Retiring abroad

You can receive a pension anywhere. What changes when you move is who taxes it, at what rate, and who pays for your healthcare. Some countries tax pensions from abroad very lightly, but not all pensions: civil service pensions follow a different rule.

Countries that tax foreign pensions lightly

Italy (FR)

7% on all foreign-source income for 10 years, in a southern municipality of no more than 30,000 inhabitants (Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Apulia, Molise, Abruzzo).

You must receive a pension paid from abroad and not have been an Italian tax resident in the previous 5 years. The threshold rose from 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants in April 2026.

Greece

7% on all foreign-source income for 15 years.

You must not have been a Greek tax resident in 5 of the previous 6 years, and must receive a pension from a country that cooperates with Greece on tax matters, such as France or Belgium.

Cyprus

5% on foreign pensions above €5,000 a year, or the normal scale if you prefer, chosen each year.

You must be a Cypriot tax resident. The tax-free threshold rose from €3,420 to €5,000 with the 2026 reform.

Morocco

A 70% allowance on up to 168,000 dirhams of pension a year (40% above that), then an 80% reduction in the tax on the transferred pension.

The 80% reduction requires you to transfer the pension permanently to a non-convertible dirham account: that money can only go back to Europe in instalments.

Portugal (FR)

No scheme for pensioners any more: the NHR (non-habitual resident) regime has been closed to newcomers since 2024, and IFICI, which replaces it, excludes pensions.

Pensions are taxed at the normal scale, from 12.5% to 48% in 2026.

Spain (FR) has no special scheme for pensioners. Mauritius (FR) and Thailand (FR) offer residence permits for retirees, subject to income requirements.

The civil service pension trap

Tax treaties distinguish between two types of pension:

private pensions (the French general scheme, Agirc-Arrco supplementary pensions, Belgian employee pensions) are as a rule taxed in the country where you live. These are the ones that benefit from the rates above;
public pensions (civil servants, military personnel, judges) almost always remain taxed in the country that pays them, as long as you do not hold the nationality of your country of residence.

A French civil servant who settles in Greece or southern Italy remains taxed in France on their state pension, with tax withheld at source. The 7% rate only applies to their other income. The same goes for a Belgian civil service pension.

Mixed careers, social security pensions and dual nationality follow rules specific to each treaty: have yours read before choosing a country.

The overseas supplement for civil servants: ending soon

The indemnité temporaire de retraite (ITR, a temporary pension supplement) increases the pension of retired French state employees (state civil servants, military personnel, judges) who live in certain territories (country guides in French): La Réunion and Mayotte (35%), Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (40%), New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna (75%). The French Antilles and French Guiana have never qualified, nor have local-government and hospital civil servants.

It has been phasing out since 2009. The amount is frozen for life at the level of the first payment, with no indexation, and capped at:

€1,600 a year for a first payment in 2026;
€800 a year in 2027;
nothing at all from 2028.

In addition, you must have served 15 years in these territories or have the centre of your interests there, have a pension with no early-retirement reduction, have left the service less than 5 years ago, and genuinely live there: beyond 90 days' absence a year, payment is suspended.

Healthcare

In the European Union, the EEA or Switzerland: with form S1, your French scheme or your Belgian mutualité (health insurance fund) keeps paying for your care in your new country, and in France or Belgium during your visits.
Elsewhere: the local scheme, the Caisse des Français de l'étranger (CFE, the voluntary French health scheme for people abroad) or international insurance. French pensioners keep, subject to conditions on how long they were insured, cover for care during temporary stays in France. On the Belgian side, ask your mutualité: only certain countries linked by a social security agreement allow you to stay covered.
Once non-resident, a French pensioner no longer pays CSG or CRDS (the French social levies) on their pensions, but a health contribution is still deducted as long as a French scheme covers their healthcare.

If you are not yet retired

Download your career statement from info-retraite.fr or mypension.be and have any gaps corrected before you leave.
Years worked in the EU or in a country linked by a social security agreement count towards your entitlements; each country will then pay you its share.
Elsewhere, you can keep contributing: voluntary old-age insurance (assurance volontaire vieillesse) or the CFE in France, overseas social security (ONSS) in Belgium.
Once you have left, each pension fund asks every year for a life certificate. Without it, the pension is suspended.

These rules are summarised and were checked in October 2026. What you gain from a 7% or 5% scheme depends on the nature of your pensions and on the applicable tax treaty: have your case checked by a tax lawyer in the country concerned before you move.