Marriage Allowance

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Gary364 said:

Hi 
For the past few years I have been on just a works pension which was below my personal allowance and my wife was working so have transferred the marriage allowance to her.
However she became ill last June and had to retire with a small works pension which is less in total than her personal allowance for the year. Also I have recently started to receive my state pension so now am receiving over my personal allowance and HMRC now say I will be underpaid this year and have coded out the underpayment in next years tax code.
My question is can I get the marriage allowance back for this current 21/22 tax year as my wife won’t need it? I have cancelled the transfer for the coming year so it’s just the current year I have a problem with.
Thanks 

This has been answered on your original thread.

consequences

Is anyone aware of any campaign or movement lobbying to have marriage allowance increased to the full tax free allowance ?

It seems to be that it's ridiculous that we force a couple into both going to work and then paying for child care and topping up with benefits when if one parent chooses to stay home to look after the kids and the house the other might benefit from their allowance in full if they wish.

Why is the allowance so pitiful? Surely we should be rewarding people that make a choice to be stay home mums or dads and looking after the kids instead of farming them off to strangers during the day ?

We reward unemployment with benefits but actively saying I want to look after my kids we essentially penalise!
Actually staying at home is worth less £ than claiming to be unemployed. To me that seems poor message about the family unit.

sheramber

consequences said:

Is anyone aware of any campaign or movement lobbying to have marriage allowance increased to the full tax free allowance ?

Not aware of one. 

You could start by lobbying your MP.

Paul_from_Barking

I am married. Not divorced, not legally separated. But my wife lives full time in Cyprus and has done so for more than 5 years. Can I claim for her reference the married tax allowance. She DOES work and pay tax in Cyprus. She does not claim or pay anything any more in the UK.

sheramber

Paul_from_Barking said:

I am married. Not divorced, not legally separated. But my wife lives full time in Cyprus and has done so for more than 5 years. Can I claim for her reference the married tax allowance. She DOES work and pay tax in Cyprus. She does not claim or pay anything any more in the UK.

You cannot claim anything. Your wife has to make the claim to transfer part of her personal allowance.

It will not affect your application for Marriage Allowance if you or your partner:

• are currently receiving a pension
• live abroad - as long as you get a Personal Allowance.

Is your wife entitled to a personal tax allowance?

https://www.gov.uk/tax-uk-income-live-abroad/personal-allowance

consequences

sheramber said:

consequences said:

Is anyone aware of any campaign or movement lobbying to have marriage allowance increased to the full tax free allowance ?

Not aware of one. 

You could start by lobbying your MP.

Turned out it was one of the only policies which Liz Truss was rumoured to bring in and then didn't.
The only policy which might have made any sense.
Possibly the only policy which would reward people in society for taking responsibility for their familes.

The government seems to be more interested in "getting people back to work" and increasing childcare allowances but utterly fails to recognise that parents might be the best people to bring up their own children and seemingly refuses to help out those of us making that choice.
In fact people get penalised for looking after their own kids, due to benefit rules & min hours.

Why on earth would we wish to farm our kids out to a person working in childcare on minimum wage looking after 3-4 kids when my partner is more than willing to do it and give 1 on 1 time ?

FYI, she used to work in childcare, she fully understands the problems with it.
If she was working and then paying for childcare even with a discount at the place she worked, fuel & expenses, she'd be making about £150 a month.
It's just not worth "getting people back to work".

zagfles

consequences said:

sheramber said:

consequences said:

Is anyone aware of any campaign or movement lobbying to have marriage allowance increased to the full tax free allowance ?

Not aware of one. 

You could start by lobbying your MP.

Turned out it was one of the only policies which Liz Truss was rumoured to bring in and then didn't.
The only policy which might have made any sense.
Possibly the only policy which would reward people in society for taking responsibility for their familes.

The government seems to be more interested in "getting people back to work" and increasing childcare allowances but utterly fails to recognise that parents might be the best people to bring up their own children and seemingly refuses to help out those of us making that choice.
In fact people get penalised for looking after their own kids, due to benefit rules & min hours.

Why on earth would we wish to farm our kids out to a person working in childcare on minimum wage looking after 3-4 kids when my partner is more than willing to do it and give 1 on 1 time ?

FYI, she used to work in childcare, she fully understands the problems with it.
If she was working and then paying for childcare even with a discount at the place she worked, fuel & expenses, she'd be making about £150 a month.
It's just not worth "getting people back to work".

Yup - and the biggest way single earner families are penalised is so-called "independant taxation" where non earners can't use their tax allowance against the income the govt expects them to live on. New Labour really pushed the "dump your children in childcare and do 'real' work" policies by constantly tweaking the tax/benefits system to encourage that "choice", and the coalition/Tories made it worse in a lot of ways. The transferrable allowance was a small concession.

In the current environment there is no way they'll increase the transferrable allowance, if Labour win the next election they'll almost certainly abolish it (as they promised to at previous elections).

[Deleted User]

zagfles said:

consequences said:

sheramber said:

consequences said:

Is anyone aware of any campaign or movement lobbying to have marriage allowance increased to the full tax free allowance ?

Not aware of one. 

You could start by lobbying your MP.

Turned out it was one of the only policies which Liz Truss was rumoured to bring in and then didn't.
The only policy which might have made any sense.
Possibly the only policy which would reward people in society for taking responsibility for their familes.

The government seems to be more interested in "getting people back to work" and increasing childcare allowances but utterly fails to recognise that parents might be the best people to bring up their own children and seemingly refuses to help out those of us making that choice.
In fact people get penalised for looking after their own kids, due to benefit rules & min hours.

Why on earth would we wish to farm our kids out to a person working in childcare on minimum wage looking after 3-4 kids when my partner is more than willing to do it and give 1 on 1 time ?

FYI, she used to work in childcare, she fully understands the problems with it.
If she was working and then paying for childcare even with a discount at the place she worked, fuel & expenses, she'd be making about £150 a month.
It's just not worth "getting people back to work".

Yup - and the biggest way single earner families are penalised is so-called "independant taxation" where non earners can't use their tax allowance against the income the govt expects them to live on. New Labour really pushed the "dump your children in childcare and do 'real' work" policies by constantly tweaking the tax/benefits system to encourage that "choice", and the coalition/Tories made it worse in a lot of ways. The transferrable allowance was a small concession.

In the current environment there is no way they'll increase the transferrable allowance, if Labour win the next election they'll almost certainly abolish it (as they promised to at previous elections).

Independent taxation was introduced on 6th April 1990. Nigel Lawson, a conservative chancellor, first muted the idea in 1986 when he also promised that unused allowances could continue to be transferred in the same manner. He changed his mind two years later.

https://www.taxandthefamily.org/history-article

zagfles

[Deleted User] said:

zagfles said:

consequences said:

sheramber said:

consequences said:

Is anyone aware of any campaign or movement lobbying to have marriage allowance increased to the full tax free allowance ?

Not aware of one. 

You could start by lobbying your MP.

Turned out it was one of the only policies which Liz Truss was rumoured to bring in and then didn't.
The only policy which might have made any sense.
Possibly the only policy which would reward people in society for taking responsibility for their familes.

The government seems to be more interested in "getting people back to work" and increasing childcare allowances but utterly fails to recognise that parents might be the best people to bring up their own children and seemingly refuses to help out those of us making that choice.
In fact people get penalised for looking after their own kids, due to benefit rules & min hours.

Why on earth would we wish to farm our kids out to a person working in childcare on minimum wage looking after 3-4 kids when my partner is more than willing to do it and give 1 on 1 time ?

FYI, she used to work in childcare, she fully understands the problems with it.
If she was working and then paying for childcare even with a discount at the place she worked, fuel & expenses, she'd be making about £150 a month.
It's just not worth "getting people back to work".

Yup - and the biggest way single earner families are penalised is so-called "independant taxation" where non earners can't use their tax allowance against the income the govt expects them to live on. New Labour really pushed the "dump your children in childcare and do 'real' work" policies by constantly tweaking the tax/benefits system to encourage that "choice", and the coalition/Tories made it worse in a lot of ways. The transferrable allowance was a small concession.

In the current environment there is no way they'll increase the transferrable allowance, if Labour win the next election they'll almost certainly abolish it (as they promised to at previous elections).

Independent taxation was introduced on 6th April 1990. Nigel Lawson, a conservative chancellor, first muted the idea in 1986 when he also promised that unused allowances could continue to be transferred in the same manner. He changed his mind two years later.

https://www.taxandthefamily.org/history-article

Or more likely Maggie changed his mind for him (she was against transferrable allowances apparently).

The principles behind "independant taxation" are a joke for anyone who has ever claimed means tested benefits, tax credits or even now child benefit, where the income of both partners are used to determine entitlement in a similar way as they were used pre 1990 for income tax. 

[Deleted User]

zagfles said:

[Deleted User] said:

zagfles said:

consequences said:

sheramber said:

consequences said:

Is anyone aware of any campaign or movement lobbying to have marriage allowance increased to the full tax free allowance ?

Not aware of one. 

You could start by lobbying your MP.

Turned out it was one of the only policies which Liz Truss was rumoured to bring in and then didn't.
The only policy which might have made any sense.
Possibly the only policy which would reward people in society for taking responsibility for their familes.

The government seems to be more interested in "getting people back to work" and increasing childcare allowances but utterly fails to recognise that parents might be the best people to bring up their own children and seemingly refuses to help out those of us making that choice.
In fact people get penalised for looking after their own kids, due to benefit rules & min hours.

Why on earth would we wish to farm our kids out to a person working in childcare on minimum wage looking after 3-4 kids when my partner is more than willing to do it and give 1 on 1 time ?

FYI, she used to work in childcare, she fully understands the problems with it.
If she was working and then paying for childcare even with a discount at the place she worked, fuel & expenses, she'd be making about £150 a month.
It's just not worth "getting people back to work".

Yup - and the biggest way single earner families are penalised is so-called "independant taxation" where non earners can't use their tax allowance against the income the govt expects them to live on. New Labour really pushed the "dump your children in childcare and do 'real' work" policies by constantly tweaking the tax/benefits system to encourage that "choice", and the coalition/Tories made it worse in a lot of ways. The transferrable allowance was a small concession.

In the current environment there is no way they'll increase the transferrable allowance, if Labour win the next election they'll almost certainly abolish it (as they promised to at previous elections).

Independent taxation was introduced on 6th April 1990. Nigel Lawson, a conservative chancellor, first muted the idea in 1986 when he also promised that unused allowances could continue to be transferred in the same manner. He changed his mind two years later.

https://www.taxandthefamily.org/history-article

Or more likely Maggie changed his mind for him (she was against transferrable allowances apparently).

The principles behind "independant taxation" are a joke for anyone who has ever claimed means tested benefits, tax credits or even now child benefit, where the income of both partners are used to determine entitlement in a similar way as they were used pre 1990 for income tax. 

Have to agree! It’s independent taxation, but only where it suits them. However, for child benefit purposes, it’s a mish-mash!