Married Couples Allowance

Will you marry me?

Many years ago married couples would be able to share their personal tax allowance, so that if only one of them is working, then they would not lose out as a household. This was stopped some time ago – one criteria was at least one partner in the couple had to be born before 1935!

These days few of us can afford to give up work even after having children and so when this new ‘Married Allowance’ came into force in 2015, I did wonder what the point was.

Now more than ever though, I talk to many couples where one partner is working hard to bring in a regular wage, and the other partner is pursuing their dream vocation, starting a home business, or not able to work at all due to the Pandemic or other reasons.

Whatever the reason, whether people are working hard to get their business off the ground and incurring start up costs, or even just not earning enough to utilise all of their personal allowance right now the HMRC are encouraging them to make the best use of the personal allowance they have.

Make the most of your unused personal allowance

If you are in this situation, and are married or in a civil partnership, being able to share your (unused) personal allowance will help the family as a whole and could be worth looking into.

One caveat, however is that the other partner needs to be a basic 20% rate taxpayer (higher or additional-rate taxpayers aren’t eligible for the married couples allowance).

If you aren’t sure if you are eligible, or think you need more information, please feel free to contact us for further information, or check out the HMRC website link here.

The tax saving may not be enough to merit getting married or entering a civil partnership, but if you are already, why not get the tax break!

If you have Tax related queries, either check out our TAX FAQ page or contact us direct. Details are below.

Ella M Doherty FCCA