Cancelling Marriage Allowance - ever caused problems?

Notepad_Phil

Hello all,

Mrs Notepad, via the Marriage Allowance, has been transferring some of her personal allowance to me since its introduction, but we'd now like to get that cancelled so that from April 6th she gets her full allowance back.

The only thing stopping her from logging into her online personal tax account and cancelling, is that in the back of my mind I seem to remember some people reporting issues on doing so: I think it had something to do with triggering the recalculation of previous tax years without the boost to the personal allowance, but it might just be a figment of my imagination, or something that a newspaper article misunderstood and I'm remembering that.

I've tried searching on here and googling, but nothing is coming up, so can somebody reassure me that Mrs Notepad cancelling her marriage allowance is not going to throw a bucket full of problems our way

Many Thanks.

Jeremy535897

It shouldn't. It doesn't take effect until the following tax year:
https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance/if-your-circumstances-change

Notepad_Phil

Many thanks for your reply, I agree it shouldn't, it was just a niggle in the back of my mind that there was/had been some kind of a problem for at least some people and it wouldn't go away. Thanks for putting my worries to rest.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Notepad_Phil said:

Many thanks for your reply, I agree it shouldn't, it was just a niggle in the back of my mind that there was/had been some kind of a problem for at least some people and it wouldn't go away. Thanks for putting my worries to rest.

In the early days of Marriage Allowance I think some people didn't understand what they were doing and made all sorts of mistakes but if you understand what you're doing there really shouldn't be an issue.

Mothman

Has anyone managed to cancel the marriage allowance online? I've tried using the above gov.uk link to cancel and it simply takes you through the application process to transfer the allowance and nowhere does it say about cancelling if you have already transferred the allowance?

sheramber

Mothman said:

Has anyone managed to cancel the marriage allowance online? I've tried using the above gov.uk link to cancel and it simply takes you through the application process to transfer the allowance and nowhere does it say about cancelling if you have already transferred the allowance?

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance/if-your-circumstances-change

Jeremy535897

That's the link I posted. I would have tested it, but you need to log on to the government gateway and as the allowance does not apply to me, there's no point.

molerat

Jeremy535897 said:

That's the link I posted. I would have tested it, but you need to log on to the government gateway and as the allowance does not apply to me, there's no point.

Takes you to the correct place and clicks through to cancelling - not that I got as far as pressing the button

From the tax account home page you click "manage your marriage allowance" and you go to the page linked above.

[Deleted User]

molerat said:

Jeremy535897 said:

That's the link I posted. I would have tested it, but you need to log on to the government gateway and as the allowance does not apply to me, there's no point.

Takes you to the correct place and clicks through to cancelling - not that I got as far as pressing the button

From the tax account home page you click "manage your marriage allowance" and you go to the page linked above.

As an aside - I see that there appears to be no progress in assisting those who cannot sign up for the government gateway in order to apply for marriage allowance to be transferred. 

Trying to do this for my brother in law’s wife who has not worked in twenty years (so no P60), has no U.K. passport and has never driven a car - the online process ends before it started as it is impossible to confirm id. Surely the majority of those who have this issue are the very people looking to avail of the opportunity to transfer some of their personal allowance. 

So the options are to telephone or ‘write to HMRC’ Why on earth has  a form not been created akin to form 575 (where one can transfer married couples allowance)? 

Terribly frustrating.

sheramber

HMRC are moving away from paper to online services.

https://www.gov.uk/lost-national-insurance-number

Ask HMRC for your National Insurance number

If you still cannot find it, you can:

• fill in form CA5403 and send it to the address on the form
• contact the National Insurance numbers helpline and answer some questions (you’ll need to fill in form CA5403 if you cannot answer the questions)

HMRC will post it to you and it will arrive within 15 working days.

HMRC no longer sends out National Insurance cards.

[Deleted User]

sheramber said:

HMRC are moving away from paper to online services.

https://www.gov.uk/lost-national-insurance-number

Ask HMRC for your National Insurance number

If you still cannot find it, you can:

• fill in form CA5403 and send it to the address on the form
• contact the National Insurance numbers helpline and answer some questions (you’ll need to fill in form CA5403 if you cannot answer the questions)

HMRC will post it to you and it will arrive within 15 working days.

HMRC no longer sends out National Insurance cards.

Yes - fully aware of that. Not sure why you have provided that link as the lady has a National Insurance number but none of the criteria (never mind two) required to provide ID to set up a government gateway account. 

You need a National Insurance number PLUS two of:

driving license, U.K. passport, P60 or payslip details. 

She has not worked in twenty years and never driven a car. HMRC has stated that they can’t help in that instance.