Can I Claim My Wife’s Tax Allowance? Savings and Backdating

Yes — if you’re married or in a civil partnership, you can claim your wife’s tax allowance through a scheme called Marriage Allowance, provided she earns less than the Personal Allowance (£12,570) and you’re a basic-rate taxpayer. She transfers £1,260 of her unused tax-free allowance to you, which cuts your tax bill by up to £252 a year. She has to be the one who applies, because she’s giving up part of her allowance. You can also backdate the claim up to four tax years, so a first-time claim can bring in around £1,000 as a lump sum on top of the ongoing saving.¹

Who Qualifies

Three things all have to be true:¹

You’re married or in a civil partnership. Living together doesn’t count, however long you’ve been together.
Your wife’s income is below the Personal Allowance. For 2025/26 that means under £12,570. The threshold is frozen at that level through at least April 2028.²
You pay tax at the basic rate. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that usually means your income sits between £12,571 and £50,270. If you’re a higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayer, you don’t qualify.³

If You’re a Scottish Taxpayer

Scotland has its own income tax bands, so the receiving partner needs to pay tax at the Scottish starter, basic, or intermediate rate. In practice, that means your income needs to be between £12,571 and £43,662.¹

How Much You Actually Save

The amount transferred is fixed at 10% of the standard Personal Allowance, which is £1,260. That £1,260 is added to your tax-free amount, so income you’d have paid 20% tax on is now sheltered. The maximum saving is £252 a year.¹

Your wife’s allowance drops from £12,570 to £11,310. As long as she genuinely earns less than £12,570, that reduction costs her nothing, because she had no tax to pay on that slice anyway. The household is better off by up to £252, never worse off.

How Your Wife Applies

She’s the one who has to make the claim — HMRC needs the lower earner to authorise handing over part of her allowance. She applies through the GOV.UK online service and will need both of your National Insurance numbers.⁴ She signs in with a Government Gateway user ID or GOV.UK One Login credentials, creating them during the process if she doesn’t have them. HMRC may ask for a passport or driving licence to verify her identity.⁵

The form asks for your date of marriage or civil partnership, income details, and your information as the receiving partner. Keep a P60 or recent payslip nearby so the figures line up with what HMRC already holds; mismatches slow things down.

If she can’t use the online service, she can download and post form MATCF instead. That’s also the route for backdated claims.⁶

Backdating for a Lump-Sum Refund

You can backdate up to four tax years, as long as you both met the eligibility rules in each of those years. The Personal Allowance has been £12,570 since 2021/22, so each backdated year is worth up to £252. A full four years comes to £1,008.¹

The refund is paid separately from the ongoing saving. HMRC sends it as a bank transfer or cheque to you, the receiving partner. Keep records of your wife’s income for those earlier years in case HMRC asks for evidence.

What Changes After the Claim Goes Through

HMRC updates both of your tax codes. Yours will end in “M” (you’ve received the allowance), and hers will end in “N” (she’s transferred it).⁷ Your employer or pension provider then deducts less tax each pay cycle. Allow up to two months for the code to change.⁸

After that, the transfer renews on its own every year. Neither of you needs to reapply. It keeps running until one of you cancels it.¹

When You’ll Need to Cancel

A few situations require action, because the automatic renewal doesn’t know your circumstances have changed.

Your wife starts earning more, or you move into the higher-rate band. The couple no longer qualifies, and the person who made the original claim (your wife) has to cancel it. When you cancel for income reasons, the allowance stays in place until the end of the current tax year on 5 April.⁹

Divorce or separation. Either of you can cancel. When the reason is a breakup, the cancellation can be backdated to the start of the tax year (6 April), so you don’t share an allowance with an ex for months after the split. You can cancel online or by phoning HMRC on 0300 200 3300.⁹

Death of a partner. If your wife transferred the allowance and then dies, you keep the increased Personal Allowance until the end of the tax year, and her estate is treated as having the reduced allowance.⁹

Don’t Confuse It with Married Couple’s Allowance

Marriage Allowance is the scheme described above. Married Couple’s Allowance is a different, older relief that only applies where at least one partner was born before 6 April 1935. You can’t claim both. If one of you was born before that date, Married Couple’s Allowance is usually worth more and is worth checking first.¹

1
GOV.UK. Marriage Allowance
2
GOV.UK. Income Tax: Maintaining the Personal Allowance and the Basic Rate Limit
3
GOV.UK. Income Tax Rates and Personal Allowances
4
GOV.UK. Apply for Marriage Allowance Online
5
GOV.UK. HMRC Online Services – Sign In or Set Up an Account
6
GOV.UK. Apply for Marriage Allowance by Post
7
GOV.UK. Tax Codes – What Your Tax Code Means
8
GOV.UK. Marriage Allowance – How to Apply
9
GOV.UK. Marriage Allowance – If Your Circumstances Change