Marriage allowance has been around for nearly a decade.  It enables spouses and civil partners to transfer up to 10% of their income tax personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner if that is not being used and they are basic rate taxpayers.

Don’t confuse it with the married couple’s allowance which is a tax reducer and allows couples to reduce their tax bill by between £427 and £1,108 but is only applicable if one of the spouses/civil partners were born before 6 April 1935.

You cannot claim both.

The marriage allowance can save a couple £252 in tax per annum.

Even if you cannot normally make use of the marriage allowance, opportunities can arise when one goes on maternity or works part time.

The marriage allowance is set at £1,260 and will remain at this level until 6 April 2028 due to the freezing of the personal allowance.

While 10% of a personal allowance does not give rise to a substantial amount of tax relief, this can be backdated if the conditions are met during these years and produce quite a nice tax refund i.e. at £252claim year.

If you are in receipt of the marriage allowance, your PAYE tax code changes to ‘M’ and your spouse of partner surrendering the allowance changes to ‘N’

The allowance can be claimed in full in the year of marriage, year of separation and year of death.