Marriage Allowance

Dazed_and_confused

I agree. Which begs the question why did your wife apply in the first place?

HMRC have done what she requested.

Presumably neither of you are higher rate payers or claiming Married Couple's Allowance (got to born in the 1930's or earlier) in which case you are eligible for Marriage Allowance.

polymaff

williamalex1 wrote: »

Thanks guys, I'll check both our P60 incomes , and get back to you.
It just seems silly paying out, then asking most of it back.

Good. Any savings and dividend income, too, by the way.

Marriage Allowance Transfer has been badly understood and promoted. Really badly by HMRC and that bad info has been dumbly parroted by the media - not the least by the BBC Money Box programme.

I doubt that anyone has lost by electing for MAT but many have got nothing but aggravation out of it (you?)

And some who were never meant to benefit from MAT have ended up making quite a killing - thanks to HMRC's inept implementation of the legislation.

S N A F U.

lisboa84

Sorry if it's been asked a thousand times before....

Can 'partners' who haven't officially married claim the allowance?

I get that the clue is in the name, 'marriage' allowance, but on a different gov.uk page (for pension credit) they state Your partner is your husband, wife or civil partner (if you live with them) or someone else you live with as if you were married.

I'm asking on behalf of my brother, who lives with his partner as if they were married (and they have a child together which I know is irrelevant).

Or do you actually need the marriage certificate to claim the allowance?

etienneg

For claiming the marriage allowance, you have to be married or in a civil partnership. Simply living together does not count.

It's dangerous to read about something as ill defined as 'partner' in one place and think of applying this in another. The same word doesn't always mean the same thing in different contexts.

nick74

lisboa84 wrote: »

Sorry if it's been asked a thousand times before....

Can 'partners' who haven't officially married claim the allowance?

I get that the clue is in the name, 'marriage' allowance, but on a different gov.uk page (for pension credit) they state Your partner is your husband, wife or civil partner (if you live with them) or someone else you live with as if you were married.

I'm asking on behalf of my brother, who lives with his partner as if they were married (and they have a child together which I know is irrelevant).

Or do you actually need the marriage certificate to claim the allowance?

Not sure why you are looking at the Pension Credit rules and trying to apply them to the Marriage Allowance? You do have to be married or in a civil partnership to claim Marriage Allowance. It has nothing to do with Pension Credit.

lisboa84

etienneg wrote: »

It's dangerous to read about something as ill defined as 'partner' in one place and think of applying this in another.

They weren't different places, both are from the gov.uk website. So I wasn't sure if HMRC define 'marriage' and 'partner' as one and the same.

nick74 wrote: »

Not sure why you are looking at the Pension Credit rules and trying to apply them to the Marriage Allowance?

Hi Nick, I was looking at the pension credits page for a completely separate reason.

Yes I get they are two different credits, but both are in relation to a partner ; so it just struck me as odd that for one, you need a marriage certificate, and for another, someone you live with as if you were married is enough.

etienneg

lisboa84 wrote: »

They weren't different places, both are from the gov.uk website. So I wasn't sure if HMRC define 'marriage' and 'partner' as one and the same.

Sorry, I wasn't specific enough about what I meant when I said different places. Just being on gov.uk isn't enough. You need to be looking in the place on gov.uk describing the particular subject you are interested in. In your case, this is marriage allowance, not pension credit.

The point is that HMRC doesn't have a consistent definition of 'marriage' or 'partner'. It's not up to HMRC to come up with such definitions. Parliament decides on our laws, including taxation and benefits. The role of HMRC is to put into effect exactly what parliament has enacted. Unfortunately parliament doesn't always act consistently (either by design or by mistake).

So it's perfectly possible for one piece of legislation (say pension credit) to include 'those living together as though they are married' whereas a completely different piece of legislation (say marriage allowance) doesn't. This is what makes our laws (and things flowing from them, such as HMRC systems) so complicated. I wish it were different, but then I don't run these things!!!

NNI

For the tax year just ending, I got 11850 Personal Allowance and 1190 Marriage Allowance. I assume the latter is just 10% rounded up.

This coming year, I have been given 12500 + 1191. I was expecting 12500 + 1250. Any ideas? I pay Scottish Tax.

molerat

Marriage allowance gives you a reduction in tax of £250. HMRC are expecting you to be a 21% tax payer so your code is adjusted by £1191 which at 21% is £250. A 19% tax payer gets £1316. The Scottish government have made a good job of complicating matters.

polymaff

lisboa84 wrote: »

They weren't different places, both are from the gov.uk website. So I wasn't sure if HMRC define 'marriage' and 'partner' as one and the same..

Always best to go to the legislation which states:


the individual is married to, or in a civil partnership with, a person who makes an election under section 55C for the purposes of this section which is in force for the tax year (“the individual's spouse or civil partner”),


Note the use of the correct terminology - the term "partner" being far too vague.