The Marriage Allowance many retired couples never claim

In many retired households one partner has a reasonable income from pensions and the other has much less, often because of years spent bringing up children or caring for relatives. When that happens, part of the lower earner’s tax-free allowance can go unused every year. The Marriage Allowance lets a couple move some of it across, and HMRC does not do this automatically: it has to be claimed.

This article explains who qualifies, what it is worth in practice, how far back a claim can go, and why the rising State Pension has made it less valuable for some couples than it used to be.

How the allowance works

GOV.UK describes it in one sentence: Marriage Allowance lets you transfer £1,260 of your Personal Allowance to your husband, wife or civil partner. The Personal Allowance is the amount of income a person can receive each tax year before paying income tax, and it has been £12,570 since April 2021. Transferring £1,260 of it reduces the partner’s tax by up to £252 in the tax year, which is 20% of £1,260.

Who can claim

GOV.UK sets out three conditions, all of which must apply:

• the couple are married or in a civil partnership (living together is not enough);
• the person transferring the allowance does not pay income tax, or their income is below their Personal Allowance, usually £12,570;
• the partner receiving it pays income tax at the basic rate, which usually means income between £12,571 and £50,270. In Scotland, the partner must pay the starter, basic or intermediate rate, usually income between £12,571 and £43,662.

Receiving a pension does not affect a claim, and nor does living abroad, as long as the person gets a Personal Allowance. If either partner was born before 6 April 1935, GOV.UK says the couple might benefit more from Married Couple’s Allowance instead. The two cannot be claimed at the same time.

What it is worth to different couples

The full £252 is only saved when the lower earner has at least £1,260 of allowance to spare. If they have less spare, transferring £1,260 makes part of their own income taxable, and the couple’s gain shrinks. GOV.UK’s own example shows this: a lower earner on £11,500 with a partner on £20,000 saves the couple £214 rather than £252.

Assumes the partner receiving the allowance pays basic rate tax in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and that neither has savings or dividend income. Illustrative only.

The allowance is worth 20% of whatever the lower earner genuinely leaves unused, up to £252. Below that, the arithmetic does the deciding.

Why the State Pension has changed the picture

The full new State Pension rose to £241.30 a week in April 2026, or £12,547.60 a year, while the Personal Allowance has stayed at £12,570. Someone whose only income is the full new State Pension therefore uses almost all of their allowance already. They can still transfer £1,260, but most of it would simply become taxable in their own hands, as the last row of the table shows.

The couples who gain most are those where the lower earner receives a reduced State Pension, the old basic State Pension (£184.90 a week in 2026/27), or no State Pension yet, with little other income. Our explainer on why so many people receive less than the full new State Pension shows how common that is. Any future rise in the State Pension that takes it above £12,570 would mean someone on the full new State Pension alone was no longer a non-taxpayer. How those annual rises are decided is set out in how the triple lock decides each April’s increase.

Backdating a claim

GOV.UK says a claim can be backdated to 6 April 2022, the 2022/23 tax year, for any years in which the couple were eligible. Combined with the current year, that could cover five tax years. If the couple qualified in full in each of them, the total reduction could reach five times £252, or £1,260. The partner’s tax bill is reduced according to the Personal Allowance for each year being backdated.

If a partner has died since 5 April 2022, GOV.UK says a claim can still be made by phoning the Income Tax helpline; if the late partner was the lower earner, the person managing their tax affairs needs to call. What happens to State Pensions after a death is covered in what happens to a State Pension when a husband or wife dies.

How to claim, and how it changes tax codes

• The claim is usually made online by the partner with the lower income. It is free. There are different routes for couples in Self Assessment and for backdated claims.
• HMRC gives the allowance to the receiving partner either by changing their tax code, which GOV.UK says can take up to two months, or through their Self Assessment return.
• Tax codes change to reflect it: the receiving partner’s code ends in “M” and the transferring partner’s ends in “N”.
• The transfer then renews automatically each year. It must be cancelled if the relationship ends or the lower earner’s income rises so that they are no longer eligible.

Who this matters for, and what to check

• Married couples and civil partners where one partner has income below £12,570 and the other is a basic rate taxpayer.
• Couples where the lower earner’s State Pension is reduced or on the old basic rate, or who have not reached State Pension age.
• Anyone whose tax code changed after a pension withdrawal: see why a first pension withdrawal is often taxed too much.
• Couples with savings or dividend income: GOV.UK suggests calling the Income Tax helpline to work out who should claim.

The takeaway

The Marriage Allowance is worth up to £252 a year and can be backdated to April 2022. It is most useful where one partner has a small income and the other pays basic rate tax. For someone living on the full new State Pension alone, the rising pension has eaten most of the benefit. Checking takes a few minutes on GOV.UK, and claiming costs nothing.