Taxed in both UK and Germany on German Pension

Jane173

My husband worked in Germany for a few years and is entitled to a small German pension. He started to receive it in 2018, and as he does a UK tax self assessment each year, he declared it and pays UK tax on it.  He has just had a letter from the German authorities saying that he owes back tax and needs to pay it immediately. He called them and explained that he was already paying tax in the UK, they responded that this was not of any consequence and he has to pay the German tax. Can anyone confirm that this is correct and he should pay tax in both countries? Or direct me to where I can find more information about this? As further background, the money is paid into an overseas Euro account that we have, so the money does not enter the UK, not that we were trying to do anything sneaky, it was just a good way to have Euros to spend on holiday without having to be at the mercy of exchange rates and currency commission fees. He is a UK resident and domiciled in the UK.

Jeremy535897

Assuming your husband is not resident in Germany, I suggest you read Articles 17 and 18 of the UK-Germany double tax agreement. The basic rule is that pensions are only taxed in the country of which the recipient is a resident, but it is a bit more complicated than this, depending on the facts.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/498350/germany_dtc_-_in_force.pdf

Jane173

Thanks for the info Jeremy - I will take a look