Marriage Allowance Calculator UK
Work out whether you qualify for the £1,260 transfer, how much tax you’ll save as a couple, and how many years back you can claim — the relief most eligible couples never apply for.
The Marriage Allowance lets one married partner or civil partner transfer £1,260 of their unused Personal Allowance to the other, cutting the higher earner’s Income Tax bill by up to £252 a year. It only works in one direction — the non-taxpayer gives, the basic-rate taxpayer receives — and it only helps if one of you earns under the £12,570 Personal Allowance while the other earns between £12,571 and £50,270. The trap that costs couples the most isn’t getting it wrong; it’s never claiming at all. HMRC estimates that around a million eligible couples miss out each year, and because the claim can be backdated up to four tax years, a first-time application today can be worth roughly £1,260 as a one-off refund plus £252 a year going forward. Two further catches: a higher-rate taxpayer can never receive Marriage Allowance, and if the lower earner’s income creeps just above £12,570 the transfer can leave them with a small Income Tax bill of their own. This calculator shows whether you qualify, what you’ll save this year, and how much you can claim back. For the rest of your tax picture see the Salary Take-Home Calculator; once your claim is live, the Tax Code Checker confirms the new M and N suffixes have come through correctly.
Couple and eligibility
Person transferring allowance
Person receiving allowance
Allowance settings
Backdated claim estimate
Marriage Allowance result
Estimated couple benefit
Calculating…
Calculating…
Recipient tax saving
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Transferor tax cost
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Transfer amount
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Eligibility status
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Backdate estimate
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Total possible claim
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Marriage Allowance — quick lookup
The left table shows what a couple saves once the lower earner transfers their £1,260 of Personal Allowance, depending on how much each of you earns. The right lists the rules and figures that decide whether the claim actually goes through. The headline is in the right column: only one combination of incomes unlocks the saving, but for that combination the relief is worth a flat £252 a year — plus up to four years backdated for a couple claiming for the first time.
| Lower / Higher earner | Eligible? | Saving |
|---|---|---|
| £0 / £20,000 | Yes | £252 |
| £8,000 / £35,000 | Yes | £252 |
| £12,000 / £45,000 | Yes | £252 |
| £15,000 / £40,000 | No | £0 |
| £10,000 / £60,000 | No | £0 |
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | £12,570 |
| Transfer amount | £1,260 |
| Recipient income band | £12,571 – £50,270 |
| Maximum yearly saving | £252 |
| Backdate window | 4 prior tax years |
| Maximum first claim | ~£1,260 |
“Eligible” assumes you are married or in a civil partnership, the lower earner’s total income is at or below £12,570, and the higher earner is a basic-rate taxpayer in England, Wales or Northern Ireland (income between £12,571 and £50,270). In Scotland the rule is slightly different: the recipient must be a Scottish Starter or Basic rate taxpayer, not an Intermediate or higher band. The £252 figure is £1,260 of transferred allowance taxed at the 20% basic rate. The backdate window is up to four previous tax years, on top of the current year.
How Marriage Allowance works
Marriage Allowance is a one-way transfer of £1,260 of unused Personal Allowance from a non-taxpayer to a basic-rate-taxpaying spouse or civil partner. It isn’t a separate tax break or a payment from HMRC — it’s a quiet rebalancing of how much tax-free pay each of you gets, which lowers the higher earner’s bill by 20% of the transferred amount. The numbers are fixed, but the eligibility rules are stricter than most couples realise.
The £1,260 transfer, in plain numbers
Every UK adult gets a £12,570 Personal Allowance — the slice of income each tax year that’s free of Income Tax. If one partner doesn’t use all of theirs (because they earn less than that), Marriage Allowance lets them lift out £1,260 of it and hand it to their spouse or civil partner. The receiver’s tax-free band rises to £13,830; the giver’s drops to £11,310. Because the receiver is a basic-rate taxpayer, that £1,260 of newly tax-free income saves them £252 of Income Tax — 20% of £1,260. Both sides happen automatically through your tax codes once you’ve applied: the recipient’s code gains the suffix M, the transferor’s the suffix N.
The eligibility rules — all three must be true
You can only claim Marriage Allowance if every one of three conditions is met. You must be married or in a civil partnership — living together as cohabiting partners doesn’t qualify, however long you’ve been together. The transferor’s income must be at or below the £12,570 Personal Allowance (so they don’t pay Income Tax). The recipient’s income must put them in the basic-rate band — between £12,571 and £50,270 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland — because the relief is given at the 20% rate. A higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayer can never receive Marriage Allowance, even if their spouse is a non-taxpayer. In Scotland the equivalent rule is that the recipient must be a Scottish Starter or Basic rate taxpayer; an Intermediate, Higher or Top rate taxpayer is excluded.
The trap most people miss: backdating
HMRC will let you backdate Marriage Allowance by up to four previous tax years, provided you met the eligibility test in each of those years. A couple claiming for the first time in 2025/26 can therefore reach back to 2021/22 and recover the saving for every year they qualified — close to £252 per year, paid as a lump-sum refund. That’s roughly £1,260 in one go for a couple who has been eligible the whole time and never applied. The reason this matters so much: HMRC doesn’t apply Marriage Allowance automatically. Even if your incomes have been right for years, you only get the saving once you submit the claim — so the longer you delay, the more years you’re letting fall off the four-year window.
Worked examples
Four scenarios showing when Marriage Allowance saves you money, when it saves you nothing, and when it can actually leave the lower earner worse off.
Scenario 1 · Classic case
Stay-at-home parent and a basic-rate earner
Transfer £1,260 of A’s allowance to B
B’s tax-free band rises to £13,830
Tax saving: £252 a year
The textbook Marriage Allowance scenario. Partner A is at home and doesn’t use their Personal Allowance; Partner B earns £32,000 and is firmly in the 20% basic-rate band. Transferring £1,260 to B means £1,260 of B’s salary that would have been taxed at 20% is now tax-free, saving the household £252 every year. There’s no downside for A because they had no tax to pay either way. This couple should also check whether they’ve been in the same position in any of the previous four tax years and backdate.
Scenario 2 · First-time claim with full backdating
Five years of saving in one cheque
Roughly £252 × 5 saved across the period
Refund for past years: paid as a lump sum
Total benefit: up to ~£1,260
A couple who realises in 2025/26 that they’ve been eligible since 2021/22 but never applied can claim for the current year and backdate to all four prior tax years. The current year’s saving comes through the recipient’s tax code; the four years of backdated relief usually arrive as a payable refund (or as a credit against any tax due). Because the rates have stayed close to constant, the lump sum lands at around £1,260. Miss another tax year and the oldest backdated year falls off the window — a real cost of waiting.
Scenario 3 · Lower earner just above the allowance
When the transferor ends up taxed
A’s allowance drops to £11,310 after transfer
A now has £1,090 of income above the new allowance
Couple still up by ~£252 − £218 = £34
This is the borderline case that quietly turns into the only case that can actually cost a couple money. Partner A earns £12,400, below the £12,570 Personal Allowance, so the transfer is allowed. But once £1,260 of allowance moves across, A’s tax-free band shrinks to £11,310, and £1,090 of their income is now taxed at 20% — roughly £218. Partner B still saves £252, so the household is up by about £34: a real saving, but tiny compared to the classic case. As the transferor’s income approaches the full £12,570, the household gain shrinks toward zero. Once they’re above £12,570 the transfer just shuffles tax between you with little net benefit.
Scenario 4 · Higher-rate recipient
Eligible? No — not even close
B is a higher-rate taxpayer
Marriage Allowance not available
Saving: £0
The biggest single misunderstanding around Marriage Allowance is that any couple with one non-taxpayer qualifies. They don’t. Because the relief is given at the basic 20% rate, HMRC requires the recipient to be a basic-rate (or Scottish Starter/Basic rate) taxpayer. A higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayer is excluded, so this couple can’t claim at all. Worth checking the recipient’s projected income each year — a pay rise that pushes someone over £50,270 (or into the Scottish Intermediate band) ends the claim, and they should cancel through HMRC to avoid an underpayment notice later.
Do you qualify? Four questions
Most guides quote the £252 figure and stop. The real question is whether your couple fits all four conditions Marriage Allowance demands. Work through these before you spend ten minutes on the gov.uk form — or before you assume you don’t qualify and miss out on years of refund:
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1
Are you legally married or in a civil partnership?
Marriage Allowance is strictly for legal couples. Long-term cohabiting partners, fiancés, and any other unmarried pairing do not qualify, no matter how long you’ve been together or whether you share children, finances or a home.
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2
Is the lower earner under £12,570?
The transferor’s total annual income — including salary, pension, savings interest above the personal savings allowance, and self-employed profit — must be at or below the £12,570 Personal Allowance. Once they’re above it, the transfer simply moves tax between you and the household benefit shrinks toward zero.
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3
Is the higher earner a basic-rate taxpayer?
The recipient must be in the 20% band — between £12,571 and £50,270 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or in the Scottish Starter or Basic rate north of the border. Higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayers are excluded, full stop, even if their spouse has zero income.
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4
Have you been eligible in earlier years?
If your incomes have matched the rules in any of the four previous tax years, you can backdate the claim and reclaim up to £252 for each. A first-time claim today can therefore be worth roughly £1,260 — about £1,008 of refund plus the current year’s £252 — paid as a single lump sum.
£252 a year — same rule, four couples
How the eligibility test plays out:
Two of these four couples qualify, two don’t — and the only one that gets a windfall is the couple who has been eligible quietly for years and finally applies. That’s why “do I qualify for Marriage Allowance?” rarely has a one-line answer: it depends on both incomes, your legal status, and how long you’ve been in the same shape. For genuinely eligible couples the relief is one of the simplest cash-positive moves in the UK tax system. For everyone else, claiming will at best do nothing and at worst leave the transferor with a small bill.
What happens to your tax codes
Once HMRC accepts the claim, the recipient’s PAYE tax code is updated with the suffix M (for “marriage”, e.g. 1383M) and the transferor’s gains the suffix N (e.g. 1131N). The numbers reflect the new tax-free amounts: £13,830 for the recipient, £11,310 for the transferor. The claim then renews automatically each tax year until you cancel it or your circumstances change, so most couples need only apply once. If the transferor’s income later rises above £12,570, or the recipient moves into the higher-rate band, one of you should contact HMRC to cancel — otherwise an underpayment can build up and surface as a tax bill later.
Two scenarios that change the picture
What if…
You’ve been eligible for four years and never claimed?
What if…
The recipient gets a pay rise into the higher-rate band?
Key Marriage Allowance terms explained
Marriage Allowance sits at the meeting point of two different tax reliefs, two PAYE codes, and a set of eligibility rules that change slightly in Scotland. The ten terms below cover everything you’ll meet when you apply, renew, or cancel.
- Marriage Allowance
- The one-way transfer of £1,260 of unused Personal Allowance from a non-taxpaying spouse or civil partner to a basic-rate-taxpaying one. Reduces the recipient’s Income Tax by up to £252 per tax year and renews automatically until cancelled.
- Personal Allowance
- The amount of income each UK adult can earn each tax year before Income Tax applies — £12,570 for 2025/26. The Marriage Allowance lets one partner shift £1,260 of this allowance to the other.
- Transferor
- The lower-earning partner who gives up £1,260 of their Personal Allowance. Must have income at or below £12,570 in the year. Their tax code gains the suffix N and their tax-free band drops to £11,310.
- Recipient
- The higher-earning partner who receives the £1,260 of allowance and saves up to £252 in Income Tax. Must be a basic-rate taxpayer (£12,571 – £50,270 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Their tax code gains the suffix M.
- Backdating
- Claiming Marriage Allowance for up to four previous tax years in addition to the current one, provided you met the rules in each. Backdated relief is paid as a refund and can be worth around £1,260 in total for a first-time claim.
- Civil partnership
- A legal partnership status equivalent to marriage for tax purposes. Civil partners qualify for Marriage Allowance on the same terms as married couples. Long-term cohabiting partners do not, however settled the relationship.
- Married Couple’s Allowance
- A separate, more generous relief for couples where at least one partner was born before 6 April 1935. It’s not the same thing as Marriage Allowance and works differently — easy to confuse, but only relevant to a small group of older couples.
- Tax code M / Tax code N
- Suffixes added to PAYE tax codes to show who is receiving (M) and who is transferring (N) Marriage Allowance. A recipient on the standard allowance becomes 1383M; a transferor becomes 1131N. They appear on payslips and P60s.
- Scottish income tax bands
- A separate set of bands and rates for Scottish residents. For Marriage Allowance the practical rule is the same in spirit: the recipient must be a Scottish Starter or Basic rate taxpayer, not Intermediate, Higher or Top rate.
- Self Assessment
- The system for declaring untaxed income. Most couples claim Marriage Allowance directly via the gov.uk online service without ever touching Self Assessment, but anyone already filing a return can apply through it instead.
Five mistakes couples make with Marriage Allowance
The same handful of errors keep coming up on r/UKPersonalFinance, MoneySavingExpert and HMRC’s own guidance — usually costing couples either the relief itself or, occasionally, a small tax bill they didn’t expect.
Assuming you don’t qualify because you both work
Marriage Allowance isn’t only for couples with one stay-at-home partner. If one of you earns part-time and stays under £12,570 — common for a parent doing school-hours work, or someone phasing into retirement — you qualify, provided the other is a basic-rate taxpayer. Check both incomes against the thresholds before assuming you’re out.
Cost: £252 a year, every year you skip Fix: test eligibility on actual income figuresClaiming when the recipient is a higher-rate taxpayer
Some couples submit a claim even though the higher earner is over £50,270 (or in the Scottish Intermediate band or above). HMRC will refuse it, or worse, accept it and recover the tax later as an underpayment. The recipient must be in the basic-rate band; no exceptions, no matter how low the other partner’s income.
Cost: rejected claim or later tax bill Fix: confirm recipient’s band before applyingForgetting to backdate four years
A first-time claim can include the current year and the four prior tax years if you were eligible throughout, worth around £1,260 paid as a refund. Many couples claim only for the current year and leave the rest on the table. The gov.uk form has a tick-box for backdating — use it.
Cost: up to ~£1,008 of refund missed Fix: tick the backdate box on the gov.uk formConfusing Marriage Allowance with Married Couple’s Allowance
They sound the same and aren’t. Married Couple’s Allowance only applies to couples where one partner was born before 6 April 1935 and is worth far more. If neither of you was born before that date, this isn’t your relief — but Marriage Allowance probably still is.
Cost: wasted research, missed claim Fix: check date of birth, pick the right reliefForgetting to cancel when circumstances change
Marriage Allowance renews automatically, which is helpful — until the lower earner returns to full-time work, or the higher earner moves into the 40% band. The transfer then stops being valid, but HMRC won’t know unless you tell them. Cancel through gov.uk if your incomes change, or you separate, or one partner dies, to avoid an underpayment.
Cost: tax underpayment recovered later Fix: cancel via HMRC when circumstances changeFrequently asked questions
What is the Marriage Allowance and how much can I save?
Marriage Allowance lets a non-taxpaying spouse or civil partner transfer £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to a basic-rate-taxpaying partner. The recipient’s Income Tax bill falls by 20% of the transferred amount — up to £252 a year.
It’s set up through the recipient’s PAYE tax code and renews automatically each year. Only one direction works: the non-taxpayer gives, the basic-rate taxpayer receives. If neither of you fits both halves of that test, the relief isn’t available.
Who qualifies for the Marriage Allowance in 2025/26?
You qualify if all three are true: you are married or in a civil partnership; the lower-earning partner’s income is at or below £12,570; and the higher-earning partner pays Income Tax at the basic rate — between £12,571 and £50,270 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Cohabiting partners don’t qualify, however long they’ve been together. Higher-rate taxpayers can’t be the recipient, even if their spouse has no income at all. In Scotland the recipient must be a Scottish Starter or Basic rate taxpayer.
Can I backdate my Marriage Allowance claim?
Yes — up to four previous tax years, provided you were eligible in each. A first-time claim today can therefore include 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 alongside the current year, worth roughly £1,260 paid as a refund.
Tick the backdate option on the gov.uk online form when you apply. HMRC pays the refund directly or credits it against any tax due. Each new tax year, the oldest year drops off the four-year window, so delaying a claim genuinely costs about £252 per year missed.
How do I actually claim Marriage Allowance?
The lower-earning partner makes the claim — they’re the one giving up part of their allowance. Apply through the official service at gov.uk/marriage-allowance using your Government Gateway account. You’ll need both partners’ National Insurance numbers and proof of identity.
HMRC updates the tax codes within a few weeks, and any backdated relief is paid as a refund. The claim then renews each tax year automatically. Avoid third-party websites that charge a fee to make the claim for you — the gov.uk service is free.
What if I live in Scotland?
Marriage Allowance applies in Scotland too, but the rule on who can receive it follows the Scottish income tax bands. The recipient must be a Scottish Starter or Basic rate taxpayer; if they fall into the Intermediate, Higher, Advanced or Top rate, they can’t receive Marriage Allowance.
The transferor’s rule is the same as the rest of the UK — total income at or below the £12,570 Personal Allowance. The saving is still £252 a year because the transferred amount is taxed at the Basic rate. Check the current Scottish bands at gov.uk.
Does Marriage Allowance affect my partner’s tax?
The transferor’s tax-free allowance falls to £11,310 for the year, and their tax code gains the suffix N. If the transferor’s income is genuinely zero or well below £11,310, they pay no tax either way and the household simply pockets the recipient’s £252 saving.
The trap is when the transferor’s income sits between £11,310 and £12,570: they suddenly owe a little tax — up to about £252 of their own — and the household’s net gain shrinks. The closer their income is to the full Personal Allowance, the smaller the benefit becomes.
What happens if our incomes change during the year?
Marriage Allowance is set at the start of the year through your tax codes but reconciled at year-end. If the recipient gets a pay rise into the higher-rate band, the relief no longer applies and HMRC can recover the overpaid relief later. If the transferor returns to work and goes over £12,570, the same applies in reverse.
The safe move is to cancel the claim through gov.uk as soon as you know circumstances have changed — separation, divorce, the death of a partner, or a salary that moves out of the eligible band. You can reapply later if you become eligible again.
Is Marriage Allowance the same as Married Couple’s Allowance?
No — they sound similar and are easy to confuse. Married Couple’s Allowance is a separate, much older, more generous relief available only where one partner was born before 6 April 1935. It can be worth several hundred pounds and works differently from the standard Marriage Allowance.
If neither of you was born before April 1935, Married Couple’s Allowance doesn’t apply. The standard Marriage Allowance is the relevant relief for couples born from 1935 onwards. Check both names on gov.uk before assuming you’ve found the right one.
Related calculators
Marriage Allowance is part of a wider picture of UK personal tax. These calculators handle the surrounding bills and reliefs that decide whether you qualify, how much you save, and what your household keeps overall.
Methodology & sources
How the maths works
The calculator first checks whether you are married or in a civil partnership and whether both incomes fit the eligibility rules. If the lower earner’s income is at or below the £12,570 Personal Allowance and the higher earner is a basic-rate taxpayer — between £12,571 and £50,270 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or a Scottish Starter or Basic rate taxpayer — the claim is valid. The transferred amount is £1,260, fixed at 10% of the Personal Allowance (rounded). The recipient’s saving is £1,260 × 20% = £252 per tax year. Where the transferor’s income lies between £11,310 and £12,570 the calculator also estimates the small Income Tax bill the transferor will pick up, and nets it against the £252 to show the household gain. For backdated claims, the same logic is applied to each of the four previous tax years for which you were eligible, and the totals added together for the lump-sum refund estimate.
These figures are illustrative estimates to show how Marriage Allowance behaves, not a personal tax computation. Your real position depends on both partners’ exact incomes, your tax bands, where in the UK you live, any other reliefs and allowances you’re claiming, your savings interest, and whether either of you is approaching the £100,000 income point at which the Personal Allowance starts to taper. Rates, thresholds and the relief itself can change at any Budget. The aim is to show whether claiming is worth your time and how much sits on the table — not to replace tailored advice.
Assumptions and conventions used
- Personal Allowance: £12,570 for the 2025/26 tax year
- Marriage Allowance transfer: £1,260 (10% of PA, rounded)
- Recipient saving: £1,260 × 20% basic rate = £252 per year
- Recipient eligibility: basic-rate taxpayer (£12,571 – £50,270 in E/W/NI)
- Scotland: recipient must be Scottish Starter or Basic rate
- Transferor: total annual income at or below £12,570
- Backdating: up to four previous tax years (subject to ongoing eligibility)
- Renewal: automatic each tax year until cancelled with HMRC
- Tax codes: recipient suffix M, transferor suffix N