Am I eligible for the Marriage Allowance?

My wife earns below the personal allowance, and we claim child benefit. I expect my gross salary this tax year to be £60k. £4k has been paid by my employer into my pension. I am employed and do not have any self-employment income. I understand that if I make £6k of additional gross pension contributions (not via my employer, paid separately into my SIPP ), my 'adjusted net income' will be £50k and there I will not have to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge. However, will I be eligible for the Marriage Allowance? Guidance I have seen online is conflicting on this. Some suggests that it works like HICBC, and because my net income will be below the higher-rate threshold then I am ok. Others have said that because I technically speaking am a higher-rate taxpayer (even though my personal pension contributions bring me back down), I would not. Any clarification would be welcome.

Hi,

You will be able to make a claim for Marriage Allowance.

Thank you.

I contacted your SA customer service today. After 45 mins on hold: advisor told me my wife’s application to transfer the allowance had been rejected because I’m classed as a higher rate earner. I explained that my pensions contributions made my adjusted net income below the HR threshold, so the Advisor went off to ask someone and 20 mins later I got an automated message thanking me for my call and I was then disconnected. So, now I have to phone back tomorrow in another lunch break and go through this rigmarole again. Frustrating, but at least I’ve found this response to help me explain it to whoever answers my call. I have checked my tax free amount and I can see the marriage allowance has been applied for this year and next, so I can’t understand why the advisor thought otherwise (my earnings are roughly the same each year). One issue is that I cannot go back to previous tax years on my SA and amend them, so I’m being unfairly prevented from claiming it.

Spoke to a different advisor this morning who said that I was still classed as a higher rate tax payer as, although I was under the HICBC (c. 50k), the basic rate allowance is much lower than this as it does not include the personal allowance. Therefore, I would not be eligible for marriage allowance. This conflicts with the advice provided above by ‘HMRC Admin 32’, I think. Could we get some clarity, please?

Hi,

Please refer to guidance at:

Marriage Allowance

Thank you.

We live in Scotland. My wife has a pension below 12.75k. I earn below the 43k higher tax threshold here , but I have a pension income that when added takes me above 43k. Should I assume both incomes are taken in account and its therefore not worth applying for Marriage allowance ?

Hi,

Yes, that is correct, it will be both incomes and if you are a higher rate taxpayer, you are not eligible for the marriage transfer allowance. 

Thank you.

In previous tax years, I have been claiming marriage allowance as wifes earnings were below personal allowance. Now her income has exceeded the personal allowance, does that mean we need to cancel the marriage allowance claim, or can we leave this in place and continue with me having a higher personal allowance. For clarity we are both basic rate tax payers. If it does need to be cancelled, what is the best way to do this?

Hi my wife take care allowance for her mother and i’m tax payer are we eligible for Marriage allowance?

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Hi,
Please refer to the guidance at:
Marriage Allowance
Thank you.
 

Hi ahad2218,
You can check if eligible for the marriage allowance transfer here:
Marriage Allowance
Thank you.