Your personal allowance

The amount of tax free income you can have in a year is called your personal allowance. It depends on your age; and can be affected by the level of your income. For couples one of whom is born before 6 April 1935 there is a Married Couple’s Allowance. Blind people can get an additional allowance called the Blind Person’s Allowance. We will see how this works by looking at the allowances individually.

• The Personal Allowance
• Age Allowance
• How the Age Allowance works
• Blind Person’s Allowance
• Married Couple’s Allowance
• The ‘Marriage Allowance’

The Personal Allowance

Each tax year there is a basic amount of income that is tax-free. The amount of this ‘personal allowance’ is set for each tax year. For the tax year 2022-23 the basic personal allowance is £12,570 (the same as 2021/22).

People with income above £100,000 will have their personal allowance reduced – if their income is high enough, they will not get a personal allowance at all.

From 6 April 2015, 10% of the personal allowance is transferable between spouses and civil partners. This is usually done on-line. The allowance cannot be transferred if either partner pays higher rate (40%) tax.

Blind Person’s Allowance

A person who is registered blind with a local authority in England and Wales is entitled to an additional amount of tax-free income. In Scotland or Northern Ireland you will qualify for the allowance if your eyesight is such that you are unable to perform any work where your eyesight is essential.

The allowance is £2,600 for 2022-23. This allowance is given in addition to the usual personal allowance or age allowance. A blind person who has not got enough income to use this allowance can transfer it, or part of it, to his or her husband or wife, or civil partner.

There are more details about the allowance on the HM Revenue and Customs website pages at https://www.gov.uk/blind-persons-allowance

Married Couple’s Allowance

To qualify for the married couple’s allowance at least one member of the couple must have been born before 6 April 1935. This allowance applies to civil partners as well as married couples. There are a number of elections relating to the married couple’s allowance and their impact on PAYE codings is complex.

Please refer to the charity Tax Help for Older People for advice on the married couple’s allowance. You can call them on 01308 488066.

Further information can also be found on the HMRC website page at https://www.gov.uk/married-couples-allowance

The Marriage Allowance

From 6 April 2015 it is possible for some couples to transfer 10% of the personal allowance between them. This is being called the ‘Marriage Allowance’. It is completely different from the Married Couple’s Allowance.

Conditions
The conditions are:

• You are married or civil partners
• Neither you nor your partner pay tax at higher (40%) or additional (45%) rates
• You cannot claim both Marriage Allowance and the Married Couple’s Allowance.

The amount you can transfer in 2022-23 is £1,260. That is 10% of the personal allowance of £12,570 (rounded up). The maximum tax saving is £252 in the year to 5 April 2023 (this is 20% x £1,260).

Making a claim

The partner with the lower income should make the claim.

You will need some information to prove your identity to HMRC. So make sure you have the details to hand:

• the last 4 digits of the account that your child benefit, tax credits or pension is paid into
• the last 4 digits of an account that pays you interest
• details from your year end pay and tax summary form (P60). Your employer should have given you this form for the year to 5 April before 31 May.

You will also need both your own and your partner’s National Insurance numbers.

Go to https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance to make your claim.

If you are unable to make a claim on-line, you may phone HMRC on 0300 200 3300 and ask to make a Marriage Allowance claim. You will need the information listed above.

What happens next?

If your partner has income taxed under PAYE, such as an employment or pension, then their PAYE tax code will be increased by the amount of the available Marriage Allowance. This will mean that they pay slightly less tax.

More information

There is information on the Marriage Allowance on the Gov.uk website at https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance-guide.