Canny romantics considering popping the question this Valentine’s day could possibly save themselves up to £212 a year. A new tax relief for married couples and civil partners, which comes into effect on 6 April 2015, is designed to benefit lower earning couples where one spouse has insufficient income to use their personal allowance. Where couples meet the conditions, the spouse with the unused allowance will be able to transfer up to £1,060 of that unused allowance to their spouse by making a claim to HMRC. However, those couples where the other spouse has income in excess of the higher rate threshold (£42,385 for 2015/16) will not be eligible. Unfortunately, many low income couples will lose out. For example, if one spouse has no income but the other has just above the higher rate threshold, no transfer is available. Similarly, where both spouses have income just above the personal allowance, there is no unused allowance to transfer. In both cases, their joint income may be lower than some eligible couple.
Canny romantics considering popping the question this Valentine’s day could possibly save themselves up to £212 a year. A new tax relief for married couples and civil partners, which comes into effect on 6 April 2015, is designed to benefit lower earning couples where one spouse has insufficient income to use their personal allowance. Where couples meet the conditions, the spouse with the unused allowance will be able to transfer up to £1,060 of that unused allowance to their spouse by making a claim to HMRC. However, those couples where the other spouse has income in excess of the higher rate threshold (£42,385 for 2015/16) will not be eligible. Unfortunately, many low income couples will lose out. For example, if one spouse has no income but the other has just above the higher rate threshold, no transfer is available. Similarly, where both spouses have income just above the personal allowance, there is no unused allowance to transfer. In both cases, their joint income may be lower than some eligible couple.
