Do you still pay UK tax after moving to France?
Yes, in part. Once you become non-resident under the Statutory Residence Test, the UK stops taxing most of your foreign income and gains, but it continues to tax UK-source items such as UK rental income, gains on UK residential property, and pay for any UK workdays. France, meanwhile, taxes its residents on worldwide income, and under the UK-France treaty most pensions become taxable in your country of residence. So the practical position is that some income is taxed in the UK, some in France, and a double tax treaty between the two countries decides who taxes what and gives relief to avoid being taxed twice.
The first and most important question is whether the move actually makes you UK non-resident, and from when. That is a test of fact and day-counting, not simply a matter of buying a one-way ticket to France.
Are you still UK tax resident after the move? The Statutory Residence Test
Your residence is decided by the Statutory Residence Test (SRT), which HMRC applies in a fixed order. First come the automatic overseas tests: if you meet any one of them you are non-resident for the year. Only if none apply does HMRC move to the automatic UK tests: if you meet any one of those you are UK-resident. If neither set is conclusive, the sufficient ties test weighs your UK days against your connections (family, accommodation, work, and the 90-day and country ties).
For someone leaving the UK, the automatic overseas tests that matter most are usually the low-UK-days test and the full-time work abroad test. The number of UK days you can spend before tipping back into UK residence falls as your UK ties rise, so the more property, family and work you keep in the UK, the fewer days you can spend here. Count days carefully from the start, because the SRT is unforgiving and the result drives everything else in this guide.
Our Statutory Residence Test guide explains each test and the day thresholds in detail, and the SRT calculator gives you an indicative result for the year of departure.
Split-year treatment in the year you leave
If you are UK-resident for the tax year as a whole but leave part-way through, split-year treatment can divide that year into a UK part and an overseas part, so you are taxed as a UK resident only up to your departure and as a non-resident afterwards. Without it, you would be UK-resident for the entire year and potentially taxable on worldwide income for the whole 12 months, including income arising after you have physically moved to France.
Split-year treatment is not optional and you cannot simply pick it; you must fall within one of the statutory cases, for example starting full-time work overseas or ceasing to have a UK home and acquiring an overseas one. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, so the precise date you leave, give up your UK home and establish your French home all feed into which case (if any) applies and the split date.
You claim split-year treatment through the residence pages (SA109) of your Self Assessment return. See our split-year treatment guide for the cases and conditions, and confirm your fact pattern before relying on it.
The five-year temporary non-residence rule
This is the trap that catches people who leave the UK, realise gains or take certain income while abroad, then come back within a few years. The rule applies where you were solely UK-resident in 4 or more of the 7 tax years before the year of departure and your period of non-residence is five years or fewer. If both conditions are met, certain income and gains received during your absence are treated as arising in, and taxed in, the year you return to the UK.
The items caught include certain pension and lump-sum receipts, distributions from closely controlled companies, chargeable event gains on investment bonds, and certain capital gains. The point is that going non-resident for a short window does not let you crystallise these and escape UK tax; the UK simply taxes them on your return. To stay outside the rule you generally need to be non-resident for more than five years, which for most people means at least five complete UK tax years away plus the part-years either side.
If you plan to sell investments, take a large pension lump sum, or extract company value soon after moving, get the timing checked first. The worked example below shows how the rule bites in practice.
What stays UK-taxable after you leave
Becoming non-resident removes most foreign income and gains from UK tax, but UK-source items generally stay within UK tax, subject to the treaty. The table below summarises the common ones for someone moving to France.
| Your UK item | Still UK-taxable after you become non-resident? |
|---|---|
| UK rental income | Yes, under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme. |
| UK residential property gains | Yes, report and pay within 60 days. |
| UK pensions (ordinary) | Usually taxable in France under the UK-France treaty (Article 18). |
| UK government-service pensions | Normally taxable only in the UK under Article 19(2). |
| UK employment for UK workdays | Often, for duties performed in the UK. |
| Foreign income and gains | No once non-resident, but watch the 5-year temporary non-residence rule. |
Each of these has its own reporting mechanism, covered in the sections that follow. Even where an item is UK-taxable, France may also tax it once you are French-resident, with the treaty deciding which country has the primary right and giving relief against double taxation.
UK rental income and the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme
If you keep a UK property and let it out, the rental profit stays within UK income tax even though you live in France. This is handled through the Non-Resident Landlord (NRL) Scheme. By default, your letting agent or tenant must deduct basic-rate tax from the rent before paying you, but you can apply to receive the rent gross using Form NRL1 and then report the income through Self Assessment.
You still get the UK personal allowance in many cases (for example as a UK or EEA national), you deduct allowable expenses, and the usual finance-cost restriction applies. France will also expect to see this UK rental income on your French return as a worldwide-resident, with treaty relief; confirm the French treatment with a local adviser. See our non-resident landlord tax guide for the mechanics.
Selling UK property: non-resident capital gains tax and the 60-day rule
Gains on UK residential property remain UK-taxable even after you become non-resident. Non-resident capital gains tax (NRCGT) applies, and crucially the double tax agreement does not relieve gains on UK residential property, so you cannot use the treaty to take a UK property gain out of UK tax. You must report the disposal and pay any tax due within 60 days of completion, using HMRC's UK property reporting service, separately from your annual return.
Non-residents are generally taxed only on the growth since 5 April 2015 for residential property (using a rebasing or alternative computation), which can significantly reduce the gain on a long-held home. France will also assess the gain under its own rules once you are resident, with treaty relief to avoid double taxation, so coordinate the timing of any sale across both systems. Our CGT on UK property for non-residents guide and the CGT property tool cover this.
UK pensions under the UK-France treaty
This is where many movers get it backwards. Under Article 18 of the UK-France treaty, ordinary pensions paid to a resident of one country are taxable only in that country of residence. So once you are a French resident, your ordinary UK private and occupational pensions, and on HMRC's reading generally the UK state pension as well, are taxable only in France, not the UK. In practice you apply to HMRC for an NT (no tax) code so the pension is paid gross of UK tax, and you then declare and pay tax on it in France. Because there is normally no UK tax in the first place, there is generally nothing for France to relieve.
UK government-service pensions follow a different rule under Article 19(2): they are taxable only in the UK (the paying State), unless you are resident in and a national of France without also being a national of the UK, in which case France taxes them instead. Where the pension stays UK-taxable, France gives relief so you are not taxed twice. Because nationality and residence change the answer, check your exact position before assuming where a Civil Service, NHS, teacher, police or armed-forces pension is taxed. Our foreign pensions and QROPS guide goes deeper, and any transfer needs the warning below.
Transferring a UK pension abroad (QROPS) and the Overseas Transfer Charge
You may be tempted to move a UK pension into an overseas scheme (a QROPS) when relocating. This is a major decision with its own UK tax charge. The Overseas Transfer Charge can apply to transfers out of UK registered pension schemes, and a transfer that is initially exempt can still become chargeable if your circumstances change within the relevant period after the transfer. The rules and exemptions have tightened in recent years, so the position can be unforgiving.
For many people moving to France, leaving the pension in the UK and relying on the treaty is simpler and cheaper than transferring. Never transfer a UK pension on the assumption it is tax-free; take regulated pension advice and UK tax advice first. We can model the UK tax side and signpost suitable regulated advisers.
Your French tax position (indicative, confirm locally)
Once you are resident in France, France taxes you on your worldwide income, and its real-estate wealth tax (the IFI, impot sur la fortune immobiliere) applies to worldwide real estate for residents (non-residents are taxed only on French-situated real estate and shares in French real-estate companies). The IFI is a wealth tax on real estate, not on all assets. France's tax rules are set annually in its budget and are politically live, so treat the points below as indicative and confirm them with a French adviser.
| French point (indicative) | What to confirm with a local adviser |
|---|---|
| Residents taxed on worldwide income | How your UK income is declared and how treaty relief is applied in France. |
| IFI real-estate wealth tax | Whether your property holdings exceed the threshold and how UK property is valued and relieved. |
| Impatriate regime (Article 155 B) | Whether you qualify at all (it is employment-linked, see below). |
| Social charges and surtaxes | Whether French social charges apply to your UK income and gains. |
A 2026 budget proposal to replace the IFI with a broader impot sur la fortune improductive (IFI-i) was withdrawn from the final 2026 budget (which was adopted under Article 49.3), so the classic real-estate IFI remains in force for 2026. This is an area that may resurface in a future budget, which is another reason to take current, dated French advice rather than relying on a guide. Our tax atlas tool gives a high-level country snapshot to start the conversation.
The French impatriate regime: who it does and does not help
France has a favourable impatriate regime under Article 155 B, confirmed and current for 2026, which can exempt an impatriation bonus and a portion of certain foreign passive income, and it can run to 31 December of the eighth year following arrival. It is genuinely valuable, but it is narrow: it is employment-linked, meaning you must be recruited from abroad by or seconded into a French employer, and you must not have been French-resident in the five years before you arrive.
That structure means the regime does not help self-initiated movers who relocate without a French employer role, and it does not help retirees. If your move is a lifestyle relocation or retirement rather than a job transfer into France, do not budget for impatriate relief. A French adviser can confirm eligibility and the current exemption percentages, which are budget-sensitive and should not be assumed.
Worked example: the 5-year temporary non-residence trap
This example is illustrative, uses round numbers, and ignores allowances and reliefs to keep the arithmetic simple. It shows how the temporary non-residence rule can pull a gain back into UK tax.
Claire has been solely UK-resident for the last seven tax years, comfortably meeting the 4-of-7 condition. She moves to France in 2026/27 and becomes UK non-resident. In 2027/28, while living in France, she sells a portfolio of UK shares (not UK property) and realises a chargeable gain of 100,000 pounds. She believes that because she was non-resident when she sold, the UK cannot tax the gain.
- Scenario A, she stays away long enough: Claire remains non-resident for more than five years. The temporary non-residence rule does not apply, and the UK does not tax the 100,000 pound gain (France will consider it under its own rules; confirm locally).
- Scenario B, she returns too soon: Claire moves back to the UK in 2029/30, after a non-resident period of fewer than five years. The 100,000 pound gain realised while abroad is treated as arising in the year of return and is taxed in the UK then.
- The cost of returning early: at an illustrative 20 percent CGT rate, that is 100,000 multiplied by 20 percent, equals 20,000 pounds of UK tax that arises purely because she came back within five years.
The lesson is timing. If you intend to crystallise gains, take pension lump sums or extract company value during your time abroad, plan to be non-resident for the full five-year-plus window, or accept that the UK may tax those amounts on your return. Always check the precise dates against your own facts.
Pre-departure UK action checklist
Getting the paperwork right before and around your move avoids problems later and supports any tax refund for the year of departure. Work through the following:
- Confirm your residence position under the SRT for the year of departure, and whether split-year treatment applies and from which date.
- If you are not in Self Assessment, file Form P85 to tell HMRC you are leaving and claim any in-year refund; if you are in Self Assessment, claim it on your departure-year return instead.
- Keep a detailed day-count log of UK presence from the outset; the SRT depends on it and HMRC may ask for evidence.
- Register any let UK property under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme using Form NRL1 to receive rent gross.
- Complete a Self Assessment return for the departure year with the residence pages (SA109) to report split-year and non-residence.
- Plan the timing of any UK property sale and remember the 60-day report-and-pay deadline for residential property gains.
- Sort out your pension position: apply for an NT code where ordinary pensions become France-taxable under the treaty, and review the Overseas Transfer Charge before transferring anything, taking regulated advice.
- Diarise the five-year non-residence window if you might realise gains or take lump sums while abroad.
- Line up a qualified French adviser to handle French registration, worldwide declarations, IFI and any impatriate eligibility.
See our leaving the UK tax guide and the leaving the UK forms and refund guide for the full departure process, and use the relocation tool to map your move.
