What should I check each year on UK tax, pensions and property?

Living in Portugal doesn’t switch off the UK. If you have UK rent, savings, pensions or property, a short check each year keeps you right with HMRC and the Portuguese tax office, and avoids paying tax twice.

Your yearly check-up

1. File your UK tax return if you have UK rent or other untaxed UK income
2. File your Portuguese IRS return between 1 April and 30 June, with Annex J for UK income and UK accounts, and claim the credit for UK tax paid
3. Check your pension tax codes: private pensions should be paid without UK tax once HMRC has your DT-Individual form
4. Check your National Insurance record and decide about voluntary contributions
5. Update the Student Loans Company, your UK bank, pension providers and electoral registration office
6. Review your wills. See Do we need a Portuguese will?

Two tax years, two returns

• As a non-resident with UK rent you can’t use HMRC’s own online service. Send a paper return, use commercial software or an accountant
• British citizens keep the UK Personal Allowance against UK income; non-residents claim it each year, for example on form R43
• If last year’s UK bill was £1,000 or more, you may need to make payments on account on 31 January and 31 July
• UK pension providers don’t take off Portuguese tax, so you file an IRS return even if a UK pension is your only income

Renting out your UK home

If you live abroad for 6 months or more a year, HMRC treats you as a non-resident landlord. Your letting agent (or your tenant, if the rent is over £100 a week and there is no agent) takes basic-rate tax off the rent, unless HMRC tells them in writing that you can be paid without deduction. Either way you declare the rent on a UK return.

Under the 2025 UK–Portugal treaty, rent from UK property can be taxed in both countries. As a Portuguese resident you declare it in Annex J. Portugal taxes residential rent at a special 25% rate, or at your normal rates if you choose to add it to your other income, and gives a credit for the UK tax. See Should I rent out or sell my UK home?

Your pensions under the 2025 treaty

The new UK–Portugal treaty has applied in Portugal since 1 January 2026 and in the UK since 6 April 2026 for income tax.

• State Pension: paid in Portugal and it rises each year, because Portugal is in the EEA. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27. It is taxed only in Portugal, at the normal IRS rates
• Private and workplace pensions are taxed only in Portugal (Article 17). Send form DT-Individual, certified by the Portuguese tax office, so HMRC lets your provider pay without UK tax
• UK government service pensions (civil service, armed forces, police, local authority and similar) are taxed only in the UK if you are a British national (Article 18). Portugal can count them when setting the rate on your other income
• The old NHR 10% rate on foreign pensions is closed to newcomers, and the IFICI regime that replaced it gives no pension relief
• From 6 April 2027, most unused UK pension funds and death benefits count towards your estate for UK inheritance tax
• See What happens to my UK pension? and How do pensions work in Portugal?

Voluntary National Insurance

For time abroad after 5 April 2026 you can’t pay Class 2. You can pay Class 3 (£18.40 a week in 2026/27) if you lived in the UK for 10 years in a row or paid 10 years of qualifying contributions. If you applied before 6 April 2026, the old 3-year rule may still apply to earlier years. Apply with form CF83, and check your State Pension forecast and National Insurance record on GOV.UK first. If you work in Portugal you pay Portuguese social security instead.

ISAs, savings and accounts abroad

• You can keep your ISA and it stays tax-free in the UK, but you can’t pay in once you are not UK resident. Tell your provider
• The ISA’s tax-free status is a UK rule. Portugal taxes residents on worldwide income, so as a resident you declare ISA interest, dividends and gains in Annex J. Capital income and gains are usually taxed at a flat 28%, or at your normal rates if you choose
• Under the treaty, the UK can tax interest and dividends paid to you at no more than 10%; Portugal then credits that tax
• Annex J, table 11 must list every bank or investment account you hold outside Portugal, even if it earned nothing
• See How do I move money from the UK?

Keeping a UK bank account

Keep at least one UK current account that works from abroad for pensions, refunds and UK bills. Some UK banks close accounts when customers move to the EEA. They must give notice: at least 2 months for accounts opened before 28 April 2026, and generally at least 90 days for newer ones, with some exceptions. Nationwide’s app can only be downloaded from UK app stores and its passcodes go only to UK numbers, so set things up before you leave. Ask each bank in writing what happens now you live in Portugal, and complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service if notice falls short.

Selling UK property

• Report any sale of UK residential property to HMRC within 60 days of completion through a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, even if there is no tax or you made a loss
• Portugal taxes a resident’s gain too, normally on half the gain at the normal IRS rates, with a credit for UK tax
• Exchange-rate moves can change the euro gain: ask your adviser before you exchange contracts

Voting, student loans and inheritance tax

British citizens who have lived in the UK can register as overseas voters for UK Parliament elections, and must renew every 3 years. If you are registered in England, Scotland or Wales you can vote by post or by proxy. Tell the Student Loans Company if you leave the UK for more than 3 months. If you keep a UK home as a second home in England, councils can charge up to double council tax. Since 6 April 2025, UK inheritance tax depends on long-term UK residence (10 of the last 20 tax years), and you can stay in scope for up to 10 tax years after leaving. UK property is always in scope, and there is no UK–Portugal inheritance tax treaty.