Marriage tax allowance

Posted this on another thread in response to someone saying his wife only works 2hrs a week. Worth a reminder.

Are you claiming part of your spouses tax allowance. ( you have to be married)
If not you can claim allowances backdated.

Was 2/3 years in my case. ( around £400/500 refund) could claim back to 2015 in my case. Not sure if a time limit applies.

Only applies if your spouse doesn’t pay tax. But to be clear, also if not working either.

It Brings in around £200/£250 net pa. ( would have to double check the allowance again but it’s fixed. At around £1300)

Just go on line and claim if not already doing so. ( even easy for a technophobe like me)

 

Worth saying you can’t do it if you’re a higher rate taxpayer as well.

 

I've never understood this. Isn't marriage supposed to be about love? Being married (or cohabiting) makes your living costs significantly lower anyway so why the need for a financial incentive to get married?

 

Just a bit more, from the website.

Who can apply
You can benefit from Marriage Allowance if all the following apply:

• you’re married or in a civil partnership
• you do not pay Income Tax or your income is below your Personal Allowance (usually £12,500)
• your partner pays Income Tax at the basic rate, which usually means their income is between £12,501 and £50,000 before they receive Marriage Allowance

You cannot claim Marriage Allowance if you’re living together but you’re not married or in a civil partnership.

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance

 

They can be working, just need to be under their tax allowance. You can backdate it for 4 tax years. It must be the non-tax payer who applies as they are giving away some of their tax allowance. I helped my mam and dad do this last year as she doesn't work (and had all her disability money stopped and her pension age increased by the Tories but I'm not getting into that again) and he's not in the higher tax bracket.

Also, if the person earning over the threshold only earns a tiny bit over and the person who earns under only earns a tiny bit under you could potentially lose money so watch out for that.

 

Thanks mate. I Struggled to post the link

 

Married couples are more deserving than the rest of us hence the financial incentive apparently. I do fully agree with your point , what the hell has your personal circumstances got to do with how much tax you pay ? Bizarre Tory rose tinted glasses nonsense if you ask me .

 

Not so sure it's an incentive at £5 per week. Given how much a wedding can cost.

 

So why do it then ? Don't get me wrong I'd be happy if I went to work and they said theirs going to be an extra fiver in my wage packet , I just don't understand why married couples get put in a slightly different tax bracket when said marriage was a personal choice . Like I say bizarre Tory nonsense .

 

Not sure mate. Maybe as in the olden days. Mother's in general stayed home and looked after the kids. So it aids those types if any are still around. ( My Mrs packed in working for 12 yrs till the youngest got to 8. Eldest 12. So marriage allowance did help people as in our case ) This just helps those that make that choice or just do enough hrs that don't need childcare.
Which working families can claim ( childcare) if filling the criteria.
Why civil partners or couples that chose not to get married don't get the allowance I'm not so sure. My sister and brother in law got married after living together and having kids in 20+yrs. But could only claim back to the date they got married..Not the reason they got married by the way.

 

I think it’s aimed at one half of the married couple working lesser hours, and passing on some of their unused personal allowance to the other. It’s fairly common for one half of the couple to reduce their hours after having kids.

I could be wrong, but if both are using up all of their personal allowance, then there’s no benefit received for being a married couple.

 

In a not related matter if you’ve been working from home you can get tax relief on this

 

It was brought in under Cameron. It's utter ********.

 

Damned if they do, damned if they dont, I for one am glad they do this, correct me if I'm wrong but wasnt there a married mans tax allowance in the 90s which Blair binned ?good to see workers getting a break, imo. I do think you shouldn't have to be married but its proving you are with the person you say you are.

 

Utter ******** because you disagree with the logic or utter ******** because you don't qualify for it?

 

I dont think couples get married based on having a few hundred quid extra a year by way of this allowance,( incentive) if they do then they are marrying for the wrong reasons

 

Care to expand . Anyone can spout such comments. “That’s ********.” Put summat behind the statement.

 

That’s two mate there’s another One. He’s possibly calling me a liar.

 

For information. anyone thinking of claiming. Maximum you can claim back is 4 years. A £1000 tax refund to 2016.
Then going forward from April 1st this year altering your tax code. Up 1250 .
may upset one or two whingers that aren’t eligible.
Still think civil partnerships and cohabitating folk should benefit. Not sure how you would police the latter though.

 

Because I disagree with the logic. Why does it make a difference if a couple are married or not? I suppose it's more rational now that heterosexual couples can get a civil partnership, but before it was effectively using marriage as a certificate of validity that two people are a couple.

To allow it for married people, but not those in a similar situation, ie co-habiting, kids etc is promoting marriage as an ideal, which I strongly disagree with.