Is my UK pension taxed in Portugal or in the UK?

The UK and Portugal replaced a convention that dated from the 1960s, and the new text is the first thing to check before you model a retirement budget.

What the new convention does

It was signed on 15 September 2025, entered into force on 29 December 2025, and takes effect in Portugal from 1 January 2026 and for UK income tax from 6 April 2026. Two articles decide your case.

1. Article 17. Pensions and similar payments, including the UK state pension and private or workplace schemes, are taxable only in the state of residence. If you are a Portuguese tax resident, that is Portugal, and the UK should not tax them.
2. Article 18. Pensions paid for government service stay taxable only in the UK. Check which category your scheme sits in rather than assuming, because this is the line that decides your whole answer and it is drawn by the nature of the employer, not by who administers the payment now.

A treaty is not self-executing. You claim it, with a Portuguese certificate of tax residence, rather than waiting for either administration to apply it on your behalf.

What Portugal charges on the pensions it takes

Pension income is Category H. A specific deduction of 4,587.09 euros comes off first in 2026, and the balance goes through the progressive scale with the rest of your income: 12.5 percent on the first 8,342 euros, 34.9 percent between 29,397 and 43,090, 48 percent above 86,634, plus a solidarity surcharge of 2.5 percent on taxable income above 80,000 euros.

No shelter for new arrivals

NHR closed to new tax residents on 1 January 2024. People already inside keep their terms for the full ten years, some as far as 31 December 2033: registrants before April 2020 keep a full exemption on foreign pensions and those who registered between April 2020 and January 2024 keep the 10 percent flat rate. IFICI, the regime that replaced NHR, exempts most foreign income but names Category H pensions as an exception, so a retiree moving now pays the ordinary rates.

Getting the paperwork in the right order

Portugal wants the pension on Anexo J of the Modelo 3, filed between 1 April and 30 June of the following year, with payment due by 31 August. Sort the UK side in the same season, and take a scheme that might be government service to an adviser before you file the first return rather than after an assessment lands.