Marriage tax

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Hi all,
My partner and I will be getting married next week and I will be applying for the marriage tax allowance. I noticed on the hmrc website it says about calling them if you receive dividend income from shares but does anyone know if you have to phone them or if you can still apply online?
I am currently on maternity leave but when I go back to work my yearly earnings will be around the 5k mark. I usually make no more than about £500 a year in dividends.
Thanks for any help you might be able to give me.

Dazed_and_confused

It shouldn't be a problem in that case.

There is a strange rule with Marriage Allowance,. Normally if either spouse is liable to higher rate tax it means they cannot apply or receive Marriage Allowance. But if they aren't higher rate but have dividend income which would be taxed at dividend higher rate if it weren't for the dividend nil rate of tax (commonly known as the Dividend Allowance) then they are also not eligible.

If your total taxable income is as low you say that won't be an issue for you.

but when I go back to work my yearly earnings will be around the 5k mark

But you do realise it is your taxable income for this tax year as a whole that matters, not what happens in the future. You should consider that before applying as there may be no benefit in you doing it for this tax year dependent on what your total taxable income.

Obviously the dividend rule might affect your spouse if they get dividend income as well and are close to the higher rate threshold.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Thanks for the reply. My taxable earnings from my employer is currently £503 this year. I had to claim maternity allowance as I hadn't earn enough to qualify for company maternity pay. My OH does not receive any dividend income so no problem there.

polymaff

For UK-based taxpayers, MAT is only allowed if both parties are not - and would not as a result of MAT - be what HMRC call higher rate taxpayers. You might think that that is quite a simple concept. "I would be a higher rate taxpayer if I had to pay any tax at the higher rate" comes to mind.

No, not on Planet HMRC

There's a grey zone around about £45k but, as you each appear to have substantially less than £40k - you're not higher rate taxpayers and so can go ahead with MAT without any phone calls being necessary.