The Marriage Allowance

The Marriage Allowance was announced in the 2013 Autumn Statement and is an allowance transferrable between married couples and civil partners.  It is available from 6 April 2015 and the amount which can be transferred is 10% of the personal allowance, which is 10% x £10,600 (for 2015/16) = £1,060.  The tax saving is likely to be £1,060 @ 20% = £212.

The application needs to be made by the spouse or partner who will be transferring their personal allowance.  In order to qualify, the following conditions must be met:

• You must be married or in a civil partnership
• You must have annual income less than £10,600 (this is all income, not just employment income)
• Your partner must have income in excess of £10,600 but less than £42,385
• You were both born after 6 April 1935 (if you were viagra or cialis born before this date, you may be able to claim the Married Couples Allowance instead)

So essentially, this means that you WON’T be able to claim the Marriage Allowance if:

• You’re not married
• One of you is a higher rate taxpayer
• The lowest earner brings in less than the personal allowance

At the moment you can register your interest here.  HMRC will then let you know when you can claim the relief.  NB you don’t have to register, you can claim the relief later in the year, or up to 4 years after the end of the tax year.

The couple’s PAYE codes will be altered to reflect the change in allowances, with new suffix letters added as follows:

• M – for those who receive the allowance
• N - for those who have surrendered the allowance

Full details are available here.