Married couples urged to claim £1,150 tax break by April – or miss out on more than £200
MARRIED couples are being urged to apply for a £1,150 tax break before the current tax year ends on April 5.
If you're eligible for the marriage tax allowance and miss the deadline, you'll lose out on £212 in free cash.
Introduced in 2015, the tax perk applies to couples where one is a non-taxpayer (earning less than £12,500) and the other is a basic-rate tax payer (earning less than £50,000 a year).
It allows couples to transfer 10 per cent of their personal allowance (the amount you can earn tax-free each tax year) between them in order to reduce their yearly tax bill.
This year that's worth £250, but you can backdate your claim for four years - currently back to 2015/2016 - meaning you could get up to £1,150 back.
This is because the perk was worth was worth £212 when it was first introduced in 2015, and the following tax year it was worth £220.
Who can claim Marriage Allowance?
TO be able to claim your tax break you need to tick all of these boxes:
- You’re married or in a civil partnership
- Your income is £12,500 or less. This includes people who don’t work.
- Your partner’s income is between £12,500 and £50,000 (or £43,430 if you’re in Scotland)
You can’t claim it if:
- You and your partner live together but aren’t married
- You were born before April 6, 1935.
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For the 2017/2018 year, the allowance was worth £230 and for the last tax year it was worth £238.
But once the new tax year kicks in on April 6, you'll only be able to make a claim from the tax year starting April 6, 2016.
So if you fail to claim before April 5, you'll miss out on the £212 that you could previously claim for the 2015/2016 tax year.
Sean McCann, chartered financial planner at financial services firm NFU Mutual, told The Sun: "Now is the last chance for couples to backdate claims before the first year is lost forever.
"That's £212 potentially going down the drain for thousands of couples who are entitled to it.
"So it's worth checking to see if you're eligible and owed money."
How do I apply?
You can only apply if you are the non-taxpayer - or lower earner - in the relationship.
You need to fill out the form on the using both of your national insurance numbers and a form of ID, such as a passport.
Whatever way you apply, any backdated money owed to you will be calculated automatically and set to you as a cheque.
If you need any assistance applying, you can call the HMRC helpline on 03000 200 3300.
If your partner has died since April 5 2015 you can still claim on their behalf by phoning the number above.
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In February, 700,000 couples across the UK were found to be missing out by not applying for the marriage tax allowance.
Meanwhile, millions of unmarried couples are set to get the tax perk due to a new civil partnerships law.
In last year's Labour manifesto, the party hinted that it could scrap the perk in a bid to save £535million.