Marriage Allowance calculator

Enter both incomes to see if you can claim the Marriage Allowance, and what it saves your household in the 2026/27 tax year. The calculator shows the tax each of you pays before and after the claim.

Your household gains a year

£214.00

Your partner pays £252.00 less tax. You pay £38.00 more.

Your details

Your income a year

Your partner's income a year

Where your partner pays income tax

Where you pay income tax

Either of you was born before 6 April 1935

Marriage Allowance calculation
Your partner's tax saving	£252.00
Your extra tax	£38.00
Tax before the allowance	£1,484.20
Household gain	£214.00

How this was worked out

Your income is the lower income, so it is used for the transferor test.
Your partner's income is checked against the recipient's income tax band.
£1,260 × 20% gives a maximum tax reduction of £252.00.
The recipient's tax before the reduction is £1,484.20.
The allowance affects £190.00 of the transferor's income; the extra tax is £38.00.
Household gain: £252.00 less £38.00 = £214.00.

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What the Marriage Allowance is

If you are married or in a civil partnership, the partner with the lower income can pass £1,260 of their personal allowance to the other. The partner who receives it gets a tax cut of 20% of that amount. The partner who gives it has a smaller allowance, so they pay more tax if their income is close to the full allowance.

The claim is worth making when the lower earner does not use all of their allowance. If they earn nothing, or very little, the household gets the full saving. If they earn just under the limit, they pay more tax on the part of their income that is no longer tax-free, and the saving shrinks. The calculator works out both sides.

Who can claim

You are married or in a civil partnership. Couples who live together without marrying cannot claim.
The partner who gives the allowance has income of £12,570 or less.
The partner who receives it pays income tax at the basic rate. In Scotland, the starter, basic or intermediate rate. A higher-rate taxpayer cannot receive it.
Neither of you was born before 6 April 1935. If one of you was, the Married Couple's Allowance is usually worth more.

The lower earner makes the claim, online on GOV.UK. It is free. You do not need to pay a company to do it for you.

Claiming for earlier years

You can backdate a claim for up to four earlier tax years, if you qualified in those years. HMRC pays the backdated amount as one lump sum to the partner who receives the allowance. The calculator shows only the current year, because the allowance and the tax bands were different in earlier years.

What happens after you claim

The claim carries on each year until one of you cancels it or your circumstances change. HMRC changes both tax codes. The partner who gives the allowance gets an N at the end of their code, and the partner who receives it gets an M. The tax code checker explains these letters.

If the lower earner's income rises above the limit, or the other partner starts paying higher-rate tax, the claim stops giving a saving and you should cancel it.

What it leaves out

Income other than pay and pension, such as savings interest and dividends. These can change which band each of you is in.
The Married Couple's Allowance, which works in a different way.
The year of a marriage, divorce or death, when special rules apply.

To see what each salary leaves after tax, use the take-home pay calculator. The income tax rates page shows every band for 2026/27.

Official guidance

Marriage Allowance on GOV.UK
Married Couple's Allowance on GOV.UK

Report a mistake

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Email [email protected]. Tell us what you entered and what you expected to see. Fixed errors are listed on the corrections page.