The Marriage Allowance – Time is running out to claim

Jan 25, 2023
Author: Craig Walker
Marriage Allowance

The Marriage Allowance – Time is running out to claim

 The Marriage Allowance can enable eligible married couples and civil partners to save up to £252 of tax a year.  Despite being introduced almost seven years ago, many eligible couples are still missing out on this tax break.  As payments can only be backdated up to four tax years, after 5 April 2023 it will not be possible to claim the Marriage Allowance for 2018/19.

The relief is designed to benefit couples where one spouse has insufficient income to make full use of their tax-free personal allowance (£12,570 for 2022/23).  Where the couple meet the qualifying conditions, the spouse with the unused personal allowance can elect to transfer £1,260 of the allowance to their partner, offering a tax saving of up to £252 for 2022/23.

It is also currently possible to backdate the claim to 5 April 2018, to obtain an additional tax saving of up to £990.  Please note that the deadline for claiming the Marriage Allowance for 2018/19 is 6 April 2023 so time is running out to claim it.

The transfer can only be made if the spouse who receives the transferred allowance is a basic rate taxpayer, meaning that for 2022/23 they would normally need to have an income of no more than £50,270 (or £43,662 if you are in Scotland).  Higher or additional rate taxpayers are not eligible for this allowance.

For more information on how to apply for the Marriage Allowance go to www.gov.uk/apply-marriage-allowance or get in touch with us.

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Craig Walker

Tax Director, Sheffield

cw@hawsons.co.uk