The US-France income tax treaty

By Brent Chudoba, editor Updated September 15, 2026

Under the US-France income tax treaty, the most the paying country can withhold from an ordinary investor is 15% on dividends, 0% on interest and 0% on royalties. Some recipients and some kinds of payment get a different rate, and the table below lists each one. Without a treaty, US-source dividends and royalties paid to a nonresident are withheld at 30%, while the tax code already exempts most portfolio and bank-deposit interest whether or not a treaty applies.

The treaty has generally applied since 1996, and IRS lists its most recent protocol as taking effect in 2010. It also decides residency when both countries claim you, and assigns who taxes pensions and Social Security. It does not generally stop the US taxing its own citizens.

What are the US-France treaty withholding rates?

US-France treaty withholding rates and who qualifies
Income	Rate cap	Who gets this rate, and where the treaty says so
Dividends	15%	Anyone not in a category below, including an ordinary individual investor (Article 10(2)(b))
Dividends	5%	a company owning directly at least 10% of the voting stock of a US company paying the dividend, or directly or indirectly at least 10% of the capital of a French company paying it (Article 10(2)(a))
Dividends	0%	a company that has owned, directly or indirectly through residents of either country, 80% or more of the voting power of a US payer or 80% or more of the capital of a French payer for the 12 months ending on the date entitlement to the dividend is determined, and that also passes one of the Article 30 limitation-on-benefits tests listed in 10(3): publicly traded or owned by publicly traded companies, the ownership and base-erosion test together with the active trade or business test, derivative benefits, or a competent authority determination (Article 10(3))
Interest	0%	Anyone not in a category below, including an ordinary individual investor (Article 11(1))
Interest	15%	interest figured by reference to the profits of the payer or an associated enterprise (contingent interest); the cap is the 10(2)(b) dividend rate (Article 11(2)(b))
Royalties	0%	Everyone, including an ordinary individual investor (Article 12(1))

The cap applies to income paid from one country to a resident of the other, and each treaty conditions it on that resident being the real recipient rather than a conduit; the article cited beside each rate is the one that sets the condition. Which document sets each rate today: dividends, Article 10 as wholly replaced by Article II of the 2009 protocol (the 15% and 5% rates match the 1994 text; the 0% rate is new in 2009); interest, base treaty (1994); Article 11 was not amended by the 2004 or 2009 protocol; royalties, Article 12(1) as replaced by Article III of the 2009 protocol.

What else changes the rate?

These are edge cases. If you hold ordinary shares, bonds or a copyright, skip to the next section.

Dividends: The tier tests are not symmetrical: a US paying company is measured by voting stock or voting power, a French paying company by capital. There is no 0% rate for pension funds in the treaty text; the 2009 Technical Explanation's introduction to paragraph 3 mentions 'certain pension funds', but 10(3) as signed covers only companies. Dividends from a US RIC or a French SICAV are capped at 15% and never get 5% or 0% (10(5)). Dividends from a US REIT, French SIIC or SPPICAV get 15% only if the owner is an individual or pension trust holding not more than 10%, holds not more than 5% of a publicly traded class, or holds not more than 10% of a diversified REIT; otherwise the treaty sets no cap (10(5)(b)). Under Article 30(5), dividends attributable to a low-taxed permanent establishment in a third jurisdiction may be taxed at up to 15%. The old French 'avoir fiscal' refund in 1994 Article 10(4) disappeared when the 2009 protocol replaced Article 10.

Interest: Ordinary interest beneficially owned by a resident of the other country is taxable only in the residence country. The exemption does not reach an excess inclusion on a REMIC residual interest (29(6)). Under Article 30(5), interest attributable to a low-taxed permanent establishment in a third jurisdiction may be taxed at up to 15%.

Royalties: Before the 2009 protocol the source country could withhold up to 5% on most royalties, with copyright, film, recording and software royalties exempt (1994 Article 12(2) and 12(3)). Since the 2009 protocol all royalties beneficially owned by a resident of the other country are taxable only in the residence country. Under Article 30(5), royalties attributable to a low-taxed permanent establishment in a third jurisdiction may be taxed at up to 15%, unless they pay for intangibles produced or developed by that permanent establishment.

Which country are you a resident of under the US-France treaty?

If the US and France both treat you as a resident under their own laws, Article 4(4) decides. It works through these tests in order, and stops at the first one that points to a single country:

Where you have a permanent home available to you
If you have a permanent home in both countries, where your personal and economic ties are closer (your centre of vital interests)
If that centre cannot be determined, or you have no permanent home in either country, where you have a habitual abode
If you have a habitual abode in both countries or in neither, the country you are a national of
If you are a national of both countries or of neither, the two tax authorities settle it by mutual agreement

Using the tie-breaker to be treated as a resident of France has US consequences: you file Form 1040-NR with Form 8833 attached, and a green card holder of 8 of the last 15 years who makes the claim is treated as having ended US residency. The details are on the hub page.

How does the US-France treaty tax pensions and Social Security?

Pensions (Article 18(1)). A pension or similar payment for past employment, periodic or lump sum, paid to a resident of the other country by a retirement arrangement established in one country is taxable only in the country where the arrangement is established, and since the 2004 protocol that includes government pensions. The saving clause does not override this, so a US citizen living in the United States is taxed only by France on a French plan pension; but the rule does not reach a French pension paid to someone living in France, so the United States can still tax a US citizen there on it, with a credit for French tax under Article 24.

Social Security (Article 18(1)). Social security and similar payments are taxable only in the paying country when paid to a resident of the other country or to a US citizen: US Social Security received by a French resident is taxed only by the United States, and French social security received by a US resident or by a US citizen living in France is taxed only by France.

Does the treaty stop the US taxing its own citizens?

Generally no. The saving clause (Article 29(2)) keeps that right. The United States may tax its residents and its citizens as if the treaty did not exist, and either country may tax a former citizen or former long-term resident (a lawful permanent resident, for the US a green card holder, in at least 8 of the prior 15 tax years) on income from its sources for 10 years after the status ends.

The exceptions: For everyone, including US citizens: corresponding adjustments (9(2)), gains on business property of a permanent establishment or fixed base (13(3)(a)), pensions and social security (18(1)), relief from double taxation (24), non-discrimination (25) and mutual agreement (26); only for individuals who are neither citizens nor green card holders of their country of residence: pension contributions and accruals (18(2)), public remuneration (19), teachers and researchers (20), students and trainees (21) and diplomats (31) (29(3)).

What does the treaty say about students?

Article 21. A student, professional trainee or grant-funded researcher who lived in the other country just before arriving is exempt in the host country on gifts from abroad for maintenance and study, on qualifying grants, and on up to 5,000 US dollars a year of pay for local work, for as long as the purpose reasonably needs and no more than five tax years counting Article 20. Someone temporarily present as an employee of a home-country business, to gain experience from another company or to study, is exempt on up to 8,000 US dollars of pay for 12 consecutive months (21(2)); in the United States neither rule helps a US citizen or green card holder.

What do people most often get wrong about this treaty?

Three things a reader gets wrong about France. First, the dividend rate is 15% for an individual; the 5% and 0% rates are only for companies with 10% and 80% holdings, and the 0% rate also needs a 12-month holding and an Article 30 test. Second, the 2009 protocol took royalties to 0%, so sources quoting the old 5% royalty rate are out of date. Third, pensions and social security are taxed only where they are paid from, and the treaty overrides the saving clause for them: a US citizen living in France is taxed only by the United States on US Social Security and only by France on French social security, and a French pension paid to a US resident is taxed only by France. For US pensions and Social Security that only the United States may tax, France can still count the income when it computes a French resident's tax, then allows a credit equal to the French tax attributable to it (Article 24, France's relief paragraph). The dual-resident tie-breaker is now Article 4(4) (renumbered from 4(3) by the 2009 protocol), and it does not stop the United States taxing its citizens. Separately, Article 4(2)(a) says France treats a US citizen or green card holder as a US resident only if that person has a substantial presence in the United States or would be a US resident rather than a third-country resident under the permanent home, center of vital interests and habitual abode tests (the text still cites 'subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 3', a cross-reference the 2009 protocol did not update after renumbering).

How do you claim the treaty rate?

Give the US payer Form W-8BEN naming France as your country of residence, before the payment. Many countries ask a US resident for Form 6166, a US residency certificate requested on Form 8802, before they apply the lower rate on their side. Both, with the fees and who can get them, are covered on US tax treaties by country.

Sources

Every rate and article on this page was read in the treaty text and its protocols, then checked a second time by a separate review of the same documents, on September 15, 2026.