Should my wife be claiming Married Couples Allowance?

zogg

Hi,

I am retired and have no earned income.

However I get about £6500 P.A. in interest from savings in my name. Therefore pay little tax.

My wife works part time and earns approx £600 per month after tax and n.i.

Should my wife claim this married couples allowance, and if so what difference would it make to us?

Thank you for any input.

margaretclare

What 'married couples' allowance' is that? Is this the one you mean?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/married-allow.htm#1

This only applies if one of you was born before 6 April 1935.

zogg

No, she was born 1953 and seems to think there is an allowance which applies to her as main bread winner.

Is she wrong............:o

dunstonh

yes she is wrong. There used to be a married couples allowance but that was abolished back in 2000/1.

anamenottaken

zogg wrote: »

No, she was born 1953 and seems to think there is an allowance which applies to her as main bread winner.

Is she wrong............:o

Yes, she's wrong.
IIRC there used to be a married man's allowance which then became a married couple's allowance which could be shared between the couple or could be applied to just one of their incomes. Long since gone - though perhaps Mr Cameron's clan would reinstate something along those lines.

zogg

Thanks to those whio bothered to reply.

fengirl_2

Please, please lets not go back to the dark days of joint taxation - we fought long and hard to be rid of it!

margaretclare

fengirl wrote: »

Please, please lets not go back to the dark days of joint taxation - we fought long and hard to be rid of it!

Yes, I agree, and I was one of those who fought long and hard. All the years that I was at work the tax office would write to my husband about MY earned income and my tax!!!! I lobbied about this for at least 20 years.

However, DH and I now get the married people's tax allowance just because he was born before the requisite date, and have it divided between us, to set against our individual incomes.

dunstonh

There are merits to joint taxation from a family perspective. Although it should be available as a choice. i.e. spouse can choose to transfer their personal allowance to the other spouse if there is only one household income and there is a stay at home parent.

At the moment, there is tax benefits for paying for childcare whilst you work but nothing for the parent that takes on that responsibility for themselves. With increasing anti-social behaviour and lack of respect etc, a bit of old fashioned home care should be rewarded.

tangojulie

Don't give up yet. Margaretclare is right, to be eligible for Married Couples Allowance only one of you has to be born before 6 April 1935. Although your wife wasn't born till 1953, if you are old enough, she may still qualify.

The rules are set out pretty clearly at http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/tax/income_tax_allowances_and_amounts.htm

Good luck!