Marriage Allowance and the tax breaks couples miss
The UK tax system mostly treats you as an individual — but married couples and civil partners get a handful of advantages that a surprising number of people never claim. None of them require anything clever; they just require knowing they exist. Here are the couple’s tax breaks worth a few minutes of your time.
This is information, not financial advice. It’s general guidance on tax breaks for married couples and civil partners. For larger or more complex situations, an accountant or tax adviser can help.
Marriage Allowance: the £252 most-missed win
Marriage Allowance lets one partner transfer part of their tax-free Personal Allowance to the other. Here’s when it works and what it’s worth:
- One partner earns less than the Personal Allowance (£12,570) — so they’re a non-taxpayer with allowance to spare.
- The other is a basic-rate taxpayer — earning between £12,571 and £50,270 (£12,571–£43,662 in Scotland).
- The lower earner can transfer £1,260 of their allowance to the higher earner, cutting that partner’s tax by up to £252 a year.
It’s free to claim (directly through GOV.UK — ignore the copycat sites that charge a fee), and crucially you can backdate it up to four tax years if you were eligible. That can mean a one-off payment of £1,000 or more on top of the ongoing saving. Once claimed, it usually renews automatically.
One note: it doesn’t apply if you were born before 6 April 1935 — those couples get the older, separate Married Couple’s Allowance instead, which can be worth more, so check which applies to you.
Put income-producing assets in the lower earner’s name
Because transfers between spouses and civil partners are completely tax-free, you can move savings and investments to whichever of you pays less tax — and legitimately cut the tax on the income they produce:
- Savings interest is taxed after your Personal Savings Allowance (£1,000 for basic-rate taxpayers, £500 for higher-rate, nil for additional-rate). Holding the savings in the name of the lower earner uses their bigger allowance and lower rate.
- Dividends work the same way — the lower earner may have unused dividend allowance and pay a lower dividend rate.
- Capital gains: you can transfer assets to your spouse before selling, so you use both of your annual Capital Gains exemptions and, potentially, the lower earner’s lower CGT rate.
This is one of the simplest, fully legitimate ways for couples to reduce a tax bill — the taxman positively expects married couples to arrange things this way.
Double up on allowances
Most tax-free allowances are per person, so as a couple you get two of each — but only if you use both:
- Two ISA allowances: £20,000 each, so £40,000 a year can be sheltered from tax between you.
- Two Capital Gains allowances and two dividend allowances, as above.
- Pension relief for a non-earner: even a partner with no income can pay £2,880 a year into a pension and receive tax relief that tops it up to £3,600 — free money the government adds regardless of earnings.
The big ones: Child Benefit and inheritance
Two more worth knowing:
- Child Benefit and the High Income Charge. The charge that claws back Child Benefit is based on the higher earner’s income (it starts at £60,000). If your incomes are unequal and close to that line, how you arrange things — pension contributions, which partner holds income — can affect whether you keep it. (More in our having a baby guide.)
- Inheritance is tax-free between you. Anything you leave to your spouse or civil partner passes free of inheritance tax, and any unused allowances transfer to the survivor — potentially allowing a couple to pass on up to £1 million tax-free. It’s a key reason marriage and civil partnership carry real financial weight.
The bottom line
If you’re married or in a civil partnership, spend ten minutes checking three things: claim Marriage Allowance if you’re eligible (and backdate it), hold savings and investments with the lower earner, and use both of your ISA, pension and Capital Gains allowances. None of it is complicated — but together it can be worth hundreds or thousands of pounds a year.
Last checked 1 August 2026. UK figures for 2026/27: Marriage Allowance transfer £1,260 (saving up to £252); Personal Allowance £12,570; ISA allowance £20,000. Not a personal recommendation.
Sources
Just so you know: this guide is information and journalism, not financial advice, and we don't recommend specific financial products. Your circumstances are your own — if you need personal advice, speak to a suitably qualified adviser. Information was correct at the "last updated" date above but things change; always check the linked primary sources.