Cab pensioners transfer tax allowance

Alunpd135

My wife and I are pensioners her pension is lower than mine and as a result does not utilise her personal allowance to the full. 

Recently I read martyn was encouraging people to transfer the unused portion of the allowance to their partner. 

Does this still apply to pensioner couples like ourselves where I pay tax on income over my personal allowance.
Thanks
Alun

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Alunpd135 said:

My wife and I are pensioners her pension is lower than mine and as a result does not utilise her personal allowance to the full. 

Recently I read martyn was encouraging people to transfer the unused portion of the allowance to their partner. 

Does this still apply to pensioner couples like ourselves where I pay tax on income over my personal allowance.
Thanks
Alun

How old is whoever is oldest out of the two of you?

Most people cannot transfer the unused part, they can only transfer a fixed amount.

Which would save you £252/year (if you pay that much tax).

Do you know her taxable income details for the past 4 complete tax years?

Alunpd135

Hi.
I am the oldest.
reading Martyns post again you are correct about the £252 and yes I do pay that amount of tax as I have been drawing down money the last couple of years to pay for car repairs holidays etc
Having saved so hard for my retirement going without to enable me to have a modicum of comfort I realy do not want to to give the government a penny.
However with the freezing of the personal allowancebi am being dragged into paying tax so want to avoid doing so.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Alunpd135 said:

Hi.
I am the oldest.
reading Martyns post again you are correct about the £252 and yes I do pay that amount of tax as I have been drawing down money the last couple of years to pay for car repairs holidays etc
Having saved so hard for my retirement going without to enable me to have a modicum of comfort I realy do not want to to give the government a penny.
However with the freezing of the personal allowancebi am being dragged into paying tax so want to avoid doing so.

But how old are you?

There is a much more generous allowance available to older pensioners (Married Couple's Allowance).

But if that isn't relevant then your wife could apply for Marriage Allowance.  That means she has a reduced Personal Allowance (currently £11,310 instead of £12,570) and you get £252 knocked off your tax liability.

It might be possible for her to apply back to the 2020-21 tax year.  But before doing that she must check what her income was in each tax year.  The reason for that is anyone who isn't a higher rate taxpayer is eligible but you, as a couple, might not be able to benefit in previous years, for example if your wife was working then.

HMRC do not check if you can benefit, they simply react to any application so she could give herself a tax bill if she applies for tax years where she actually needs her allowance.

Alunpd135

Hi I am 74, 75 later in the year my wife is a year younger

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Alunpd135 said:

Hi I am 74, 75 later in the year my wife is a year younger

In that case it would be Marriage Allowance, which your wife needs to apply for so you get the tax reduction.

She will get a reduced Personal Allowance of £11,310.