Who can claim?
You can claim Marriage Allowance if all of these are true:
- You’re married or in a civil partnership. Couples who live together but aren’t married can’t claim.
- One of you has income under £12,570, the Personal Allowance, so pays no Income Tax.
- The other pays tax at the basic rate: income between £12,571 and £50,270 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, they must pay the starter, basic or intermediate rate, which means income up to £43,662.
If the higher earner pays tax at 40% or more, you can’t claim. If either of you was born before 6 April 1935, look at Married Couple’s Allowance instead, which is worth more.
How much does it save?
The lower earner gives up £1,260 of their Personal Allowance (10% of it). The higher earner gets it, so £1,260 of their income is tax-free instead of taxed at 20%: a saving of £252 for the year.
Example: Sam earns £8,000 from a part-time job and Alex earns £35,000. Sam’s allowance falls to £11,310, still more than Sam earns, so Sam still pays no tax. Alex pays £252 less.
- Sam's Income Tax (earns £8,000) No change
- Without Marriage Allowance: £0 With Marriage Allowance: £0
- Alex's Income Tax (earns £35,000) £252 less
- Without Marriage Allowance: £4,486 With Marriage Allowance: £4,234
Together you pay £252 less a year
Sam's allowance falls to £11,310, still more than Sam earns, so Sam still pays no tax. Alex's tax falls by 20% of £1,260.
If the lower earner’s income is between £11,310 and £12,570, they’ll start paying a little tax on the part above £11,310, so the couple saves less. On £12,000, the lower earner pays £138 and the higher earner saves £252: you’re £114 better off.
Backdating
You can claim for the current tax year and the four before it, back to 2022/23, as long as you were eligible in each year. The last day to claim for 2022/23 is 5 April 2027. With the allowance the same in each of those years, that’s up to £1,260 in one go: £252 a year for five years. Earlier years are paid as a cheque or a bank transfer.
How to claim
The lower earner applies, free, on GOV.UK. You’ll need both National Insurance numbers. Be wary of companies that offer to claim for you: they take a cut of a refund you can get yourself in minutes.
Once it’s set up, it carries on each year until one of you cancels it or your circumstances change, for example if the higher earner moves into the 40% band.
How it shows on your tax codes
Marriage Allowance changes both of your tax codes:
- The lower earner’s code ends in N, for example 1131N (£12,570 − £1,260 = £11,310).
- The higher earner’s code ends in M, for example 1383M (£12,570 + £1,260 = £13,830).
See UK tax codes explained for what the rest of your code means.
See your own numbers
The salary calculator shows the tax and take-home pay for each of your salaries.