Millions of couples are missing out on £662 marriage tax perk – are YOU one of them?
The marriage tax allowance is open to millions of couples across the UK, but many people have never heard of it and don't know what it is
IF you're married or in a civil partnership, you could be entitled to £662 of free money.
The marriage tax allowance is open to millions of couples across the UK, but many people have never heard of it and don't know what it is.
It's a government tax perk that was set up in April 2015 to "incentivise marriage”.
In year one it was worth £212, and for the following tax year it was worth £220.
For the 2017-18 tax year (which started on April 6), the allowance is £230 - but it's backdated, meaning you can claim previous years' allowances, which altogether gives you £662.
But more than half of eligible couples (around 2.4million duos) are missing out on the free cash.
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The system allows couples to transfer a proportion of their personal allowance (the amount you can earn tax-free each tax year) between them.
It creates a potential saving of almost £1.4billion for people across the UK.
Who can claim the marriage tax allowance?
Most importantly, to qualify for the tax perk one of you must be a non-taxpayer - so, earning less than £11,500 a year - and the other must be a basic-rate taxpayer, so earning less than £45,000 a year.
You of course need to be married or in a civil partnership, so living together doesn't count, and you must have both been born on or after April 6, 1935.
How does it work?
According to , the partner who has an unused amount of personal allowance (the non-taxpayer) can transfer £1,150 of their allowance to the other (so 10 per cent of the full allowance).
For example, if a wife earns £10,000 as a part-time waitress, she can transfer £1,500 from her £11,500 personal allowance to her husband.
He could earn £40,000 as an IT technician, and take her £1,150 allowance - boosting his own personal allowance to £12,650.
This means he gets an extra £1,150 which he would have otherwise paid 20 per cent tax on, but is now tax-free, so he's £230 better off (20 per cent of £1,150).
How to apply for the marriage tax allowance
You can apply using the form on the . You'll need both your national insurance numbers, and a form of ID for the non-taxpayer.
If you face any issues applying online, you can call HMRC's helpline on 0300 200 3300.
It must be the non-taxpayer who applies to transfer their allowance, not the other way round.
However you apply, any backdated money for previous tax years will be sent to you as a cheque. It will be given to you automatically, so long as you were eligible in the previous years'.
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