Reminder: Marriage Allowance can be backdated four tax years
Couples claiming Marriage Allowance can backdate to 2022/23, worth up to £1,260 in total tax savings.
By Money Guide editorial team
Published:
Marriage Allowance lets one spouse or civil partner transfer £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to the other, provided the recipient is a basic-rate taxpayer and the transferring partner has unused allowance. The saving is up to £252 a year.
Claims can be backdated four tax years, so a successful 2026/27 claim can also pick up the years 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 — total maximum saving over £1,200.
Applications are free at gov.uk. HMRC also issues warnings each year about copycat sites that charge a fee for the same service.
If your circumstances change — for example, one partner moves into higher-rate tax — you can cancel the allowance through the same online service.