How your UK State Pension is taxed in Centre-Val de Loire, France

Home to the Loire Valley’s châteaux, this central region combines rural, affordable living with easy road and rail access to Paris.

Where it’s taxed

Under the UK–France Double Taxation Convention (2008), the UK State Pension is taxable only in France once you are French tax resident, and the UK should not be taxing it directly. France taxes residents on their worldwide income, so if you live in Centre-Val de Loire the pension counts toward your French income tax return (déclaration de revenus), alongside any other income your household has.

One structural difference from Spain and Portugal is worth flagging: France assesses income tax by household (foyer fiscal) rather than purely per person, using a quotient familial that divides total household income into “parts” based on marital status and dependants before the tax scale is applied. A married or PACSed couple is generally treated as 2 parts, which can meaningfully change the effective rate compared with how the same income would be taxed individually.

How France taxes it

France applies its barème progressif (progressive scale) to pension income alongside any other income. For the 2026 tax year, covering income received in 2025, the bands per part are:

• Up to €11,600 – 0%
• €11,601 to €29,579 – 11%
• €29,580 to €84,577 – 30%
• €84,578 to €181,917 – 41%
• Above €181,917 – 45%

Pension income also benefits from a 10% deduction (abattement) before the scale is applied – worth at least €454 per pensioner for 2026 even if 10% of your actual pension would be less, and capped at €4,439 per household.

On top of income tax, France applies social charges (CSG and CRDS) to pension income for residents covered by the French healthcare system. If you hold form S1 – meaning the UK, not France, funds your healthcare because you’re a UK State Pension-age retiree – you should be exempt from CSG and CRDS on your pension income. If you don’t hold an S1 and are instead covered directly through the French health system (PUMA), your pension income is generally liable for these social charges, though reduced or exempt rates can apply depending on your household’s reference tax income (revenu fiscal de référence).

Ways to reduce or avoid unnecessary tax

Since the State Pension is frequently a UK expat’s only income, the main steps are:

• Check the UK isn’t taxing the pension. The State Pension is normally paid gross with no UK tax withheld, so this usually only becomes an issue if other UK income, such as a workplace pension, is being taxed to collect tax on the State Pension as well. If so, submitting HMRC’s France double taxation relief form along with a French tax residency certificate confirms your treaty position and stops the UK from taxing it.
• Confirm your S1 status is correctly recorded with the CPAM/URSSAF if you qualify, so CSG and CRDS aren’t wrongly deducted from your pension income.
• Make sure your household’s parts (quotient familial) are correctly applied on your déclaration, since this directly changes your effective rate.
• Report the pension correctly. Convert each payment using the exchange rate on the date it’s received for the most accurate calculation – the DGFiP also tolerates an annual average rate for regular income like a pension, but converting payment-by-payment better reflects what you actually received in euros at the time.