Keeping a UK ISA after moving to France

The French side: an ordinary account for income and gains

French tax law exempts only the savings products it lists. Article 157 of the French tax code, read on Légifrance in its version in force since 21 February 2026, excludes from taxable income, among others, the income and gains of a PEA as defined by article 163 quinquies D and the interest of the livret A or of a livret d’épargne populaire opened under the French monetary and financial code. A UK ISA is not in that list, and we found neither a ministerial answer nor a BOFiP commentary that gives it an equivalent treatment.

The consequence for a French resident is that each item of income is taken one by one: interest in the year it is credited, dividends in the year they are paid, and a gain whenever an investment is sold, including a sale made inside the ISA to switch from one fund to another. The French gain is calculated from the price you originally paid, so the part of the gain built up before you moved is included.

The France–UK convention then says which country may tax. Interest arising in the United Kingdom and paid to a resident of France is taxable only in France under article 12. Dividends paid by a UK company are taxable in France under article 11, the United Kingdom keeping the right to tax them up to 15% of the gross amount; where UK tax is actually borne, article 24 gives a French tax credit capped at the French tax on that income.

Gains on shares and fund units are taxable only in the state of residence under article 14, paragraph 5, subject to paragraph 6, which lets the United Kingdom tax under its own law a person who was UK resident at any time in the six previous tax years; GOV.UK states that an ISA keeps its UK tax relief after you leave, so that paragraph should not lead to a UK charge on gains made inside the account.

Many stocks and shares ISAs hold funds domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg: their distributions come from that country, and it is the convention between France and that country that applies to them.

The rate is the French rate for investment income, the flat-rate tax or, on an option covering all such income of the year, the progressive scale. Whether French social charges are also due depends on your health-insurance affiliation, not on the account: a pensioner covered by the United Kingdom through an S1 form is not in the same position as a salaried resident affiliated in France, and that point needs to be settled from your own documents before the first return.

The choices open to the holder

Keeping the ISA is a legitimate choice when it holds investments you want to keep, in pounds, with a provider still willing to serve you, and you accept that each sale inside it is a French taxable event and that the account is declared every year.

Moving the investments to a French arrangement starts from a sale, taxed in France on the whole gain since purchase; the French PEA can only be opened by a French tax resident and has its own rules on eligible investments, and a French or Luxembourg life assurance policy defers the tax on the income it holds until money is withdrawn.

Closing the ISA before becoming French resident is a different question, because the date of residence decides which country taxes the sale: that analysis belongs before the move, with the date fixed in writing.

Our work on a UK ISA is the French side: we establish your residence date, list each ISA with its type and its holdings, identify the convention that applies to each fund, and calculate what a sale, a transfer or keeping the account means on your French return. The UK side, including what your provider will still do for a client in France, is confirmed with the provider in writing.