Marriage Allowance, including backdated claims
Last updated: 13 October 2026
The £1,260 Marriage Allowance for 2025/26 and 2026/27, who can transfer it, and how far a claim can be backdated with HMRC.
What is transferred
Marriage Allowance lets a husband, wife or civil partner transfer £1,260 of personal allowance. Annex A to the Budget 2025 rates lists £1,260 for 2025/26 and £1,260 for 2026/27. GOV.UK says this reduces the partner’s tax by up to £252 in the tax year. £252 is 20% of £1,260, and 20% is the basic rate in both years. The transfer is not available to a couple who receive Married Couple’s Allowance, which is the older allowance for people born before 6 April 1935.
The personal allowance in both years is £12,570. GOV.UK’s description of a claim is that the lower earner’s allowance becomes £11,310, and the partner gets a £1,260 reduction in taxable income. The lower earner normally needs income below the personal allowance, usually £12,570. The partner must not be liable at the higher or additional rate. The consumer page puts that, for a usual case, at income between £12,571 and £50,270 before the allowance is received. £50,270 is £12,570 plus the £37,700 basic-rate band. Scottish rates are different, and a couple in Scotland should use the GOV.UK checker rather than treat £50,270 as their higher-rate threshold.
A couple on £10,000 and £30,000
Suppose the lower earner has £10,000 and the partner has £30,000, both with the standard allowance and no other income. The lower earner’s £10,000 is still under the reduced allowance of £11,310, so the transfer does not create a tax bill for them. The partner’s tax falls by up to £252. Their own tax, before the allowance, is 20% of £30,000 minus £12,570, which is 20% of £17,430, or £3,486. After the allowance the bill is £3,234 if the full £252 applies. The income tax calculator shows the £3,486 figure and does not apply Marriage Allowance, so the page and the calculator will differ by that £252.
If the lower earner has £12,000, the reduced allowance of £11,310 leaves £690 taxed at 20%, which is £138. The partner still saves up to £252. The couple’s net saving is £114, not £252. That is why the official wording is “up to £252”, and why a transfer is a poor deal once the lower earner’s income is already through the reduced allowance. These two sums are arithmetic on the published £1,260 and the 20% rate. They are not named examples on the Marriage Allowance page.
Backdating
The Marriage Allowance page says you can backdate a claim to 6 April 2022, which is the 2022/23 tax year, for years you were eligible. It also says the partner’s tax bill is reduced according to the personal allowance rate for the years you backdate. This guide does not invent a transfer amount for 2022/23, 2023/24 or 2024/25. For the two years in Annex A, 2025/26 and 2026/27, the transfer is £1,260 and the maximum tax cut is £252.
A successful backdated claim is a refund or a credit for those earlier years, not a change to a payslip you have already been given. The claim is made by the lower earner. Once it is on, the allowance transfers each year until you cancel it, for example because income changes or the relationship ends. You need to tell HMRC if you divorce or if a partner dies. The application asks for National Insurance numbers and a way to prove identity.
How the claim is made
The lower earner applies on GOV.UK. The page asks for both National Insurance numbers and a way to prove identity, such as a passport or a driving licence. After that, the transfer continues each year until it is cancelled. You cancel if your income rises through the allowance, if your partner starts to pay higher-rate tax, or if the marriage or civil partnership ends. Leaving an old claim in place after a pay rise is how the lower earner can end up paying £138, as in the £12,000 example, while believing the couple is still saving the full £252.
A backdated year is paid as a refund or set against tax the partner owes, rather than by rewriting every old payslip. GOV.UK says the amount depends on the personal allowance for the year you are claiming. Because this page only takes £1,260 from Annex A for 2025/26 and 2026/27, a claim for 2022/23 should be checked on the application itself. The four-year window currently starts at 6 April 2022. It will move forward as later tax years begin, so a page that still says 6 April 2022 after a new tax year has opened is the one to re-read.
Marriage Allowance is also different from the Married Couple’s Allowance income limit, which Annex A puts at £37,700 for 2025/26 and £39,200 for 2026/27. That limit tapers the older allowance. It is not the point at which Marriage Allowance stops. Marriage Allowance stops when the recipient is a higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayer. In the rest of the UK that is usually above £50,270 of income, before the transfer. Above £100,000 the personal allowance itself tapers, which is a third threshold and not a reason to claim this transfer.
What the calculators leave out
Neither the income-tax page nor the take-home page applies Marriage Allowance, Blind Person’s Allowance or Married Couple’s Allowance. Blind Person’s Allowance is a different figure: Annex A lists £3,130 for 2025/26 and £3,250 for 2026/27. Married Couple’s Allowance, for those born before 6 April 1935, has a maximum of £11,270 in 2025/26 and £11,700 in 2026/27, with relief at 10%. Those are not the £1,260 transfer. If a couple has dividends or savings as well as earnings, GOV.UK suggests calling the Income Tax helpline rather than relying on the simple range.