Marriage Allowance

jimmo

shilts
Yes it is. Whilst HMRC may well have your end of year details from your employer under Real Time Information there is still a grace period where employers can correct any mistakes. Pretty sure I read on here that is sometime in June. However, whilst your records will have been flagged for review, that could take months. In days gone by you could not claim until you had your P60 from your employer. Nowadays I would suggest getting your P60 would be the earliest time you should chase for a 2017/18 repayment.
By the way, when your FIL phones HMRC tell him not to hold his breath. I know someone in similar circumstances who phoned last December and was told a specialist team would ring him back. Despite a couple of follow up calls the call back is still awaited.

Dazed_and_confused

polymaff

In the majority of cases where both spouses are taxpayers MAT ends up as being a simple transfer from the electing spouse to the other spouse. We'd need more info to explain why your (plural) two figures are not quite the same.

It could be this,
quietheart owes the standard £432 (total for 2015:16 and 2016:17) plus because HMRC have issued the calculations the small amounts most PAYE people owe due to how the tax tables work is now payable. £435.80 would look pretty accurate them


quietheart's spouse is owed the standard £432 and the small difference to £432.49 could be him having the tax tables amount deducted/accounted for but then countered by the addition of some repayment interest?

It seems the op should maybe have considered their own position for these years before applying for the back dates years.

Dazed_and_confused

Dustyalan

If you don't pay higher rate tax (and don't have any dividend income) then you are able to benefit from Marriage Allowance if your wife applies for it.

Looking at the experiences of other posters on here it would be seem prudent to review each tax year yourself first to make sure she doesn't apply for years when it isn't beneficial to do so - recent post from shilts on this thread being a prime example.

quietheart

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

polymaff

In the majority of cases where both spouses are taxpayers MAT ends up as being a simple transfer from the electing spouse to the other spouse. We'd need more info to explain why your (plural) two figures are not quite the same.

It could be this,
quietheart owes the standard £432 (total for 2015:16 and 2016:17) plus because HMRC have issued the calculations the small amounts most PAYE people owe due to how the tax tables work is now payable. £435.80 would look pretty accurate them


quietheart's spouse is owed the standard £432 and the small difference to £432.49 could be him having the tax tables amount deducted/accounted for but then countered by the addition of some repayment interest?

It seems the op should maybe have considered their own position for these years before applying for the back dates years.

Thanks dazedandconfused. I didn't have a bloody clue to be honest. Do you think I'm ok just to leave it as it is as it doesn't appear to make much difference?

polymaff

quietheart wrote: »

Do you think I'm ok just to leave it as it is as it doesn't appear to make much difference?

Very few will lose by leaving MAT in place. The classic loser case is where both spouses have a taxable income within 10% of that year's Personal Allowance. If that's not you, the risk of leaving MAT in place is minimal.

Dazed_and_confused

Thanks dazedandconfused. I didn't have a bloody clue to be honest. Do you think I'm ok just to leave it as it is as it doesn't appear to make much difference?

For those amounts it probably would be less confusing for you if you just left it as it is. That of course is assuming your husband is going to use some of his refund to help you pay the tax you now owe!

quietheart

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

Thanks dazedandconfused. I didn't have a bloody clue to be honest. Do you think I'm ok just to leave it as it is as it doesn't appear to make much difference?

For those amounts it probably would be less confusing for you if you just left it as it is. That of course is assuming your husband is going to use some of his refund to help you pay the tax you now owe!

Too flipping right he is. Thanks for all your help on this thread! :money:

johncr

Have just received a new tax code, with the Marriage Allowance reduced from £1190 to £1134. Naturally no explanation given, but could it be that in Scotland, £1134 saves me £238.14 at the 21% tax rate, and £1190 at 20% in the rest of the UK saves you £238 ? Have looked around on the net but can't see anything on the subject.

jimmo

I think you are right. Not living in Scotland myself I haven't taken too much notice of the Scottish tax changes but this article at least implies that the target is the amount of tax rather than the amount of the "allowance".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-42668299

Dazed_and_confused

I think jimmo is correct, the tax relief for Marriage Allowance seems to be fixed at 20% and there was a few articles after the Scottish budget announcement suggesting Scottish 19% or 21% payers would miss out hence the change jimmo has linked to.

As you are actually receiving 21% tax relief via your wages the amount of the Marriage Allowance is being reduced to make sure you only get the £238. I guess some Scottish lower earners will need a higher tax code so they also get the £238 and not £226 (£1190 x 19%).

There is some official guidance here,
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/paye-manual/paye13112