French taxes for Brits: leaving the UK system, the treaty and your State Pension

Once you're living in Paris, France taxes your income from everywhere. The trick is leaving the UK system cleanly and letting the UK–France tax treaty sort out who taxes what.

The short version

• France taxes its residents on worldwide income, at rates of 0% to 45% on 2025 income, with a family system (quotient familial) that can soften the blow for couples and parents [1].
• The UK taxes by residence, not citizenship: tell HMRC you've left with form P85, or form SA109 if you file Self Assessment [2].
• The UK–France Double Taxation Convention of 2008 decides who taxes what and stops you paying twice [3][4].
• Private and workplace pensions are taxed only where you live; UK government service pensions are usually taxed only in the UK [4].
• Your UK State Pension still rises every April in France, because France is on DWP's uprating list [5].

How France taxes residents

You're usually French tax resident if your home or main place of residence is in France, your main work is here, or your economic interests are centred here. Meet any one test and France taxes your worldwide income. If both countries claim you, the treaty's tie-breaker in Article 4 looks at where you have a permanent home and then where your personal and economic ties are closer [4].

French income tax is charged on the household (foyer fiscal), not the individual. Your taxable income is divided by a number of "parts": one for a single person, two for a married or PACS couple, 2.5 for a couple with one child, three with two children [1]. The scale is then applied to each part, which makes a big difference for one-earner families.

Source: Service-Public, verified 15 April 2026 [1]. The scale is only part of the sum: there's a cap on the benefit of the family system, and social charges (prélèvements sociaux) apply on top to investment income and, for most people, to pensions and earnings.

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = EUR 1.20).

Tax returns and withholding

France now takes income tax at source from salaries and pensions (prélèvement à la source), but everyone still files an annual return in late spring for the previous calendar year. Your first return as a newcomer is normally on paper, then online at impots.gouv.fr after that.

The forms Brits meet most often:

1. Form 2042, the main income tax return.
2. Form 2047, for income from abroad, including UK pensions, UK rent and UK interest and dividends.
3. Form 3916, to declare every bank or savings account held outside France, including UK current accounts and ISAs. The FCDO flags this too: foreign assets must be declared, separately from your tax return [6].

Leaving an old Nationwide account off form 3916 can earn you a fine even if it holds next to nothing. Our guide to French admin for Brits explains setting up your impots.gouv account.

Leaving the UK tax system properly

The UK doesn't stop taxing you just because you've bought a Navigo pass.

1. Check the Statutory Residence Test. It decides if you're still UK resident for the tax year. See the Statutory Residence Test explained.
2. Tell HMRC you're leaving. Use form P85 if you don't normally file a return, or the SA109 residence pages with your Self Assessment return [2].
3. Look at split-year treatment for the year you go, so your French income isn't caught by UK tax. See split-year treatment.
4. Keep paperwork showing when you moved: lease, Eurostar ticket, French payslips.

After that, the UK only taxes your UK income, such as UK rent [2].

The UK–France treaty: who taxes what

The 2008 convention was signed in London on 19 June 2008 and has applied since 6 April 2010 for UK income tax and 1 January 2010 for France [3][4].

Two quirks catch people out:

• UK government pensions. If you're on a civil service or other government service pension, the UK keeps the right to tax it, but France still counts it when working out your French tax rate on everything else.
• UK rental income. Under the treaty France gives a credit equal to the French tax on that income, so it's not "taxed twice", but it does push up your French rate on your other income [4]. You still need to deal with the UK side, including the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme. Our guide to UK income while you live abroad covers that.

Your UK State Pension in France

Good news first: France is in the EEA, so your UK State Pension goes up every April exactly as it would back home in Blighty [5]. Our guide to the UK State Pension abroad has the current rates and how to claim from abroad.

On tax, the UK State Pension paid to a French resident is in practice taxed in France, not the UK. It's paid gross, so you declare it on your French return and France usually applies a standard deduction for pensions before working out the tax. If you've also worked in France, contact CARSAT, the French pensions office, about any French pension [6].

Social charges and the S1. If the NHS pays for your French healthcare through an S1 form, you're usually charged a lower social levy on investment income instead of the full rate, and no French health charges on your UK pensions. Getting this right often takes a letter to the tax office with a copy of your S1, so keep it handy.

Never transfer a pension because of a move. A UK pension can be paid to you in France as it is. Transfers to overseas schemes need regulated financial advice, can trigger the overseas transfer charge, and are a magnet for scams; check the FCA and MoneyHelper warnings first. See UK workplace and private pensions abroad.

ISAs and savings: the bad news

An ISA is tax-free in the UK only. As a French resident, the interest, dividends and gains inside it are taxable in France, and the account goes on form 3916. Many Brits find French wrappers such as the assurance vie and the PEA work better once they're settled; see assurance vie, PEA and ISAs.

This is general information: a tax adviser who knows both countries can check your situation, especially in your first year. And for a sanity check from people who've filed their first 2047, try our community group for Brits in France.

Sources

1. Service-Public.gouv.fr: Barème de l'impôt sur le revenu (verified 15 April 2026)
2. GOV.UK: Tax if you leave the UK to live abroad
3. GOV.UK (HMRC): France tax treaties
4. GOV.UK (HMRC): 2008 UK and France Double Taxation Convention, in force
5. GOV.UK (DWP): Countries where we pay an annual increase in the State Pension (updated 27 October 2026)
6. GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in France (last updated 2 October 2026)

Keep reading

• Assurance vie, PEA and ISAs: French savings for Brits
• French inheritance rules: forced heirship and choosing UK law
• Double taxation agreements and reliefs
• Leaving the UK: telling HMRC, the P85 and your last tax year