Check if you can save up to £252 per year by transferring part of your Personal Allowance to your spouse or civil partner.
Source: GOV.UK — Marriage Allowance
By Konstantin Iakovlev · Founder, Calks.uk
Last updated: · Verified against HMRC and GOV.UK 2026/27 rates
Rates verified: 28 September 2026
Disclaimer
This calculator is for guidance only. It is not financial or tax advice: check anything you rely on against the official source or a qualified adviser. Rates and figures come from HMRC and GOV.UK and are reviewed for the 2026/27 tax year. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to our servers.
How It Works
Marriage Allowance lets a spouse or civil partner who earns less than £12,570 transfer up to £1,260 of their unused Personal Allowance to their partner. The recipient must be a basic-rate taxpayer, earning between £12,571 and £50,270, and the transfer reduces their tax bill by up to £252 per year. You have to be legally married or in a civil partnership, since living together does not qualify.
The mechanics are a straight shift of allowance from one return to the other. The transferor's Personal Allowance drops from £12,570 to £11,310, while the recipient gains an extra £1,260 of tax-free income, taking their tax-free amount to £13,830. The recipient saves 20% of £1,260, or £252, unless their tax bill is smaller: someone on £13,000 pays only £86, so that is all they save. If the transferor earns more than £11,310, they pay tax on the excess, which cuts the couple's gain, and the calculator shows both sides. A couple with one partner on £8,000 and the other on £30,000 is the classic fit.
If either partner was born before 6 April 1935, Married Couple's Allowance is usually worth more, and you cannot claim both. The transferring partner must have income under £12,570, so that slice of allowance genuinely goes unused, and the receiving partner has to sit inside the basic-rate band for 2026/27. Higher and additional rate taxpayers are excluded. In Scotland the recipient can pay the starter, basic or intermediate rate, which usually means income from £12,571 to £43,662, so only those paying 42% or more are shut out.
You can backdate a claim to 6 April 2022, which covers the four tax years from 2022/23 to 2025/26. If you qualified in each of them, the lump sum for missed years can reach £1,008 (4 × £252), and the current year adds up to £252 more. Applications are made through GOV.UK at gov.uk/marriage-allowance, and the allowance then continues automatically each year until cancelled, so there is nothing to renew each April.
Three errors account for most rejected or clawed-back claims. Couples apply when both are higher-rate taxpayers and are simply not eligible. Others forget to cancel when one partner's income rises into the higher rate, and HMRC recovers what was given. The third case is subtler: a claim made in a year when the lower earner's income temporarily dipped works for that year only and not for those that follow. Running HMRC's own Marriage Allowance Calculator before applying settles most of these questions.
Married Couple's Allowance is a different scheme and is regularly confused with this one. It is available only where either spouse was born before 6 April 1935, so the eligible group is now very small, at 91 or over in 2026. For 2026/27 it is worth between £453 and £1,170 a year, 10% of an allowance of £4,530 to £11,700, and the allowance falls by £1 for every £2 of income above £39,200 until it reaches the minimum. The income limits and the mechanics both differ, so the two are not interchangeable and will eventually disappear from the system as the eligible population does.
Example: Non-working spouse and partner earning £30,000
- Transferor income: £8,000 (below £12,570; eligible)
- Unused Personal Allowance transferred: £1,260
- Recipient's new tax-free amount: £12,570 + £1,260 = £13,830
- Tax saving: £1,260 × 20% = £252 per year
- Backdated to 2022/23: 4 earlier years × £252 = up to £1,008, plus £252 for 2026/27
Source: GOV.UK — Marriage Allowance
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who qualifies to transfer Marriage Allowance to their partner?
- The lower earner must make less than £12,570, and their spouse or civil partner has to be a basic-rate taxpayer earning between £12,571 and £50,270 (in Scotland, starter, basic or intermediate rate, up to £43,662). Moving up to £1,260 of unused allowance across trims the recipient's tax by as much as £252 a year. If either of you was born before 6 April 1935, Married Couple's Allowance usually pays more, and you must be married or in a civil partnership rather than simply living together.
- Can I backdate a Marriage Allowance claim?
- Yes, to 6 April 2022, so a first claim made in 2026 covers the four earlier years from 2022/23 to 2025/26. Where you were eligible in each of them, the refund arrives as a lump sum of up to £1,008 (4 × £252), paid on top of the reduction of up to £252 for the current year. You apply once at gov.uk/marriage-allowance and the claim renews itself each year until you cancel it.
- What happens if my partner starts earning more?
- The claim needs to be cancelled. Marriage Allowance is only available while the recipient remains a basic-rate taxpayer, so once their income crosses into the higher rate the entitlement ends and HMRC will recover what was given for the period afterwards. A temporary dip in the lower earner's income works the other way round: it can make you eligible for that single year without carrying into the years that follow.
- Does Marriage Allowance work for Scottish taxpayers?
- Yes, though the eligibility band is narrower. The receiving partner can pay the starter, basic or intermediate rate (19%, 20% or 21%), which usually means income between £12,571 and £43,662, and anyone paying 42% or more falls outside the scheme. The lower-earning partner still needs income under £12,570, and the saving is the same, up to £252 a year. Applying and backdating work identically, through gov.uk/marriage-allowance and for up to four tax years.