Selling your UK home after moving to France: UK and French tax

Published October 29, 2026 · 9 min

When you sell your former UK home after settling in France, the gain is looked at twice. HMRC expects a report within 60 days of completion, and Private Residence Relief covers the years you lived there; France taxes the same gain because you are now a French resident, and its own main-residence exemption looks at a different question. The treaty lets the UK tax first and gives you a French credit capped at the French tax on that gain.

The situation this article covers is common among British households in France: the family home in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland was kept after the move, sometimes let, sometimes empty, and is sold a few years later. Both countries tax the gain.

The UK does so as the country where the house stands, and France as the country where you now live. Each applies its own reliefs to its own dates, so the two results can be very different, and the treaty decides how the second tax takes account of the first.

Five dates to gather before you put the house on the market

Both calculations are built on the same chronology, read differently by each country. Write down these dates with the documents that prove them: the purchase deed, council tax and utility records for the years of occupation, the date you left, and the date you became resident in France for tax purposes.

From purchase to sale: what each country reads

Purchase
The UK takes the purchase price, or the market value on 5 April 2015 if you owned the house before that date. France starts from the purchase price, and the purchase date sets the length of ownership that French rules take into account.
Years you lived there
For the UK, these years are covered by Private Residence Relief. France gives no credit for them: its exemption looks only at the day of sale.
Departure from the UK
From the tax year you stop being UK resident, each year counts as a year of occupation for UK relief only if you meet the 90 days test. Letting the house after you leave also changes the UK calculation.
Settling in France
From the date you become a French tax resident, France taxes your worldwide gains, including a gain on a house in the UK.
Sale
Completion starts the 60 days UK deadline, and the sale starts the French one month deadline for form 2048-IMM.

The order is that of a typical move; the dates themselves come from your documents.

The UK side: relief for the years you lived there

Private Residence Relief removes the whole gain when the house was your only or main home for the whole time you owned it, you did not let part of it or use part of it only for business, the grounds are below the size limit and you did not buy it just to make a gain.

A house kept after moving to France rarely meets every condition, so the gain is split between the qualifying and non-qualifying periods, and HMRC’s helpsheet HS283 adds that the final 9 months of ownership always qualify, provided the house was your only or main home at some point.

The rule that changes the result for a French resident is in sections 222B and 222C of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992. A tax year in which neither you nor your spouse or civil partner was resident in the UK is treated as a year when you did not occupy the house, unless you spent at least 90 days in it, or in another UK home in which you or your spouse hold an interest.

A day counts if you are in the house at the end of it, the days of both spouses are added together without counting the same day twice, and the threshold is reduced in proportion for a partial year, so nights spent in the old house on holiday count towards it when you can show the dates.

If you owned the house before 5 April 2015, GOV.UK sets the market value on that date as the standard starting point for a non-resident, so only the growth since then is taxed.

Two other methods are available: spreading the whole gain evenly over the period of ownership and taxing the post-April 2015 share, or computing the gain over the whole period, which GOV.UK says may only be worth considering if you made a loss. A valuation at that date is the document to obtain first if you do not already have one.

The report is due within 60 days of completion for any sale completed on or after 27 October 2021, through HMRC’s Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, and it is required even if relief leaves nothing to pay or the sale makes a loss.

GOV.UK separately notes that a report may not be needed when the property was your main home and qualifies for Private Residence Relief; a house left when you moved abroad usually falls outside that case, because part of the ownership period is not covered. The UK rate depends on your taxable UK income for the year and is not reproduced here.

The French side: the same gain, taxed as a French resident

As a French tax resident you are liable to French income tax on all your income, and impots.gouv.fr applies this to a gain on property abroad. Unless a treaty exempts the gain in France, you file form 2048-IMM within one month of the sale with the service départemental de l’enregistrement that covers your address; no notaire handles the French side of a sale in the UK, so the filing is yours or your accountant’s. The France–UK treaty does not exempt this gain in France, so the filing applies.

France computes the gain under its own rules: its own acquisition price and costs, its own allowances for the length of ownership, its own rates for income tax and social contributions. None of these figures is reproduced here. Two points remain open and need an answer before the calculation: which exchange rates convert the purchase price and the sale price into euros, and which acquisition costs and works France will accept on UK documents.

Why the French main-residence exemption does not follow the UK relief

The French exemption for a main residence, in article 150 U, II, 1° of the French tax code, is not a French version of Private Residence Relief. It does not count years of occupation; it asks whether the house was your main residence on the day of the sale, and the French tax administration reads main residence as the home where you habitually and effectively live.

Once you live in France, a house you left in the UK is generally not that home on the day of the sale, whatever share of the gain the UK has exempted.

The French tax administration’s guidance, BOI-RFPI-PVI-10-40-10 of 27 June 2023, spells out the consequence in paragraph 180: a home that was once your main residence but is no longer one at the time of the sale does not qualify, and neither does a home that is let, lent to family or vacant on that day.

Paragraph 190 allows one relaxation that matters after a move: a home you lived in until it was put on the market keeps the exemption if it is sold within a normal period, in principle one year at most, and is not let or lent in the meantime.

A house put on the market when you left for France and sold within that period, empty, could therefore be examined under this tolerance; a house kept for some years, let or used for holidays, falls outside it. Whether the French office accepts the tolerance on your dates is a question of fact, which the guidance leaves to the circumstances of each sale

The treaty: the UK taxes first, France gives a capped credit

Article 14(1) of the France–UK convention of 19 June 2008 lets the UK tax gains on immovable property situated in the UK. Article 24(4)(b) then puts the burden of removing double taxation on France, as the other state, and article 24(3)(a)(ii) sets the method: the UK gain is included in the French calculation and you receive a French tax credit equal to the UK tax actually and definitively paid on that gain, without exceeding the French tax attributable to it.

The credit follows the UK tax paid, so when Private Residence Relief and the 5 April 2015 starting value leave little or no UK tax, the French credit is just as small, and the French tax on the gain is paid almost in full. When the UK tax is higher than the French tax on the gain, the excess is not refunded by France. The useful comparison before a sale is therefore the two taxes side by side, not the UK result alone.

The questions each country asks about the same sale

Criterion	United Kingdom (HMRC)	France (French tax office)
Why it taxes the gain	The house is in the UK; a non-resident is taxed on UK residential property.	You are a French tax resident, taxed on your worldwide income and gains.
Starting value	Market value on 5 April 2015 for a house owned before then, unless you choose another method.	The purchase price and costs, under French rules; the euro conversion is an open point.
Former home	Relief for the years of occupation and the final 9 months; a year abroad counts only with 90 days in the house.	Exemption only if the house is your main residence on the day of sale; years of occupation give no exemption.
Filing	Report and pay within 60 days of completion, even with no tax due.	Form 2048-IMM within one month of the sale, then the gain on the annual return.
The other country’s tax	The UK taxes first under article 14(1) of the treaty.	Credit equal to the UK tax paid, capped at the French tax on the gain.

A French resident normally pays social contributions on property gains in addition to income tax. Service-Public, checked on 30 June 2026, states that people living in France and affiliated to the compulsory social security scheme of an EEA country or Switzerland do not pay CSG and CRDS on these gains, only the solidarity levy; it does not mention the United Kingdom.

The DGFiP’s Brexit questions and answers of 2021 dealt with people covered by UK social security, but that answer has not been checked against the current articles L136-6 and L136-8 of the French social security code, which could not be read at the source for this article. If you hold an S1 or are otherwise covered by the UK system, establish your position on the current texts before the sale.

A second point is open as well. Article 2 of the treaty lists CSG and CRDS among the French taxes it covers, which raises the question of whether the credit for UK tax can also be set against them. The answer depends on how the French administration applies article 24 to these contributions, and it has not been established here.

This article describes the rules read on 29 October 2026 for a French tax resident selling a home in the UK. It does not reproduce UK or French tax rates, French holding-period allowances or the exchange-rate method, which must be confirmed at the date of the sale.

The application of the French one-year tolerance to your own dates, the social contributions owed by a person covered by UK social security and the use of the treaty credit against CSG and CRDS are open points, stated as such above. Your result depends on your dates of occupation, residence and sale, on any letting after your departure, and on your income in both countries.

References cited

GOV.UK — Tax when you sell your home · HMRC — HS283 Private Residence Relief (2025), updated 6 April 2026 · Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, section 222B · Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, section 222C (day count test) · GOV.UK — Tell HMRC about Capital Gains Tax on UK property or land if you’re not a UK resident · GOV.UK — Capital Gains Tax for non-residents: calculating taxable gain or loss · France–UK double taxation convention of 19 June 2008 (GOV.UK text) · impots.gouv.fr — Déclaration en France en cas de vente d’un bien immobilier à l’étranger · impots.gouv.fr — Je vends un bien immobilier à l’étranger : la plus-value est-elle imposable en France ? · Service-Public — Prélèvements sociaux sur les revenus du patrimoine et de placements (F2329) · BOFiP — BOI-RFPI-PVI-10-40-10, exemption for the sale of a main residence (27/06/2023)

Frequently asked questions

Do I pay UK tax when I sell my old UK home after moving to France?

Possibly, on the part of the gain not covered by Private Residence Relief. The relief covers the years you lived there and the final 9 months; a tax year spent abroad counts only if you spent at least 90 days in the house. You must report the sale to HMRC within 60 days of completion even if no tax is due.

Will France tax the gain on my UK house?

Yes, as a French tax resident you are taxable in France on the gain, and the treaty does not exempt it. You file form 2048-IMM within one month of the sale and report the gain on your annual return. France then gives a credit equal to the UK tax paid, capped at the French tax on that gain.

Does the French main-residence exemption apply to my former UK home?

Generally not, because it looks at whether the house is your main residence on the day of sale, and you now live in France. Years of occupation that the UK relieves do not count for it. French guidance keeps the exemption for a home lived in until it was put on the market and sold within a normal period, in principle one year, without being let or lent in the meantime; a house kept for years after the move falls outside it.

If Private Residence Relief removes all UK tax, do I still pay French tax?

Yes, in most cases. The French credit equals the UK tax actually paid, so when UK relief leaves nothing to pay, the credit is nil and the French tax on the gain remains due. Social contributions on the gain are a separate question, open for people covered by UK social security.

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