Head to head
London vs Paris.
Income tax on $1M lands within $10K in London and Paris, so a sale decides it: London taxes a resident's capital gain at 24% and Paris at 35%. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom against 🇫🇷 France, compared on tax, residence, cost and the life.
In short, current to October 2026
- On $1,000,000 of income, London takes an effective 43% and Paris takes 44%, so London leaves about $10K more in hand each year on the Patrician.ch 2026 model.
- On a capital gain realized after residence begins, London charges 24% and Paris charges 35%. On a $5,000,000 event that is a difference of about $570K.
- The United Kingdom operates a special regime for arriving foreigners: 4 year foreign income and gains regime for new arrivals. France operates: Impatriate regime under Article 155 B: for up to 8 years, employees and salaried officers recruited from abroad can exempt 30% of pay, and half of dividends, interest and securities gains from treaty countries is exempt from income tax. It needs 5 full calendar years outside France first. No wealth tax on financial assets, only on property above €1.3M.
- Inheritance, what a child pays: 40% in London, up to 45% in Paris.
- Route in: London by Founder & talent. Paris by Residence by investment, Founder & talent.
- Cost of the life is 96 in London against 95 in Paris on the Patrician.ch index where Zurich is 100, and safety 6 against 6 of 10. Both are Patrician.ch editorial indices scored by us, not published statistics.
Source: the Patrician.ch board, an original ranking of 100 residence addresses across 47 countries and territories. Tax rates, thresholds and routes are sourced. Cost, safety, schools, sun and beauty are Patrician.ch editorial indices. Figures current to October 2026. Updated . Cite as: Patrician.ch, London vs Paris: tax, residence and cost 2026, patrician.ch/compare/london-vs-paris/, October 2026.
