Marriage Allowance and how it works
When you get married or enter a civil partnership, tax probably isn’t the first thing on your mind. But it’s worth giving it some thought, because you could benefit from getting a tax-free Marriage Allowance.
What Marriage Allowance does
Most people in the UK are allowed to earn a certain amount of money each year before having to pay any Income Tax on it. This tax-free amount is called a Personal Allowance. For most people, it’s £12,570 a year – and you can learn more about it on our Personal Allowance page.
‘Spouse’ is the name for a married partner. Marriage Allowance lets one spouse or civil partner share part of their own tax-free Personal Allowance with the other. That is, if they’re not using it all themselves.
Key thing to remember:
You can give £1,260 of your unused tax-free Personal Allowance each year to your spouse or civil partner. This means they can earn more, without paying tax.
As a couple, Marriage Allowance can save you up to £252 a year – that’s 20% of the transferred £1,260.
Here’s an example:
Alice and James are married.
James works part-time and earns £18,000 a year. As this is above £12,570, James pays tax on £5,430 of his income.
Alice works part-time and earns £10,000 a year. That’s less than her Personal Allowance.
Alice gives £1,260 of her Personal Allowance to James.
James’s new Personal Allowance is £13,830. He now only pays tax on £4,170 of his income.
Marriage Allowance depends on what you earn
You can apply for Marriage Allowance if one of you earns less than £12,570 a year – that’s the standard tax-free Personal Allowance amount.
The other person must earn between £12,571 and £50,270 a year. This means that they pay Income Tax at what’s called the ‘basic rate’. You can find out more about Income tax rates on GOV.UK.
The tax rates in Scotland are slightly different. You can find out more on GOV.UK.
You must be married or in a civil partnership to get Marriage Allowance.
Applying online takes about 5 minutes
The partner that’s the lower earner applies for Marriage Allowance on GOV.UK.
Helpful tip:
Have both your National Insurance numbers and a way to prove who you are – like a passport or driving licence – to hand.
Once you’ve applied, the Marriage Allowance automatically moves over to your spouse or civil partner each year. You only need to apply again if your situation changes.
You can claim for previous years too
If Marriage Allowance is new to you and you didn’t realise you could have benefitted from it long ago, don’t worry. You can backdate your claim as far back as the last four years. This could mean you get a tax refund.
You can use our Marriage Allowance calculator on GOV.UK to see how much you could save.
What to do if things change
If the amount of money you or your partner earns changes, you get divorced, or your partner dies, you need to let us know on GOV.UK.
A small step that saves you money
A lot of people don’t know about Marriage Allowance, so they miss out. But now you do. You also know that it’s quick and easy to set up and could save you up to £252 a year, for many years to come.