Form DT Individual: claiming treaty relief on UK income

Form DT Individual is HMRC’s standard claim form for a non resident who wants a double tax treaty to reduce UK income tax on a UK pension, purchased annuity, interest or royalties. It can ask HMRC to stop or reduce the tax taken at source on future payments, claim back UK tax already taken off, or both. Your own country’s tax authority must usually certify that you are resident there before HMRC will act.

What is form DT Individual actually for?

UK law taxes many kinds of UK income paid to people abroad, and sometimes the payer must take tax off first. A double tax treaty may give the taxing right to your country of residence instead, or cap the UK rate, but the treaty does not stop the UK deduction by itself. You have to claim. The form’s own notes describe it as an application for relief at source from UK income tax on pensions, purchased annuities, royalties and interest paid from UK sources, and a claim to repayment where UK tax has already been taken off.

Relief at source runs through HMRC. Where it accepts a claim for relief at source it issues a notice to the payer under Statutory Instrument 1970 No. 488 (as amended), and the notes say each application is dealt with on its merits. If HMRC cannot arrange relief at source you can still claim a repayment. Background: how double tax treaties work.

Which UK income can the form cover?

Part C of the form has four sections, and each has its own conditions:

• C.1 State Pension or Incapacity Benefit. Both are taxable but usually paid gross. Exemption may be available under the treaty’s pensions article, unless that article is limited to pensions paid in consideration of past employment, in which case you look for an “other income” article. If there is neither, the treaty gives no exemption.
• C.2 Work pensions and purchased annuities. Most treaties let these be paid to a resident of the other country without UK tax, but many treaties keep UK taxing rights over pensions for service to the UK government or a local authority. You can only apply once payments have begun.
• C.3 Interest. Not bank or building society interest: the form says HMRC cannot arrange for that to be paid without tax taken off. It is aimed at interest where UK tax is deducted, such as unquoted loan stock, local authority stock and interest on private loans to a UK individual or company, for which you attach the loan agreement.
• C.4 Royalties. Many treaties give relief only to the beneficial owner, normally the originator of the work. If you acquired the rights, attach the licence, contract or assignment.

Rent from UK property is not claimed on this form, and wages and trading profits are dealt with by applying the treaty article in your return. The deductions the form is designed to undo come from UK law: section 874 of the Income Tax Act 2007 requires tax at the savings basic rate on yearly interest paid to a person whose usual place of abode is outside the UK, and section 906 requires basic rate deduction from royalties for intellectual property owned by someone whose usual place of abode is abroad.

Should you use this form, a country form or your tax return?

GOV.UK lists separate claim forms for residents of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Residents of anywhere else with a treaty use the standard form DT Individual. There is also a separate form for dividends from UK Real Estate Investment Trusts.

If you file a UK Self Assessment return, the route is different. HMRC’s helpsheet HS304 explains how a non resident claims treaty relief through the return, using the claim form in the helpsheet, entering the amount on the residence pages (SA109 box 20), and attaching a certificate of residence from your own tax authority. Someone who is resident in the UK under domestic law but treaty resident elsewhere uses helpsheet HS302 instead; see treaty tie breaker tests. If you file a return you will also want to read how non residents pay UK income tax.

Who has to certify your residence?

Note 4 of the form explains that a condition for relief is that you are resident in the treaty country, which for most countries means that its tax authority regards you as resident within the meaning of the treaty. You send the completed form to that authority, which stamps and signs it and either forwards it to HMRC or returns it to you to post to HMRC at the Pay As You Earn and Self Assessment address, BX9 1AS. If the authority will not sign the form, ask it for a separate stand alone certificate confirming treaty residence.

Some treaties also require you to be “subject to tax” on the income in your country, which usually means actually paying tax on it there. The form also asks whether you are taxed only on amounts remitted to your country, because a treaty may then restrict relief to the amount remitted. Residents of Bahrain, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE follow Appendix 1 instead: they do not send the form to their local authority but explain their residence and enclose the evidence the appendix lists. For the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, UK source pensions generally remain taxable in the UK unless strict conditions are met.

How do relief at source and repayment work?

Relief at source (Part C, tick box 1 in Part F) stops or reduces UK tax on future payments. If you are granted it, you must tell HMRC without delay about any later change in the information you gave.

For a pension or annuity taxed under PAYE, the notes say any adjustment goes back to the latest of three dates: the date you became resident in your country for its tax purposes, the date payments began, and the earliest tax year still in date for a repayment claim. Do not put PAYE pensions in Part D; HMRC arranges any refund of PAYE tax itself.

Repayment (Part D, box 2 in Part F) covers interest or royalties already received with UK tax taken off. You can ask HMRC to work out the figure or do it yourself using the DT Digest: if your country’s entry shows full relief, all the UK tax is repayable; if it shows a rate, the treaty rate is kept and the rest is repaid. HMRC’s International Manual (INTM331028) gives the time limit as 4 years after the end of the tax year the claim relates to, under section 43(1) of the Taxes Management Act 1970.

What does a repayment claim look like?

Illustration only. Lena lives in a treaty country and receives £5,000 of royalties from a UK licensee in 2026 to 2027 under a licence she granted for software she wrote. The licensee deducts basic rate tax of 20%, £1,000. Her country’s entry in the DT Digest shows a 10% rate for royalties.

Step on the form’s working sheet	Figure
Box 1: royalties before UK tax	£5,000
Box 2: UK tax taken off	£1,000
Box 3: treaty rate of 10% on box 1	£500
Box 4: box 2 less box 3, entered in Part F.2(a)	£500

She also completes Part C.4, attaching the licence agreement, so that future royalties are paid with only 10% deducted. The notes add that if she is entitled to UK personal allowances, for example as a national of a European Economic Area state, she may be able to reclaim some of the 10% as well; personal allowance for non residents explains who qualifies.

What happens once HMRC accepts a pension claim?

For a pension, HMRC authorises the payer not to deduct UK tax (DT1926), which in practice means the pension provider receives code NT. HMRC’s PAYE Manual (PAYE11010) says notes should be held explaining any NT code given under a treaty, and that HMRC may write to check the position and remove the code if no reply is received or the reason has ended.

Government service pensions are treated differently under many treaties and usually stay taxable in the UK. If so, the notes say you may be able to claim UK personal allowances if you meet the conditions. UK pensions when you retire abroad covers which pensions count as government pensions.

What are the common mistakes?

• Sending the form straight to HMRC without your own tax authority’s certificate, when your country is not one of the Appendix 1 territories.
• Applying for relief at source on a pension before payments have started.
• Listing UK bank interest in Part C.3. It cannot be paid gross through this route, and since banks now pay interest without deducting tax there is usually nothing to reclaim.
• Using the standard form when your country has its own form, or using the form when you file a return and should be using HS304.
• Missing the 4 year time limit for repayments.
• Forgetting to tell HMRC when you move again, which can leave an NT code in place that no longer applies.

If you are still planning the move, leaving the UK and form P85 covers the departure steps.

If HMRC opens a check into your return, tax investigation insurance pays your accountant’s fees. Solar Protect cover pays up to £100,000 with no excess; it never pays tax, interest or penalties. Read how our cover works or get a quote.

Related Accountapedia entries

• Claiming business relief on form IHT413
• Individual voluntary arrangements
• Claiming agricultural relief on form IHT414
• Certificates of UK residence for treaty claims
• Form R40: claiming back tax on savings

Sources

• GOV.UK: Double taxation treaty relief form dt individual
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2007 c. 3, section 874
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2007 c. 3, section 906
• GOV.UK: Taxed twice
• GOV.UK: Hs304 non residents relief under double taxation agreements 2026
• GOV.UK: Self assessment residence remittance basis etc sa109
• GOV.UK: Manual page INTM331028
• GOV.UK: Manual page DT1926
• GOV.UK: Manual page PAYE11010
• GOV.UK: Manual page PAYE13144

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.