or the date on which a pension provider changed its correspondence address.

The Conseil d’État, France’s highest administrative court for public-law and tax disputes, illustrates the importance of proof. In decision no. 06961 of 14 February 1979, the court considered a British national who received a pension from the British Crown. Its summary refers to “la seule circonstance qu’il soit de nationalité britannique et perçoive, en sa qualité d’officier en retraite, une pension”. The court held that those facts did not, without probative evidence of residence for Income Tax purposes, establish UK residence for the former France–UK convention. The case predates the current treaty, but its evidential lesson remains directly useful: nationality and a British pension are not a residence certificate.

That decision also explains why an HMRC repayment file should not consist only of a payslip. A French avis d’impôt, meaning a French tax assessment notice, a certificate or correspondence confirming French tax residence, the French return, a residence chronology and proof of the actual household position can be more persuasive than a simple declaration that you “live in France”. If the French tax office has not yet issued an assessment, keep the documents used to register the tax household and ask the relevant service des impôts des particuliers, or SIP, the individual tax office, how it can certify the form required for treaty relief.

Residence can also change during the year. A person who lived in the UK for part of a year, moved permanently to France, and received pension payments on both sides of the move may have two domestic reporting periods and one treaty residence question. The date at which the taxing state changes is not necessarily the date of the first French bank transfer. It may require a review of the treaty residence article, domestic split-year rules and the nature of the pension payment for each period.

Do not confuse residence with source. A UK pension is usually UK-source in an ordinary practical sense because the payer and scheme are in the United Kingdom. That source does not automatically give the UK the final taxing right under the treaty. Conversely, French residence does not make every payment taxable in France: a government-service exception, a special exempt pension or another treaty article can change the result. The correct sequence is to prove residence, classify the payment and then apply the allocation rule.

A double-tax convention also does not remove French filing duties. Even where the treaty prevents French tax on a particular item, France may require the item to be disclosed so that it can apply the correct exemption, tax-credit or rate calculation. Article 170 CGI requires a detailed income declaration in the situations covered by the Code. It also refers to income which is exempt under a tax convention but must be taken into account for the tax applicable to other income. The current Article 170 CGI should be read with the instructions for the relevant tax year.

For the refund question, the practical trigger is therefore narrow: UK Income Tax has been deducted from a pension, you are able to establish French treaty residence for the relevant period, and the treaty classification places that ordinary pension in the French taxing state rather than the United Kingdom. The presence of those three facts supports a claim. It does not guarantee a repayment until the pension category, tax years and supporting documents have been checked.

B. Which UK pension payments fall under Article 18, and which exceptions can defeat a refund?

Article 18 is the main provision for an ordinary retirement pension. It says: “pensions and other similar remuneration paid in consideration of past employment to a resident of a Contracting State shall be taxable only in that State.” The wording appears in Article 18 of the official convention text. If the recipient is treaty resident in France and the payment is remuneration for past employment, the normal direction is that France has the taxing right and UK Income Tax deducted contrary to that allocation may be reclaimed.

“Pension” is not a sufficient description by itself. Separate the payments in the provider’s documents:

• A UK State Pension is a social-security payment with its own statutory basis. It is often reported with other retirement income, but the exact treaty treatment and French declaration line should be checked rather than inferred from the words “State Pension”.
• An occupational pension normally derives from employment, but an occupational scheme connected with public service can bring Article 19 into the analysis.
• A personal pension or annuity may be treated under the pension article, but the contract, the payer and the form of the payment should be retained.
• A QROPS, meaning a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme, is not a blanket tax exemption. A transfer, drawdown, recurring income, unauthorised payment and lump sum can have different consequences.
• A retirement lump sum is not automatically the same as a monthly pension. France’s domestic law can include retirement benefits paid as capital in the income-tax base, while the treaty allocation and the applicable reporting line still require separate review.

French domestic law confirms why a pension cannot be ignored on the French side. Article 79 CGI 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.” It adds that retirement benefits paid in capital form can also belong to the income-tax base. Read the wording of Article 79 CGI alongside the treaty. The French Code identifies the domestic income category; the convention decides which country may tax it.

Article 19 is the first major exception. Pensions paid by, or from funds created by, a contracting state or local authority for services rendered to that state or authority are generally taxable only in the paying state. The exception can reverse the ordinary Article 18 result. It is not enough that the employer was publicly owned or that the scheme was described informally as “government-related”. Ask who legally paid the pension, which body created the rights and whether the service was rendered to the state, a local authority or a statutory body.

The nationality exception in Article 19 also matters. The current treaty text explains that a government-service pension can instead be taxable only in the other state where the individual is resident and a national of that state without also being a national of the paying state. A British citizen who is also French, or who has another nationality, should have the nationality position checked carefully. The result can differ from the result for a person who is solely British. Keep the nationality evidence current when applying for treaty relief.

The convention has further wording for certain injury, disability and military pensions. Article 19(4) provides that specified categories can be exempt from French tax while they are exempt from UK tax, and that the non-exempt portion can be treated differently. The relevant provisions refer to Article 81(4) of the French tax code and section 641 of the UK Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003. The fact that a payment comes from the armed forces is not enough. Request a breakdown identifying ordinary service pension rights and any injury or disablement component.

A refund claim can fail when a taxpayer treats all UK retirement receipts as Article 18 payments. Common examples include:

• the payment is a public-service pension and Article 19 assigns it to the UK;
• the recipient is not treaty resident in France for the tax year in question;
• the amount is a lump sum, a transfer or a scheme payment rather than a recurring pension for past employment;
• the pension is partly exempt in one state but not wholly exempt, so the payment must be split;
• the provider’s statement combines several schemes and HMRC has withheld tax on a category which has not been identified;
• the claimant asks for a refund of UK tax but has never declared the underlying foreign pension in France, leaving the two administrations with inconsistent information.

Withholding is evidence of what the payer did, not proof that the payer was legally entitled to deduct. The same is true of a nil tax code. A provider may continue to deduct because it has not received a processed treaty form, because its records still show a UK address, or because the payment is classified as government service. A nil code can also be wrong where the payment is taxable in the UK. Obtain the reason for the code, the tax year, the gross amount and the legal category before asking for a correction.

The UK government’s pension guidance explains that tax can still be due when a person lives abroad and directs readers to double-taxation agreements where the same income may be taxed twice. See GOV.UK guidance on tax when living abroad. This general page is useful orientation, but the France-Individual route is more precise for a France resident receiving a UK pension. The claim should identify the treaty article rather than rely on a generic statement that “expats do not pay UK tax”.

Finally, entitlement and taxation are different legal questions. A person may need to prove UK and French insurance periods to obtain or calculate a pension, while the tax authority asks where the resulting payment is taxable. A social-security decision about the amount of the pension does not automatically allocate the income-tax right. Keep the retirement entitlement file separate from the treaty refund file, even when the same provider appears in both.

II. How do you claim back UK pension tax from France? Form France-Individual, evidence and refusals

A. What should you put in Form France-Individual and the French tax return?

HMRC’s official page identifies the central form in direct terms: “Use form France-Individual to apply for relief at source or to claim repayment of UK Income Tax.” The page describes it as the form for residents of France receiving pensions, purchased annuities, interest or royalties arising in the UK. Download the current Form France-Individual from GOV.UK, together with its notes and any linked PDF. Do not use an old copy saved by a pension provider without comparing the version and instructions.

The form has two possible practical functions. Relief at source aims to stop the incorrect UK deduction before future payments are made. Repayment deals with UK Income Tax which has already been withheld. A person who has suffered deductions for several tax years may need to present the history clearly rather than assume that changing the tax code will refund earlier payments automatically. Send the provider statements and the exact tax years needed to support the repayment calculation.

The French certification is the part many files underestimate. HMRC needs evidence that the claimant is resident in France for treaty purposes. The form’s process is built around certification by the French tax administration, not merely a private letter saying that the claimant rents a French house. Ask the relevant SIP how it wants the form, the French tax number, the tax return and the residence evidence presented. Retain a complete copy before sending anything to HMRC.

A useful evidence bundle should include:

1. the completed France-Individual form, signed and dated, with the relevant pension or annuity category identified;
2. the French tax residence evidence for each requested year, such as the assessment notice, tax-household registration or certificate requested by the SIP;
3. the UK pension provider’s annual statements, payslips and tax deduction record showing gross income, UK tax deducted and net payment;
4. the provider’s scheme description, award notice or letter confirming whether the payment is State, occupational, personal, public-service, annuity, injury or other income;
5. the French returns and any calculations showing that the pension was reported in France under the correct foreign-income route;
6. the chronology of the move, especially where residence changed during a tax year or the provider continued using a UK address;
7. previous correspondence with HMRC or the payer, including the reason given for retaining the UK tax code;
8. bank statements or payment summaries only where they help reconcile the gross amount, the date of payment and the tax deducted. A bank statement is supporting evidence, not a substitute for a pension statement.

The French declaration is a parallel obligation. The French tax administration explains that a resident who receives foreign income must consult the relevant convention and use the foreign-income declaration, commonly form 2047, with the main income-tax return where applicable. The current impots.gouv.fr guidance on foreign-source income separates foreign pensions, investment income and capital gains. Its English-language explanation also directs taxpayers to the treaty and the relevant annexes.

Do not enter the net amount that reached the French bank account if the return requires the gross pension and the tax treatment of the UK deduction to be shown separately. Reconcile the provider’s gross figure, the UK Income Tax withheld, any social-security or health deduction, currency conversion and the amount reported in France. Keep a short reconciliation schedule for each year. It should let a reader trace the figure from the annual UK statement to the French return and then to the repayment claim.

The French domestic rules also explain why a UK payer can create a French withholding issue even though the payment is foreign. Article 204 C CGI refers to “lorsqu’ils sont versés par un débiteur établi hors de France, les revenus de source étrangère imposables en France suivant les règles applicables aux salaires, aux pensions ou aux rentes viagères”. The current Article 204 C CGI describes the French advance-payment mechanism in applicable cases. It does not authorise France to collect UK Income Tax; it shows why French treatment of a foreign pension must be checked independently of the UK refund.

Foreign pension reporting can also affect social contributions. The French tax return may require the pension to be considered for social levies, health contributions or a tax-credit mechanism depending on the person’s affiliation and the type of income. A treaty allocation for income tax is not automatically a complete answer for social-security contributions. Confirm whether the claimant is covered by the French system, the UK system or a special coordination arrangement for the relevant period. Keep the S1 or other healthcare evidence separate from the France-Individual residence certificate, because each document proves a different point.

The domestic French deduction for pensions should not be confused with a treaty exemption. Article 158 CGI contains the rules for the pension deduction, including the standard treatment of pension income. The official Article 158 CGI text must be read with the tax-year instructions. A person can have a French taxable amount after the statutory pension allowance and still have a UK repayment claim because the convention assigns the taxing right to France. The two calculations answer different questions.

If you hold the UK pension account through a bank or investment platform, review the foreign-account declaration as well. Article 1649 A CGI concerns the declaration of accounts opened, held, used or closed abroad by French tax residents. The official Article 1649 A provision should be checked against the type of account and the current form instructions. Declaring pension income does not necessarily declare an overseas bank or investment account. Conversely, an account declaration does not replace the pension declaration.

Before sending the form, carry out a four-way reconciliation:

• Residence: the French tax status on the form matches the year and the actual move.
• Classification: the provider’s document supports Article 18, or identifies the Article 19 or special-exemption issue.
• Amounts: gross pension, tax deducted, currency conversion and French declaration figures can be traced.
• Destination: the French certification route and the HMRC repayment or relief-at-source route are both clear, with copies retained.

A claim that passes those four checks is much less likely to be returned for a basic mismatch. It also gives the French tax office a coherent reason to certify residence and gives HMRC enough information to understand why the requested relief is linked to the France–UK convention rather than to a general request for discretionary repayment.

B. What should you do when HMRC or the pension provider refuses, delays or keeps deducting tax?

Start by identifying what has actually been refused. There are at least four different situations: the French tax office has not certified residence; HMRC has rejected the treaty classification; the pension provider has not changed its tax code; or HMRC accepts the future position but has not processed the repayment for past deductions. Each requires a different response. A short letter stating “I am resident in France, please refund everything” may not tell the recipient which issue must be fixed.

If the French certification is missing, ask the SIP for the precise document or correction needed. Check the address, tax number, household members, years requested, declared pension and signature. If the move occurred part-way through a year, explain the dates rather than asking for an unqualified certificate covering a period in which you were still UK resident. If the French return has not yet been filed, ask which provisional documents the tax office will accept and make the final filing consistent with the certification request.

If HMRC or the provider disputes the category, request the reason in writing. Ask whether the payment is being treated as a private occupational pension, State Pension, public-service pension, annuity, lump sum or another item. Compare that description with the provider’s scheme rules. A public-service pension may fall under Article 19, while an ordinary employment pension may fall under Article 18. If the payment contains more than one component, ask the provider to issue a split statement instead of forcing the entire amount into one category.

If the provider continues to deduct UK tax after a certified form has been submitted, keep the date of receipt, the reference number and every later payslip. Contact the provider to confirm whether the deduction is caused by an HMRC instruction, an internal payroll code or a missing form. Use the GOV.UK HMRC Income Tax contact route for the tax question and keep the provider correspondence for the administrative correction. Do not stop declaring the pension in France while the UK code is being challenged.

If the dispute concerns tax already deducted, separate the refund calculation from the future tax code. Make a table by tax year showing the gross pension, UK Income Tax withheld, the amount refunded if any, the date of each request and the document HMRC says is missing. This prevents a later payment from being counted twice and makes it easier to identify whether HMRC has refunded a single month, a full year or only part of a mixed pension stream.

For a French filing correction, the relevant route is different. A French assessment can be challenged through the French tax administration’s claim process if the error is French tax, French withholding or an incorrect foreign-income calculation. That procedure does not itself force HMRC to repay UK Income Tax. Conversely, an HMRC repayment does not correct a French return which omitted or misclassified the pension. When both countries have acted, keep two ledgers: the UK deduction and refund ledger, and the French declared-income and assessment ledger.

The treaty contains a further escalation route where the action of one or both states results in taxation contrary to the convention. Article 26 of the current treaty states that a resident who considers that result can present the case to the competent authority of the state of residence, irrespective of domestic remedies. The official text also sets procedural limits, including presentation within three years from the first notification of the action, or within six years from the end of the taxable year or period concerned. Read the exact wording in Article 26 of the UK–France convention before relying on a mutual-agreement procedure. It is an escalation mechanism, not a replacement for the France-Individual claim.

A mutual-agreement request should be reserved for a real treaty conflict, such as both administrations asserting an incompatible taxing right or refusing to apply the same residence and classification facts. Before using it, assemble the assessments, payslips, treaty analysis, residence evidence, France-Individual form, correspondence and domestic remedies already attempted. The competent authorities cannot solve a file which does not identify the payment, the tax years and the precise treaty provision in dispute.

Late filing and incomplete declarations can produce a second problem while the refund is pending. If a French return omitted the pension, correct the French position promptly rather than hoping the UK repayment will remain invisible. The French rules on penalties and late declarations are set out in the CGI provisions on tax penalties, including Article 1728. The appropriate response depends on the facts, the time elapsed and whether the error was deliberate, but retaining a complete correction trail is better than sending contradictory figures to the two countries.

There are also practical reasons to check the payment date and currency. HMRC may calculate a repayment from the tax deducted in sterling, while the French return uses euro figures for the corresponding income. A refund of UK Income Tax is not itself a pension payment for French declaration purposes, but the dates and amounts should be recorded so that the French file can distinguish the original pension from the later repayment. Keep the HMRC calculation and the bank credit separately.

Do not sign a form describing a private pension if the provider’s own records show a government-service scheme. Do not describe yourself as French treaty resident for a year in which the evidence shows that the UK remained the treaty residence. Do not claim the same UK tax twice through a repayment and a French foreign-tax credit. These are not merely drafting errors: they can create inconsistent statements across two tax administrations and make a later correction harder.

The strongest response to a refusal is usually a corrected, narrow file. It should state the residence period, name the treaty article, identify the pension source, show the UK tax deducted, attach the French certification and ask for one defined outcome: relief at source from a specified future date, repayment of specified years, or a written explanation of why the payment is outside Article 18. A precise request is easier to review than a general complaint about being taxed twice.

Obtain advice before sending the file if the pension is substantial, the move was close to a tax year boundary, the payment is a lump sum, the scheme is a QROPS, public service is involved, both states have issued assessments, or the same income has already been claimed for a credit and a repayment. The aim is not to create a larger bundle of documents. It is to ensure that each document proves the exact legal fact on which the requested refund depends.

Conclusion

A British resident in France can often challenge UK tax deducted from an ordinary pension, but the claim is not based on the fact that the payment is British or that the recipient has moved abroad. The case depends on treaty residence, the legal source of the pension, the relevant tax years and the distinction between Article 18 private or employment pensions and Article 19 government-service payments. Special rules for State Pension, injury benefits, military pensions, annuities and lump sums must be checked rather than placed in one category.

The practical route is to declare the pension consistently in France, obtain the residence certification required for Form France-Individual, send HMRC the provider’s gross figures and deduction history, and keep the future tax-code correction separate from the repayment of earlier deductions. If an administration refuses, ask for the precise reason, correct the missing evidence, and use the treaty’s competent-authority route only where a genuine double-taxation conflict remains. A French filing does not by itself refund UK tax, and a UK repayment does not remove the French declaration duty.

Keep the residence calendar, French assessments, provider statements, form copies, correspondence and refund calculations together for every year. That record is the practical bridge between the legal rule in the convention and the administrative decision made by HMRC or the French tax office.