Taxation on UK Pensions in France:
What You Need to Know France Flag

If you’re a UK pension holder living in France, it’s important to understand how your pension income is taxed.

By default, UK pensions are taxed at source in the UK as earned income. As a French resident, you will generally pay tax on this income in France instead, under the UK–France Double Taxation Agreement (DTA). Fill in the form to access our full guide and discover other resources to help you manage your pensions and taxation effectively.

Using the NT Tax Code

To avoid UK tax being withheld at source, you can apply for an “NT” (No Tax) code from HMRC. This code lets your pension provider pay your income gross. But you can only get an NT code if you’ve already started taking income from your pension (your initial 25% Pension Commencement Lump Sum is tax-free at source anyway). Please bear in mind that an NT tax code may not be possible to apply for, depending on whether you have any other UK relevant earnings, and the withdrawal amount.

Hand placing a coin in a purse, symbolizing American expats saving money through tax loss harvesting.

Without an NT code in place, you have a few options:

Option 1

When taking your 25% tax-free lump sum, also withdraw the minimum amount of income to trigger the process for HMRC to assign your NT code. Be aware this can take months to finalise.

Option 2

Take the minimum income and wait until you receive your NT code before withdrawing larger or ad-hoc sums.

Option 3

Withdraw what you need now and claim back any UK tax deducted at source from HMRC at the end of the tax year. This requires you to manage the annual reclaim process yourself.

Taxation in France

Under the DTA, once you have an NT code or reclaim the UK tax, you pay French income tax on your pension instead. Pension income in France is taxed at your marginal rate like other earned income. Additionally, a social charge generally applies.

Exemptions may apply if you hold an EU Form S1 or aren’t part of the French healthcare system.

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Get Expert Cross-Border Tax Advice

Managing pension taxation across borders can be complex. Mistakes can lead to unnecessary double taxation or delays in reclaiming overpaid tax. It’s always wise to get expert advice to ensure you’re complying with both UK and French rules while optimising your retirement income.

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An initial 15-minute introduction call explaining our services and how we can help.

We go through a fact-finding exercise so we can then provide a full financial planning report including a personalised retirement forecast with future projections and work out how on track you are.

Lastly, we will provide a recommendation on any areas where we feel you could improve.

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Nexus Global specialises in providing a regulatory platform and compliance support to international financial advisers and intermediaries to enable them to meet regulatory requirements to provide their clients with a professional service. The financial advisers trading under SJB Global are members of Nexus Global. Nexus Global is a division of Blacktower Financial Management (International) Limited (BFMI). All approved members of Nexus Global are appointed representatives of BFMI. BFMI is licensed and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (FSC) and bound by the rules under licence number 3647: http://www.fsc.gi/regulated-entity/blacktower-financial-management-international-limited-3647.

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