Marriage Allowance

Marriage Allowance lets one spouse or civil partner give £1,260 of their unused Personal Allowance to the other. For 2026/27 that cuts the receiving partner’s tax by up to £252 a year. It only works when the person giving it earns less than the Personal Allowance of £12,570 and the person receiving it pays tax at the basic rate, or in Scotland at the starter, basic or intermediate rate.

Who qualifies

Three conditions have to be met:

1. You are married or in a civil partnership. Living together is not enough.
2. The partner who transfers the allowance normally has income below £12,570, so part of their own allowance would go unused.
3. The partner who receives it pays tax at the basic rate. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland that means income between £12,571 and £50,270. In Scotland it means income between £12,571 and £43,662, which covers the starter, basic and intermediate rates.

If the receiving partner earns over those upper figures, the couple cannot use it, even when the other partner has no income at all. The transfer is a fixed £1,260, so you cannot pass across part of it or more.

Couples where one partner was born before the 1930s cut-off date set out on gov.uk may get Married Couple’s Allowance instead, which is worth more. Its range for 2026/27 runs from a minimum of £4,530 to a maximum of £11,700 of allowance, and the two cannot both be claimed.

Common public sector situations

Marriage Allowance often suits households where one partner has a lower paid or part-time public sector job and the other is a basic rate taxpayer. Typical patterns:

• one partner works a few hours a week as a lunchtime supervisor or school crossing patrol, earning under £12,570
• one partner is on a career break, maternity leave with low or no pay, or studying
• one partner has retired early and has a small pension below the allowance

Watch the lower paid partner’s earnings across the whole tax year. Someone on a low term-time contract can still go over £12,570 once extra hours, overtime or a second job are added. Our guide to part-time take-home pay shows how annual pay builds up. If the partner transferring the allowance ends up earning more than £12,570 minus £1,260, they start paying tax on the difference because their own allowance is now smaller.

What it is worth

The receiving partner’s allowance goes up by £1,260, so £1,260 less of their income is taxed. At 20 per cent that is £252 a year.

Say a band 5 nurse in England earns £32,073 and their spouse works part time for £9,000 a year. The spouse uses only £9,000 of their £12,570 allowance, leaving £3,570 spare. Transferring £1,260 leaves the spouse with an allowance of £11,310, which still covers their £9,000. The nurse’s allowance rises to £13,830 and they pay £252 less tax for the year.

The partner giving the allowance pays nothing extra while their income stays below their reduced allowance. In this example they have a margin of £2,310 before that changes.

How it shows in your tax code

Once the claim is made, HMRC changes both partners’ tax codes:

• the partner receiving the allowance gets a code ending in M, for example 1383M
• the partner transferring it gets a code ending in N, for example 1131N

Scottish and Welsh taxpayers will see the S or C prefix in front, such as S1383M. Our tax codes guide explains the rest of the code. If the receiving partner’s code has not changed after a claim, check it in the HMRC app or personal tax account. The steps are in how to check your tax code.

How to apply

The partner with the lower income applies, online through gov.uk. Both of you need your National Insurance numbers, and the applicant has to prove their identity. After that the claim carries on automatically each year until one of you cancels it or your circumstances change.

Cancel it if the lower paid partner’s income rises above the Personal Allowance, or if the receiving partner moves into the higher rate. If the conditions stop being met and nobody tells HMRC, tax may be underpaid and collected later through a code adjustment.

Backdating a claim

You can backdate a Marriage Allowance claim to earlier tax years in which you were eligible, up to the limit HMRC sets. Gov.uk shows which years can still be claimed. A backdated claim produces a refund for the receiving partner, normally paid by cheque or into a bank account, using the allowance amount for each of those years.

A surviving partner can in some cases still claim for past years after a death. HMRC’s helpline can confirm what applies, and is also the body to contact about tax questions after a death or separation. A solicitor or Citizens Advice can help with wider money matters.