Marriage and tax

WishICouldFindMySlippers

Have heard that married couples can benefit from lower taxes. Curious, I Googled and found this:

(Edit: Apparently I can't post links yet. But it was Gov.UK)

Married Couple's Allowance
Part 1: OverviewMarried Couple’s Allowance could reduce your tax bill by £296 to £770.50 a year.

You can claim Married Couple’s Allowance if all the following apply:

• you’re married or in a civil partnership
• you’re living with your spouse or civil partner
• one of you was born before 6 April 1935

Now, tbh at 26 I'm not entirely convinced that I want to marry a 78 year old. Plus, I think my partner might have a few words to say about that too

Am I looking at the wrong section? I assumed the Government site would be the best place to start :wall:

peachyprice

There is no Married Couples tax allowance, it was abolished in 2000. It only exists for people born before 1935 and married before 2005.

margaretclare

peachyprice wrote: »

There is no Married Couples tax allowance, it was abolished in 2000. It only exists for people born before 1935 and married before 2005.

Didn't know about the 'married before 2005'. DH and I just squeezed into it because he was born before April 1935. We married in 2002.

We split the allowance between us to set against our individual pensions income. Not a lot, but 'every little helps' as the saying goes. It helps to keep me out of the tax bracket - just. He still pays tax, but not a lot.

WishICouldFindMySlippers

Fair enough

So does that mean that as far as the tax man is concerned, there's no difference between a married couple an an unmarried one?

peachyprice

WishICouldFindMySlippers wrote: »

Fair enough

So does that mean that as far as the tax man is concerned, there's no difference between a married couple an an unmarried one?

Yes....................

fluffnutter

WishICouldFindMySlippers wrote: »

Fair enough

So does that mean that as far as the tax man is concerned, there's no difference between a married couple an an unmarried one?

Sort of. Each individual is taxed separately on earnings. However, there are tax breaks that you can benefit from if you're married. You can maximise the tax breaks each individual is entitled to by moving assets between you. This has a bearing on, mainly, income tax (move savings into the name of a non-tax or lower-rate payer if one of you pays higher rate tax), capital gains tax (make sure the house or other asset belongs to the lower-rate tax payer prior to selling it), inheritance tax (there is no tax to pay between spouses). There are some other benefits I believe but these are the main ones.