Around four million Brits could be missing out on a tax break worth up to £1,260. Financial experts have urged people to check if they qualify for this allowance or risk losing out.
According to Money Saving Expert (MSE), the consumer advice site founded by Martin Lewis, roughly two million qualifying couples are not making use of marriage tax allowance.
MSE said: “It’s really easy to apply and take advantage of this tax break.”
Put simply, this allowance allows you to transfer £1,260 of your personal allowance to your spouse or civil partner if they earn more than you. Your personal allowance is the amount you can earn tax-free each tax year.
“It takes into account all taxable income, whether that’s a salary, pension or other forms of income – meaning even pensioners drawing a pension may qualify,” MSE explained.
“If your claim is successful, it will lower the higher earner’s tax bill for the tax year, but you can also backdate your claim if eligible.”
However, only people with these specific circumstances are able to apply:
- You need to be married or in a civil partnership – just living together doesn’t count
- One of you needs to be a non-taxpayer. This usually means you’ll earn less than the £12,570 personal allowance between April 6, 2024, and April 5, 2025 (to get the full benefit, the non-taxpayer actually needs to earn £11,310 or less)
- The other partner needs to be a basic 20% rate taxpayer- earning less than £50,270, or £43,662 if you’re in Scotland
- You both must have been born on or after April 6 1935.
How much can you get?
Marriage tax allowance for the 2024/25 tax year is worth up to £252. “If you’re eligible and apply successfully, you’ll also automatically get the tax break each year going forward – so no need to keep reapplying,” MSE said.
“In addition to the current year’s allowance, you can backdate your claim by up to four tax years too, provided you were eligible – currently 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23, 2023/24.”
The amounts for each year are worth up to:
- 2024/25 – £252
- 2023/24 – £252
- 2022/23 – £252
- 2021/22 – £252
- 2020/21 – £250.
Therefore, if you claim for this tax year and backdate the maximum four years, you’ll get up to £1,258. “You won’t have to tick any boxes or make a special request for this – it’ll happen automatically,” MSE said.
To check if you are eligible you can use HMRC’s online marriage tax calculator here.
