The marriage allowance is a tax free perk which over 2 million couples don’t claim. We explain how you can claim your £252 tax rebate.
The marriage allowance for 2023/24 is £252. Better still, you can claim back for the previous 4 tax years. As a result the total tax rebate can be as high as £1,255. This total is explained later.
We will explain who qualifies and the steps you need to take to claim the marriage allowance.
Don’t use a Third Party to assist with your claim. Read the information below and you will be able to claim the marriage allowance yourself for FREE!
Most taxpayers in the UK have tax free allowances. The most common is the personal allowance, which allows individuals to earn £12,570 (2023/24 rate) tax free before they pay income tax.
Typically, individuals with earnings below the personal allowance will waste some of their tax free amount each year. For example an individual with only £7,000 earnings will be wasting £5,570 of their tax free allowance.
Wouldn’t it be good if you could transfer some of this unused tax free allowance onto your partner so their tax free allowance is higher? Thus, resulting in them paying less income tax.
This is what the marriage allowance sets out to achieve.
An individual can transfer 10% of their personal allowance. In the tax year 2023/24 the personal allowance is £12,570. As a result the marriage allowance transfer amount is £1,257.
Increasing your partners’ personal allowance by £1,257 will reduce their income tax liability by £252. (Income tax rate is 20% for basic rate taxpayers, therefore £1,257 x 20% equals £252).
The marriage allowance reclaim for the tax year 2023/24 is £252. This can be increased to a tax rebate amount of £1,255. This is possible by back dating your claim up to the maximum of 4 years.
This is illustrated as follows:
– 2022/23 tax year – £252 reclaim
– 2021/22 tax year – £251 reclaim
– 2020/21 tax year – £250 reclaim
– 2019/20 tax year – £250 reclaim
Add onto these figures the £252 for the 2023/24 tax year and the total amount is £1,255.
To be able to claim the marriage allowance the following conditions must apply:
1. Must be married or in a civil partnership (co-habiting couples don’t count)
2. One individual must earn under £12,570 (2023/24 personal allowance)
3. Their partner must be a basic tax rate payer. Earn between £12,570 and £50,270 (2023/24)
4. Both individuals must be born on or after 6 April 1935
To summarise, you must be a non-taxpayer and your partner is a basic rate taxpayer.
The easiest way to claim the marriage allowance is to apply online using this HMRC link.
The information required includes National Insurance Numbers and a form of Identification.
Should you encounter any problems with the online process or if you would prefer to apply over the phone, the HMRC contact number is 0300 200 3300.
IMPORTANT: It must be the non-taxpayer who makes the claim. They are authorising for part of their tax allowance to be transferred.
To be able to reclaim marriage allowance for previous years you must satisfy the conditions for that tax year.
The tax allowance rates change every year so you will need to check for each year that you were a non-taxpayer and your partner was a basic tax payer.
As an example to be able to claim the £252 in the tax year 2022/23, the following conditions apply:
1. You must have been married or in a civil partnership
2. Partner 1 must earn under £12,570 (Personal Allowance rate 2022/23)
3. Partner 2 must earn between £12,570 and £50,270 (2022/23 Basic Rate Tax)
4. Both born after April 1935
First of all you will receive an email confirming that they have received the application. If successful the following will happen:
Claims relating to the tax year 2023/24 will see an adjustment in the tax coding notices. The non-taxpayer tax code will include an N and the basic rate taxpayer will have an M added to their tax code.
Claims relating to backdated tax years will be paid typically in the form of a cheque.
You don’t need to reapply in future tax years. Typically the tax code will continue to include the marriage allowance. How to understand the tax codes?
Marriage Allowance Example
A married couple has partner 1 earning £7,000 per annum and partner 2 earning £32,000 per annum.
Without marriage allowance the income tax liabilities for 2023/24 tax year would be as follows:
| Partner 1 | Partner 2 | |
| Earnings | £7,000 | £32,000 |
| Personal Allowance | £12,570 | £12,570 |
| Taxable Earnings | £Nil | £19,430 |
| Basic Rate Tax Rate | 20% | 20% |
| Income Tax Payable | £Nil | £3,886 |
With marriage allowance claim the income tax liabilities would be as follows:
| Partner 1 | Partner 2 | |
| Earnings | £7,000 | £32,000 |
| Personal Allowance | £11,313 | £13,827 |
| Taxable Earnings | £Nil | £18,173 |
| Basic Rate Tax Rate | 20% | 20% |
| Income Tax Payable | £Nil | £3,634 |
The tax reduces from £3,886 to £3,634, which is the £252 tax free cash amount mentioned earlier.
Non-taxpayer Earns £12,000
The marriage allowance allows for the transfer of 10% of the personal allowance. It is either 10% or nothing.
Therefore a situation can arise where the non-taxpayer after transferring 10% of their personal allowance will need to pay income tax.
For example a non-taxpayer earning £12,000 can still claim the marriage allowance in 2023/24.
Their new personal allowance will be £11,313 and as a result will pay tax on £687, which is £137 tax.
Partner 2 would still be saving £252 in tax, so the total tax paid by both partners will still be lower. In this example it is £115 less tax. It is therefore almost always worth claiming whenever possible.
When Should You NOT Apply For The Marriage Allowance?
There is one situation in which you should NOT apply for the allowance. That is where both incomes are close to the personal allowance, with one just below and one just above.
Taking the example above where partner 1 earns £12,000. After transferring 10% of their personal allowance they would pay additional tax of £137.
It is therefore only worthwhile doing the transfer if partner 2 saves over £137 in tax. In this particular example partner 2 would need to earn more than £13,255. Earnings below this amount would result in a net loss.
This situation would be very rare but it is worth checking when both incomes are extremely close to the personal allowance.
Conclusion On The Marriage Allowance
As stated an estimated 2 million couples are being offered £252 cash but aren’t claiming it. This can increase to £1,255 if you can claim back the full 4 years.
Don’t be one of those statistics. The claim is easy to do online or over the phone – 0300 200 3300.
IMPORTANT – There are many companies out there, including Accountants, who will offer to complete the application for you. They typically charge in excess of 35% of your claim amount. You DON’T need to use a third party. The third party will ask you for exactly the same amount of information as HMRC, so avoid the expensive middle man! The claim can be done quite easily using the above online application. If you struggle with computers, just phone HMRC on 0300 200 3300.
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DISCLAIMER – Please note that the content contained in this article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional advice – read our full disclaimer