Marriage Allowance

p00hsticks

Consumerist wrote: »

I'm a little confused too.

If you applied for MA then it will be your spouse whose tax code will increase and will be given any tax refund; your tax code will be reduced and you won't be "given" anything.

Whether the OP is the transferer or the transferee, I'd expect their tax code to change (either up or down, with an M or N suffix) and not revert to the standard L suffix.

DINGDONG

Thank you. I understand that my husband benefits from having my "spare" tax allowance. However this allowance started in April 2015 & according to Martins money tips & the HMRC website my husband should get a cheque for that first tax year. His codes for 16/17 & 17/18 have been increased accordingly.

alewin

lakesider52 wrote: »

I am a retired tax manager who specialised in taxation of internationally assigned staff. I am happy to confirm that you will both be able to claim the allowance. Citizenship is not relevant for this purpose. The ability to claim tax allowances is based on whether one is resident in the UK for tax purposes and it appears that both your wives are so go ahead and claim.

Thanks for the info, makes sense.
Should be in time for this tax year as well.

batman44

My wife has claimed this to pass over to me, and she ticked the box for it to be backdated from 2015/16. At that time she was over the threshold for claiming her pay was £11,600 pa. We realised afterwards she/I would not get any backdated for that year. I recieved 2 letters from HMRC for 2015/16 and for 2016/17 say my codes will change and it has bee accepted, however my wife got a letter back from HMRC saying she had not paid enough tac for 2015/16 and the calculations did not tally on her p800 she paid what was due via PAYE. We phoned them up and they told us that her allowance had dropped to £9600 for 2015 and now owes them £214!
This will be put on my code so they say it will cancel it out, and I asked them why not just cancel 2015 backdated claim and they said they cannot. I thought if we were not eligible they would not allow it? but they have and dropped my wifes code to £9600 for 2015. Anyway last year she became a carer and has not earned enough tax so we beneift but it is annoying that the say she owes them!

polymaff

HMRC seem to have handled your (plural) case correctly.

mushy23

I applied online for marriage allowance on 20.2.2017 as i was made redundant last june and my husband still works 30 hours per week. My husband received a letter to state that his tax code will now be 1265M. The very next day i received a letter to inform me that i now owe £212.00 for tax year 6th April 2015 to 5th April 2016. We have received no refund as yet. Can anybody explain as i wish i hadn't applied now!:eek:

Consumerist

mushy23 wrote: »

I applied online for marriage allowance on 20.2.2017 as i was made redundant last june and my husband still works 30 hours per week. My husband received a letter to state that his tax code will now be 1265M. The very next day i received a letter to inform me that i now owe £212.00 for tax year 6th April 2015 to 5th April 2016. We have received no refund as yet. Can anybody explain as i wish i hadn't applied now!:eek:

I think this looks like you earned more than £10,600 in the 2015/16 tax year. In this situation, claiming the allowance will mean your spouse's tax code increases by 1060 to reduce his tax but your allowance reduces by 1060 to increase your tax for that year.

It looks as though they have backdated the allowance to 2015/16.

Edit
HMRC tend to blindly backdate the MA to the 2015/16 tax year so you should contact them to advise that you only wanted to claim from the 2016/17 tax year onwards.

I'm impressed, however, that all this happened between 20/02/2017 and today 28/02/2017. Most are complaining that it takes for ever to get the allowance applied.

batman44

Consumerist wrote: »

I think this looks like you earned more than £10,600 in the 2015/16 tax year. In this situation, claiming the allowance will mean your spouse's tax code increases by 1060 to reduce his tax but your allowance reduces by 1060 to increase your tax for that year.

It looks as though they have backdated the allowance to 2015/16.

Edit
HMRC tend to blindly backdate the MA to the 2015/16 tax year so you should contact them to advise that you only wanted to claim from the 2016/17 tax year onwards.

I'm impressed, however, that all this happened between 20/02/2017 and today 28/02/2017. Most are complaining that it takes for ever to get the allowance applied.

Same happened to me, i contacted them and the explanation was - they cannot cancel once it has been processed, so what they said was that my wifes allowance had been reduced to £9660 in 2015/16 and mine increased so i should get they refund for that year, last year and onwards. My wife code decreased so she was short on her tax by £214 now in 2015 so owes them, this will be covered by what i will be refunded for that year and i will be sent a cheque for last years amount so we onlyt gain £212 not the full £424 as suggested by MSE. This would only benefit those who were on less than £9,600 in 2015 and will not have paid tax. In other words robbing peter to paul paul so to speak. I asked if i could cancel the 2015 refund and they said no as it has been processed. Not much point in claiming for 2015 if you earn more than £9600 or anything.

Consumerist

batman44 wrote: »

. . . Not much point in claiming for 2015 if you earn more than £9600 or anything.

You should save the full £212 if the non-taxpayer earns less than £9,540 in 2015/16 but there is still some tax to be saved if that income stays below £10,600.

@mushy23
I would point out to mushy23 that, as a couple, nothing has been lost - perhaps your OH would give you his £212 rebate to pay the tax due.

batman44

I would point out to mushy23 that, as a couple, nothing has been lost - perhaps your OH would give you his £212 rebate to pay the tax due.

That is correct, i will be paying my wifes bill from what i have benefitted thus cancelling out 2015/16 rebate from my next pay. I should get another seperate cheque from HMRC for £212 for 2016/17 as my wife has not earned enough to pay tax as a carer for that period. From 2017/18 year my code has increase and will see the benefit monthly.
It seem just a long and strange way to do it, why not just say we cannot claim for 2015/16 period.