FullWorkings UK tax and finance calculators

Marriage Allowance

2026-27

The two incomes

One of you earnsTotal taxable income for the year, before tax. £
The other earnsThe order does not matter — whoever earns less does the transferring. £
Where you liveScotland has its own rates, and its own eligibility band.

What it is worth

Better off by £0.00 as a couple
Verdict—
Allowance transferred£0.00
What it saves the higher earner£0.00
What it costs the lower earner£0.00

Your tax, before and after

Lower earner, now£0.00
Lower earner, after£0.00
Higher earner, now£0.00
Higher earner, after£0.00
Together, now£0.00
Together, after£0.00
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How this is worked out

Marriage Allowance moves part of one person's Personal Allowance to their husband, wife or civil partner. It is a transfer, not a gift from HMRC — which is why it has a cost as well as a saving.

⚠ £252 is the maximum, not the answer

The transfer takes the same amount off the lower earner's own allowance. If they earn more than what is left, they start paying tax they were not paying before, and that comes off the saving.

gov.uk's own example works out at £214, not £252, for exactly this reason: on £11,500 of income the transferor ends up paying tax on £190. Any page that promises everyone £252 is wrong for every couple in that band — which is most of the couples who are close enough to the line to be asking.

It can be worth nothing at all

If the higher earner also earns under their own Personal Allowance, there is no tax for the transfer to reduce — so it buys nothing while the lower earner may still pay. And if the higher earner is past the basic rate you are not eligible in the first place.

The order of the boxes does not matter

Whoever earns less does the transferring, and this page sorts that out rather than trusting the order they were typed in. Getting it backwards gives a confident answer with the wrong sign.

Scotland

The amount transferred is the same, but the tax it saves is at Scottish rates — and the eligibility band is narrower, because your partner must be paying the starter, basic or intermediate rate. Both sides here are worked out from the real Scottish ladder rather than by multiplying by 20%.

What this does not cover

Married Couple's Allowance, which is a different and more generous relief where either of you was born before 6 April 1935 — you cannot have both. Backdating, which is worth up to four extra years and is claimed the same way. Dividend and savings income, where the interaction with the starting rate and the Personal Savings Allowance can change who should claim. And the eligibility test itself: this page tells you what the transfer is worth, not whether HMRC will allow it.

Where these figures come from

Every figure above is read from a dated rate file rather than written into the page, and each one is checked against the gov.uk page it came from. How these numbers are kept right sets out the whole process.

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