Marriage Allowance: £252 a year couples keep missing

Marriage Allowance lets a lower-earning partner move £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to their husband, wife or civil partner — cutting the couple's tax bill by up to £252 a year. HMRC's own figures suggest millions of eligible couples have never claimed it. It takes about five minutes, it's free, and backdating covers four tax years for a total of over £1,250. This guide is the eligibility checklist, the fine print, and the honest arithmetic of when it isn't worth claiming.

Who qualifies — all three tests, every year claimed

1. You are married or in a civil partnership. Cohabiting couples — however long together, however many children — don't qualify. The law is what it is.
2. The transferrer's income is £12,570 or less (the 2025-26 Personal Allowance; same figure 2021-22 through 2025-26).
3. The recipient is a basic-rate taxpayer — income between £12,571 and £50,270.

Every condition is tested per tax year. A couple qualifies in 2021-22, the lower earner's pay rises past the allowance in 2023-24, and eligibility stops from that year — but the open earlier years remain claimable.

The Scottish difference

Scotland's recipient ceiling is not £50,270: it's the top of the Scottish intermediate band — about £43,662 — because Scottish taxpayers start paying the 42% higher rate there. The ceiling follows the principle "recipient must not pay above the band the transfer offsets."

The saving, honestly computed

The recipient's tax bill falls by 20% of £1,260 = £252. But the complete couple-level arithmetic includes a cost almost no one mentions:

• The transferrer's Personal Allowance drops to £11,310.
• If the transferrer earns more than £11,310, they now pay 20% on the excess.

Transferrer income	Recipient income	Recipient saves	Transferrer pays	Net gain
£8,000	£30,000	£252	£0	£252
£12,000	£30,000	£252	£138 (20% of £690)	£114
£12,570	£30,000	£252	£252	£0

Sweet spot: transferrer earns under about £11,310 (or nothing). The calculator above checks this properly per year and tells you plainly when the net is zero.

Four years back: the £1,250 lump

Transfers were £1,250 in 2021-22 and 2022-23 (worth £250 each) and £1,260 since 2023-24 (£252). A couple eligible throughout and claiming before 6 April 2026 collects the open window:

• 2021-22: £250
• 2022-23: £250
• 2023-24: £252
• 2024-25: £252
• 2025-26 (via the code): £252

Total: £1,256 — one application covers the backdating; HMRC reviews the earlier years automatically when you tick the "claim for previous years" option. Backdated refunds usually arrive by bank transfer or cheque; the current year flows through the recipient's tax code.

Common situations, answered

• One partner at home with children / new business owner with tiny income / student: textbook sweet spot — claim immediately.
• Recipient self-employed: works fine; savings arrive through their Self Assessment rather than a payslip.
• One partner a pensioner: if born after 5 April 1935, yes, same rules apply. Born earlier? You qualify for the far more generous Married Couple's Allowance — up to £1,127 — and you take that instead; the two never stack.
• Recipient just over £50,270: ineligible on face value — but pension contributions or Gift Aid donations extend the basic-rate band, which can legitimately pull adjusted income back under the line. That's a planning conversation, not a scheme.
• Separated but not divorced: eligibility stops at permanent separation; tell HMRC or the clawback lands later.

How the money arrives

Current and future years: the recipient's tax code gains the M suffix, the transferrer's gains N, and the saving drips through each payslip. Backdated years are usually paid as a lump directly. Neither partner sees the transferrer's £11,310 allowance written down on paper anywhere — but it exists, which is why the net-gain table above matters.

Common mistakes

• Applying as the higher earner — the application comes from the lower earner only
• Claiming while the transferrer earns £12,000–£12,570 in a tight-margin year — check the net first
• Forgetting to cancel after a divorce or permanent separation — backdated corrections hurt
• Paying a claims company a percentage of a £252 entitlement that takes five minutes to claim free