Marriage Allowance Calculator 2026/27

Check whether you can transfer 10% of one partner's Personal Allowance to a basic-rate-paying spouse, worth up to £252/year.

Last updated: August 2026 · 2026/27 rates

Both incomes

£

Must be at or below £12,570 to transfer.

£

Must pay no more than the basic rate: between £12,570 and £50,270.

Scottish taxpayer?

The recipient limit is £43,662 in Scotland, not £50,270.

You qualify for Marriage Allowance

£252.00/year

Tax saved by transferring £1,260 of Personal Allowance to the higher earner.

How to claim

  1. The lower earner makes the claim at gov.uk/marriage-allowance.
  2. HMRC reduces their Personal Allowance by £1,260 and increases the higher earner's by the same.
  3. The higher earner's tax code changes (typically to one ending in "M"); the lower earner's ends in "N".
  4. You can backdate up to 4 previous tax years if you were eligible, up to £1,008 in retrospective savings.
Annual claim: Once set up, Marriage Allowance auto-renews each year until you cancel or your circumstances change (income rises into higher rate, divorce, death of a spouse).

About Marriage Allowance

Marriage Allowance is for married couples and civil partners where one partner earns below the Personal Allowance and the other is a basic-rate taxpayer. Both criteria must be met:

  • The transferor earns ≤ £12,570 (or has no taxable income).
  • The recipient earns between £12,570 and £50,270, i.e. pays tax at the 20% basic rate.
  • You must be legally married or in a civil partnership (cohabiting doesn't count).

In Scotland the recipient can also be a starter, basic or intermediate-rate taxpayer (income up to the higher-rate threshold of £43,662).

The transferor sacrifices £1,260 (10% of the £12,570 Personal Allowance) which is added to the recipient's tax-free amount.

If the recipient is a basic-rate taxpayer, that's £1,260 × 20% = £252 per year in tax saved. The transferor only loses tax-free income they weren't using anyway.

Related calculators

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Reviewed by

, LLM (UK), CFP®, CIM®, PFP®. Financial planner with 18 years in banking and wealth management, holding a UK master of laws and the Canadian CFP®, CIM® and PFP® designations. Writes and reviews every calculator and article on FinanceToolz.

Last updated: August 2026. How figures are sourced, reviewed and corrected is set out in our editorial policy. This is general information, not regulated financial advice.

Sources

Every rate and threshold used by this calculator is taken from the official pages below. If a figure here disagrees with one of these, the official page is right, please tell us.