Paying tax on UK bank account interest

Maddalena27 · Feb 6, 2023

I am a UK citizen living and working in France for many years. Work for French company, pay tax and social security in France. Have no financial interests or income in UK. Keep a UK current account (no interest paying) with a few hundred pounds.
Until this week. Relative died, will finally paid out, and a six figure sum now in the UK account.
Planning to leave it there until exchange rate improves, and would like to put it into a savings account just to earn a few percent interest on it.

So, to the question: am I going to have to declare and/or pay tax on the interest to French state?

Bevdeforges · Feb 7, 2023

The easy answer is that, yes, you will have to declare the foreign bank account(s) on your French declarations - and now that there is some interest being paid, that should be declared, too (along with a form 2047 for foreign sourced income). I don't know how the France-UK tax treaty handles bank interest from the UK, but whatever the process is for "avoiding" double taxation, that will kick in when you file your French declarations. Might be worth taking a rdv at your local tax office before the high tax season starts here to have them show you how and where to declare your UK interest (and bank accounts).

83496 · Feb 7, 2023

Apply to HMRC for tax-free non-resident status for the account paying the interest. The bank will then not deduct tax from the interest and you will receive a refund on any tax already paid. The form is:

Application to claim relief at source from UK Income Tax and repayment of UK Income Tax
Form France Individual DT

Really simple to do.

Maddalena27 · Feb 7, 2023

@ Bevdeforges and rynd2it : thank you for the prompt replies. Very clear.

Paying tax on UK bank account interest

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