The Portugal–France convention was signed on 14 January 1971 and is one of the oldest still running. It has not stood still. A protocol signed on 25 August 2016, ratified by Decreto do Presidente da República n.º 31/2017, deleted article 20 and replaced it with a different one — and article 20 is where the public-pension answer lives.
Who taxes a French pension
Start with the ordinary case. Article 19 gives pensions and similar remuneration paid to a resident of a contracting state in consequence of a prior employment to that state alone, subject to article 20. A French private or occupational pension paid to somebody living in Portugal is therefore Portugal's.
The public-service case is article 20(2) as replaced. Pensions paid by France, or by one of its subdivisions, local or territorial authorities or public-law bodies, directly or through funds they constitute, to an individual for services rendered to it, may be taxed only in France. And then the flip:
| Pension | Taxed by | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Private or occupational, from past employment | Portugal, as state of residence | art. 19 |
| French public-service pension, French national | France only | art. 20(2) |
| French public-service pension, Portuguese national resident here | Portugal exclusively | art. 20(2) |
Article 20(3) keeps the ordinary articles in play for pay and pensions arising from a business activity carried on by the state, which is the usual carve-out and rarely decides a case.
Becoming Portuguese tax resident
Freedom of movement removes the visa question and leaves the tax question untouched. CIRS art. 16 decides it: more than 183 days in Portugal in any 12-month period, or a home kept here in conditions implying you intend to hold it as your habitual residence. A residence certificate does not make you tax resident and its absence does not stop you being one.
- Residence begins on the first day of the stay (art. 16 n.º 3), unless you were resident on any day of the previous year, when it backdates to 1 January.
- It ends on the last day of presence (art. 16 n.º 4).
- Where the year is split, each status is assessed separately (art. 15 n.º 3) — income earned before the first day is outside Portuguese scope, not exempt from it.
From that day, art. 15 n.º 1 puts your worldwide income in the Portuguese base. There is no step-up: an apartment or a share portfolio bought in France in 2010 keeps its 2010 cost and date, so the whole gain since then is Portuguese if you sell as a resident here.
How relief actually works
CIRS art. 81 is the machinery, and four of its paragraphs decide most outcomes.
| Paragraph | Rule |
|---|---|
| n.º 1 | The credit is the lesser of the foreign tax paid and the Portuguese tax attributable to that income |
| n.º 2 | Where a convention applies, the credit is capped at the treaty rate, not at what was withheld |
| n.º 3 | Unused credit carries forward five tax periods |
| n.º 9 | Income exempt with progression is still aggregated to set the rate on everything else |
We do not print this convention's dividend, interest and royalty ceilings. Our copy of the 1971 Diário do Governo is a scan whose columns interleave when extracted, and a rate lifted from a garbled column is worse than no rate at all. The ceilings are in the convention's own articles on dividends, interest and royalties, and the 2016 protocol did not touch them.
The French side, and what this page does not cover
Portugal has its own charge in the same family, and this one we can state. CIRS art. 10 n.º 25 deems a disposal on loss of Portuguese residence, so a later move away from Portugal is itself a taxable event on some holdings. And art. 16 n.º 14 keeps you Portuguese-resident for the whole year in which you lose residence, where you spent more than 183 days here that year and afterwards received income that would have been taxable had you stayed.
The annexes
French income and the French tax paid on it go in Anexo J. Any account outside Portugal goes in quadro 11 of the folha de rosto, with no income threshold — a dormant livret counts, and so does an account you are merely authorised to operate, such as a parent's. Freelance income earned here is Anexo B or C, gains are Anexo G or G1, and IFICI adds Anexo L. The window is 1 April to 30 June.
Who taxes my French pension if I live in Portugal?
A private or occupational pension from past employment goes to Portugal as the state of residence, under article 19. A French public-service pension is taxed in France under article 20(2) as replaced by the 2016 protocol — unless you are resident in Portugal and a Portuguese national, in which case it is taxable exclusively in Portugal.
Is the Portugal–France treaty still the 1971 one?
Yes, but amended. A protocol signed on 25 August 2016 and ratified by Decreto do Presidente da República n.º 31/2017 replaced articles 2, 3, 20 and 27 and added two more. Article 20, the public-remuneration article, was deleted and rewritten.
Does my old source still apply if it quotes article 20 saying pensions are included?
No. The 1971 article 20(1) taxed remuneration "including pensions" in the paying state. The replacement excludes pensions from n.º 1 and handles them in n.º 2 with a nationality rule. A source quoting the old wording is quoting a provision that no longer exists.
Do I become tax resident in Portugal automatically as an EU citizen?
No. Freedom of movement and a residence certificate are immigration matters. CIRS art. 16 decides tax residence on days present and on whether you keep a home here in conditions implying you intend to occupy it.
Does Portugal recognise the cost of a property I bought in France years ago?
It carries the original acquisition cost and date. Portugal gives no step-up on arrival, so the whole gain since purchase sits in the Portuguese base if you sell while resident here.
What happens if the French payer withheld more than the treaty allows?
Portugal credits only up to the treaty rate, under CIRS art. 81 n.º 2. The excess is reclaimed from France, not from Portugal, and if nobody reclaims it, it is simply lost.