Marriage Allowance: Claim £252 a Year (and Backdate up to 4 Years)

Quick answer

Marriage Allowance lets one spouse or civil partner transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to the other. The receiving partner pays 20% less tax on that £1,260 — a saving of £252 per year.

You can apply for the current tax year and also backdate a claim by four previous tax years (provided you were eligible in those years).

Both partners must:

• Be married or in a civil partnership (cohabiting doesn't count).
• Have one partner earning under £12,570 (or with otherwise unused allowance).
• Have the other partner pay tax at the basic rate (£12,571–£50,270).

How much can you actually claim?

For each tax year you're eligible:

A 2026/27 claim made today can cover 2026/27 plus the four backdated years. If you've been eligible the whole time, that's a one-off £1,260+ payout via HMRC, plus £252 a year going forward.

Who qualifies

The lower earner (transferring partner)

You can transfer Marriage Allowance if you earn under the personal allowance — i.e. you're not using all of your £12,570. This commonly applies if you:

• Are a stay-at-home parent
• Work part-time
• Are studying
• Have just retired but the State Pension alone keeps you under £12,570
• Are between jobs for part of the year

You can still transfer if you earn slightly over £12,570 — but you'll then pay a small bit of tax yourself on the slice between £11,310 (£12,570 - £1,260) and your actual income, because your own allowance shrinks by £1,260.

The higher earner (receiving partner)

You must be a UK basic-rate taxpayer:

• Earning £12,571–£50,270 in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
• Earning roughly £12,571–£43,662 in Scotland (the Scottish bands are different — but the rule is "basic-rate", not a specific number).

If you earn over the higher-rate threshold, you can't receive Marriage Allowance.

What disqualifies you

• Not legally married or in a civil partnership.
• Either partner is a higher-rate (40% or above) taxpayer.
• One partner was born before 6 April 1935 — you should claim Married Couple's Allowance instead, which is more generous.

How to apply

Go to gov.uk/apply-marriage-allowance. It takes about five minutes.

You'll need:

• Both partners' National Insurance numbers.
• Both partners' passport, P60, or 3 recent payslips for identity verification (Government Gateway-style).
• The lower earner is the one who applies (you're giving up part of your allowance).

What happens next:

1. HMRC adjusts the higher earner's tax code to include the £1,260 extra allowance (suffix M added — e.g. 1383M).
2. The lower earner's tax code drops by £1,260 (suffix N added).
3. Backdated years are paid as a cheque, BACS transfer, or set against future tax owed.
4. The arrangement auto-renews each year unless you cancel.

Cancelling

You should cancel Marriage Allowance if:

• Your income situation flips (the lower earner now earns over £12,570 by enough that the transfer costs them money).
• The receiving partner becomes a higher-rate taxpayer.
• You divorce, dissolve a civil partnership, or one partner dies.

Cancellation also goes through gov.uk and takes effect at the end of the current tax year.

Common mistakes

Other frequent errors:

1. Wrong partner applies. The lower earner applies, because they're the one transferring allowance. Many couples get this backwards.
2. Forgetting to backdate. If you don't tick the backdate box, you only get the current year. Always claim retrospectively if you've been eligible.
3. Assuming it's automatic. It isn't. HMRC doesn't know your marital status from your tax return — you have to opt in.
4. Letting it run after circumstances change. If the lower earner starts earning above £12,570 substantially, the transfer can leave you collectively worse off. Recheck annually.
5. Higher-rate confusion. Earning just above £50,270 makes you ineligible — but earning just below means you should claim. A bonus that pushes you over can disqualify a year retrospectively.

Worked example — backdated claim 2022/23 to 2026/27

Sarah works part-time earning £10,000/yr — she's been below the personal allowance every year since 2020. Her husband Mark earns £35,000/yr — comfortably in the basic-rate band throughout.

They've never claimed Marriage Allowance. In April 2026, Sarah applies via gov.uk and ticks the backdate option:

Mark receives £1,008 as a BACS payment in May 2026 and pays £252 less tax over 2026/27 via tax code change.

What about Scotland?

Marriage Allowance works the same way in Scotland — same £1,260 transfer, same £252 saving. The eligibility rule is "the receiving partner is a basic-rate taxpayer", and HMRC interprets that against Scotland's basic-rate band (which currently ends around £27,491 — so fewer Scottish earners qualify).

If you earn between roughly £27,492 and £43,662 in Scotland, you're in the Intermediate rate band (21%) — and HMRC has historically treated this as still eligible for Marriage Allowance. Check your specific eligibility on gov.uk if you're in this range.

See it in your tax code

Once HMRC processes your application, look for the suffix on your tax code:

• M suffix on the receiving partner — got Marriage Allowance.
• N suffix on the transferring partner — gave Marriage Allowance.

The numeric part of the code also changes by 126 (£1,260 ÷ 10): typical receiving-partner code becomes 1383M (1257 + 126), and the transferring partner becomes 1131N.

Sources

• HMRC: Marriage Allowance
• HMRC: Income Tax: detailed information
• gov.uk: Married Couple's Allowance (for couples born before 6 April 1935)