Marriage Allowance: who qualifies and how much it saves

How Marriage Allowance works

Marriage Allowance lets the lower earner in a married couple or civil partnership transfer £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to their partner, which cuts the partner's Income Tax by up to £252 in the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027). According to GOV.UK, the transfer carries on each year until one of you cancels it.

The £1,260 is 10% of the £12,570 Personal Allowance, rounded up to the next £10 as section 55B of the Income Tax Act 2007 requires. The partner who receives it gets a tax reduction of 20% of that amount, which is £252. The partner who gives it has a Personal Allowance of £11,310 instead of £12,570.

It pays off because the lower earner is not using all of their allowance. If you earn £10,000, £2,570 of your allowance goes to waste each year. Moving £1,260 of it to a partner who pays basic rate tax turns unused allowance into £252 of real savings.

Check what your tax codes should be after the transfer with the UK tax code checker, which reads codes ending in M and N and works out the tax under each.

Who qualifies for Marriage Allowance

You qualify for Marriage Allowance if you are married or in a civil partnership, the lower earner's income is normally below £12,570, and the higher earner pays tax only at the basic rate (or the starter, basic or intermediate rate in Scotland). Couples who live together without marrying or forming a civil partnership cannot claim.

According to GOV.UK, the higher earner's limits apply before they receive Marriage Allowance. The Scottish limit is lower because Scottish higher rate tax starts at £43,663 in 2026/27. The Scottish saving is still £252, because the law gives the reduction at the Scottish basic rate of 20%.

Your application is not affected if either of you gets a pension or lives abroad, as long as you get a Personal Allowance. Both of you do not have to work: a partner with no income at all can transfer the allowance.

You cannot claim Marriage Allowance and Married Couple's Allowance in the same year.

Worked example: how much Marriage Allowance saves

A couple where one partner earns £10,000 and the other earns £30,000 saves £252 in 2026/27 by claiming Marriage Allowance. The site's tax code engine gives these figures for England, Wales or Northern Ireland:

The lower earner's £10,000 is still under their reduced allowance of £11,310, so they pay nothing either way. The higher earner's tax falls by £252. Enter each code and salary in the tax code checker to reproduce the figures, or see the whole payslip in the UK salary take-home calculator.

The saving shrinks when the lower earner's income sits between £11,310 and £12,570, because they start paying 20% tax on the part above £11,310:

The £11,500 row matches GOV.UK's own example, which also gives a £214 saving. The State Pension row matters for retired couples: the full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27, which is £12,547.60 a year. A partner living only on that has almost no allowance to spare, so the claim is worth £4.48, and it costs money if they have any other income.

Backdating Marriage Allowance for 4 years: up to £1,260

You can backdate a Marriage Allowance claim to 6 April 2022, covering the 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 tax years, for any year you were eligible. The Personal Allowance was £12,570 in each of those years, so each is worth up to £252.

Section 55D of the Income Tax Act 2007 says an election must be made no more than 4 years after the end of the tax year it relates to. That gives a fixed last day for each year:

A couple who qualified in all 5 years and claims now can get up to £1,260: £1,008 for the 4 past years and £252 for 2026/27. The 2022/23 year drops out after 5 April 2027, so a claim made after that date is worth up to £252 less.

Each past year only counts if you met the rules in that year: married or in a civil partnership for at least part of it, the lower earner's income low enough, and the higher earner a basic rate taxpayer. Under section 55D, a backdated election covers only the year it is made for; it is the current-year claim that rolls forward. If your partner has died since 5 April 2022, you can still claim by phoning the Income Tax helpline.

Marriage Allowance tax codes: M and N

After a successful Marriage Allowance claim, the partner receiving the allowance gets a tax code ending in M, and the partner transferring it gets a code ending in N. For 2026/27 the usual codes are 1383M and 1131N, in place of 1257L.

• 1383M: £12,570 plus £1,260 is £13,830 of tax-free pay; drop the last digit and add M.
• 1131N: £12,570 less £1,260 is £11,310; drop the last digit and add N.
• In Scotland the codes start with S, for example S1383M, and in Wales with C.

According to GOV.UK, HMRC changes the receiving partner's code, which can take up to 2 months, or gives the allowance through their Self Assessment return. The change is backdated to 6 April of the year you apply in, so any extra tax taken earlier in the year comes back through later payslips. If you file a tax return and your code already ends in M or N, you do not fill in the Marriage Allowance section again.

If a code looks wrong, the tax code guides list what each letter and number means, and the guide to a wrong tax code covers how to get HMRC to fix it.

How to apply for Marriage Allowance

The lower earner applies for Marriage Allowance, online on GOV.UK in most cases.

1. Online: the lower earner applies through GOV.UK. This also handles backdated years.
2. Through Self Assessment: if you are the one transferring, fill in the Marriage Allowance section of your return. The partner receiving it leaves that section blank. If you both file, the transferring partner should file at least 3 days before the other.
3. By phone: Marriage Allowance enquiries on 0300 200 3300, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

GOV.UK says that if either of you has other income, such as dividends, savings interest or benefits from your job, you may need to work out who should claim, and you can call the Income Tax helpline if you are unsure.

Common mistakes that cancel the saving

The most common Marriage Allowance mistake is letting one partner's income cross a limit while the transfer carries on each year. The allowance keeps rolling over, so a change in pay, pension or savings can turn a £252 saving into tax you owe.

• The lower earner's income rises above £12,570. A new job, more hours, rental income, a private pension or the State Pension starting can do this. Savings interest and dividends count as income too. Once their income passes £12,570, the transfer costs them more tax than the partner saves.
• The higher earner becomes a higher rate taxpayer. A pay rise or bonus that takes income above £50,270 (£43,662 in Scotland) ends the entitlement for that year. On £51,530, a 1383M code takes £504 less tax than 1257L during the year, because the extra allowance is used at 40%, and that is tax you would owe back. Payments into a net pay workplace pension or salary sacrifice lower taxable pay, which can keep the higher earner in the basic rate band.
• The wrong partner applies. The partner with the lower income makes the claim. If you both have wages only, GOV.UK says the person who earns the least should apply.
• Claiming while living together unmarried. Cohabiting couples cannot claim at all.

If your income changes and you no longer qualify, the person who made the claim must cancel it. After a cancellation for a change of income, the allowance runs until the end of the tax year on 5 April.

What happens to Marriage Allowance on divorce or death

You must cancel Marriage Allowance if you divorce, end your civil partnership or legally separate, and either of you can cancel in that case. According to GOV.UK, when a relationship ends the change may be backdated to the start of the tax year on 6 April, which can leave one of you with tax to pay for the year.

If your partner dies, what happens depends on who transferred the allowance:

A claim can also be made after a death. If your partner died since 5 April 2022 and you were eligible, phone the Income Tax helpline. If the partner who died was the lower earner, the person dealing with their tax affairs makes the call. Under section 55D, an election made after a death covers that one tax year only.

Marriage Allowance and Married Couple's Allowance are different

Married Couple's Allowance is a separate, larger tax reduction for couples where at least one partner was born before 6 April 1935, and you cannot have both allowances in the same year. Everyone younger uses Marriage Allowance.

The 2026/27 Married Couple's Allowance figures come from HMRC's table of rates and allowances, and the 10% rate and £39,200 income limit from sections 45 and 46 of the Income Tax Act 2007. GOV.UK's Married Couple's Allowance page still quotes the 2025/26 range of £436 to £1,127 at the time of checking.

What to do next

Check both incomes for 2026/27 against the limits: the lower earner below £12,570 and the higher earner at or below £50,270 (£43,662 in Scotland). If you qualify:

1. Have the lower earner apply on GOV.UK and include every past year back to 2022/23 in which you were eligible.
2. Claim before 5 April 2027, when the 2022/23 year and its £252 run out.
3. When the new codes arrive, check them with the tax code checker: 1383M for the receiver and 1131N for the transferor.
4. Each April, recheck both incomes, and cancel if either has crossed a limit.