Have we all been conned?

Probably that avoids you getting double taxation payable.

David

It is my understanding that over time, the key point, you might have gained and/or lost on nay one transaction, but overall it is probably fairly neutral to each individual.

I MAY BE WRONG SO DO NOT TALE THIS AS A MATTER OF FACT.

I seem to recall that the amount of money transferred each day is substantially larger than the world economy so to them a few centimes either way is significant but to you and I totally trivial and not worth the cost and stress and etc. of litigation.

You will do better as is posted, to have all your money paid into a UK bank and transfer money to France, using services like TransferWise, NOT any bank service, and choosing the day and time to initiate a transfer.

Carole, yes I do pay french tax on my English pension but it is paid into my UK bank account tax-free.

But since you don't pay tax on it in the UK (unless a govt. pension) what's the problem?

Even though they are paid into a UK bank account doesn't make any difference. They are paid gross and then taxed in France as we are tax resident here. The only pensions which are taxed in UK are government pensions and then the French apply a top-up tax on those as well.

A question do you pay your tax on your English pension in France. I like you have my state pension paid to an English account but have to declare it on my French tax returns!!!

I have my pension paid in France because I pay less tax, so even if I have been ripped off the odd centime, and I will certainly look into that, I am still ahead.

We stopped having our pensions paid direct to France not long after they changed to using Citibank as we noticed that we were consistently getting 2 cents less in the pound than previously. On top of that the Paymaster was charging us extra to send it to Citibank as well. We went back to having them paid directly in a UK bank, for which there was no charge, and then moving the money ourselves when necessary or when the exchange rate was advantageous. Quite satisfying when you know you are saving hundreds of Euros a year! i shall be watching this space!!