Could you be due a sizable tax refund?

An unlikely organisation is promoting a way for its members to benefit from a claim for the Marriage Tax Allowance. For relevant couples, this can be worth £252 a year.

Charlie Bethel, Chief Officer, UK Men’s Sheds, said:

“If you have retired and your partner is still working, you may not realise that you could apply for Marriage Allowance. As a charity that brings retired men together, we are urging our members throughout the UK to invest the 30 seconds of time it takes to find out if they can claim.”

But you don’t have to be a member of UK Men’s Sheds to make a claim.

What is the Marriage Allowance?

The Marriage Allowance may save married couples money by allowing the lower or non-earner to reduce the amount of tax their partner pays. Most people have a Personal Allowance, normally £12,570 – the amount of income they do not have to pay tax on.

The Marriage Allowance lets the lower earner transfer £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to their husband, wife or civil partner.

This can reduce their partner’s tax by up to £252 annually. If eligible, couples can also backdate their claim for the previous 4 tax years and receive a lump-sum payment worth more than £1,000.

To benefit from the tax relief, one partner must have income less than £12,570 and the higher earning partner’s income must be between £12,571 and £50,270 (£43,662 in Scotland).

Making a claim

To make a claim online, you will need to sign in using a Government Gateway user ID and password and you will have to prove your identity to register for Government Gateway if you have not used it before.

To do this, you can use your National Insurance number or postcode and two of the following:

• a valid UK passport;
• a UK photocard driving licence issued by the DVLA (or DVA in Northern Ireland);
• a payslip from the last 3 months or a P60 from your employer for the last tax year;
• details of a tax credit claim if you made one;
• details from a self-assessment tax return if you made one; or
• information held on your credit record if you have one (such as loans, credit cards or mortgages).

There is a simple online application process that you can access here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-marriage-allowance