foreign employment

Hi, I'm resident in the UK for tax purposes but worked in France for a 2-month contract (the employer was French, based in France). I know the wage has to be declared to HMRC but I have a doubt regarding the exact amount I'm supposed to declare... first, when you talk in the form about tax being taken off, you only talk about income tax, right ? not 'social contributions' ? as you might know there are a lot of taxes that are being removed on a salary before that one reaches your account. There are charges paid by your employer that are removed ('charges patronales'), charges paid by the 'employee', you ('charges salariales'), There are 'social contributions', tax taken to pay for the retiremement, health...that would be the equivalent, more or less, of the national insurance' we have in the UK and then, there's the income tax. So what should I put in the tax return? My salary and the income tax only or am I expected to put the very gross amount, like my salary + income tax + social contribtions + charges paid by employers and employees ? which 'gross amount' does HMRC take into account ? (sorry, it's a bit complicated), thank you !

Hi,
The social contributions are not covered by the UK / France tax treaty, so they remain payable in France. You should convert your gross pay into pounds sterling and report this in a self assessment tax return, in the employment section (on paper SA102).  
Where French income tax was paid and cannot be reclaimed, you would declare the gross pay and tax deducted in the foreign section of the tax return (on paper SA106) and claim a foreign tax credit.  
If you can claim the foreign tax back, then there is no foreign credit available.
Thank you.