Married Persons Tax

makfai

I am 58 and my wife is 57. We live off my police pension which is well below the £18500 threshold for the 10p rate of tax debate. The tax change means that I will pay more tax.

My pension provides an income for both of us but my wife does not get a personal allowance to use in reference to it and of course there is no married person's allowance.

She has to pay all the charges (fuel duty; VAT etc) which we all have to pay in our normal life and because we live together my Council Tax is higher than if I lived alone.

We want to downsize but our house price is unattractive because of the non-adjustment of stamp duty.

Why is it that my wife and others like her are not able to claim any allowance against their income? My wife was as much a contributor to my pension as was I. Without her, I could not have done my work and brought about two sons.

Why should women in this category be discriminated against?

Perhaps she should charge me for housekeeping and secretarial duties in the same fashion as some MPs/MEPs! In fact I may ask the HMRC about that!!

dunstonh

Why is it that my wife and others like her are not able to claim any allowance against their income?

Used to be possible many years ago but its just the way it is now.

You think the tax is bad now. Just you wait until age 65 when your state pension is added. Your pension of £18,500 plus assuming just basic state pension will take you over the age 65 age allowance reduction point meaning your tax will go up higher than 20p.

You can reduce your net tax by making pension contributions in your wife's name. This will also allow her to start builing up a pot to commence later in life which can be used against her own personal allowance.

For others reading who are not at retirement, this just highlights why it is important to make sure that you look at your retirement provision jointly and not have it all in one name. Come 65, you can earn £10k each tax free but if its all in one name you end up paying over £1000 a year more in tax all because you didnt plan in advance.