Are you owed Marriage Allowance?

What is Marriage Allowance?

Marriage Allowance is a UK tax rule that lets one partner in a marriage or civil partnership transfer £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to the other partner. The receiving partner then pays Income Tax on £1,260 less of their salary, saving £252 a year (20% of £1,260).

It is administered by HMRC, completely free to claim, and once set up runs automatically year after year.

Am I eligible?

You qualify if all three of these are true:

• You are married or in a civil partnership — not just cohabiting
• The lower-earning partner has total taxable income under £12,570 (the personal allowance for 2025/26). This includes wages, pensions and savings interest.
• The higher-earning partner pays Income Tax at the basic rate — meaning income between £12,571 and £50,270 in 2025/26 (or £43,662 in Scotland).

How much is it worth?

Two parts — ongoing saving and a backdated lump sum:

• Going forward: the higher earner pays £252 less in Income Tax every year, automatically, until you cancel it or your circumstances change.
• Backdated: you can backdate by up to 4 tax years, provided you were eligible in those years. Each backdated year is paid as a lump sum directly to the higher-earning partner's bank account.

So a full claim with maximum backdating is worth:

• £252 for 2025/26 (this year)
• + £252 × 4 backdated years = £1,260 lump sum
• = up to £1,512 in the first year, then £252 each year after

How to claim

Go directly to HMRC. Always free. Never pay a "Marriage Allowance" claim company — they take 30–40% of any refund for filling in the exact same form you can fill in yourself in 5 minutes.

1. Open gov.uk/marriage-allowance
2. The lower-earning partner makes the claim.
3. You will need: both partners' National Insurance numbers, your date of marriage / civil partnership, and a form of ID for the claiming partner (recent payslip, P60, passport, or driving licence).
4. If you don't have a Government Gateway account, you can create one in a few minutes during the claim.
5. You'll get a confirmation email. HMRC then adjusts the higher earner's tax code (usually to "M") and any backdated refund arrives in around 2 weeks.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Paying a claims company. The process is identical, free, and takes 5 minutes on GOV.UK. There is no advantage to using a third party.
• The wrong partner claiming. Only the lower-earning partner can initiate the claim — the higher earner receives the saving.
• Missing the backdate window. Backdating only goes back 4 tax years. If you've been eligible for 8 years, the first 4 years are lost forever — so claim now.
• Forgetting to cancel. If circumstances change (divorce, the lower earner's income rises above £12,570) you must tell HMRC, otherwise the higher earner may face a tax bill at year end.
• Confusing it with Married Couple's Allowance. Married Couple's Allowance is a separate, more generous allowance only for couples where at least one partner was born before 6 April 1935.