2026/27 Tax Year

Marriage Allowance Checker

Use this to see whether a couple is likely to qualify for Marriage Allowance in 2026/27, how much of the headline saving may actually be kept, and when the older Married Couple's Allowance route matters instead.

Current transfer: Marriage Allowance transfers £1,260 of Personal Allowance, which can reduce the recipient partner's tax bill by up to £252 in 2026/27.

Your couple setup

This is a simple couple-level estimator using the usual Personal Allowance and basic-rate checks. Complex savings, dividends and Scottish-band cases need a closer look.
Estimated couple saving from Marriage Allowance
£0 Eligibility status: check in progress
Recipient partner's tax reduction£0
Lower earner's extra tax after transfer£0
Couple tax before transfer£0
Couple tax after transfer£0
Marriage Allowance statusChecking...
Better route if notNo alternative needed
Main watch-outTransfer can create some tax for the lower earner

What this means

The headline saving is only fully available when the lower earner has enough unused allowance to transfer and the recipient partner remains within the basic-rate range.

Check ANI next

What Marriage Allowance is checking

Marriage Allowance works when one spouse or civil partner has unused Personal Allowance and the other is not a higher-rate taxpayer for the purpose of the scheme. The transfer is fixed, so the headline saving can be reduced if the lower earner has to pay tax on some of the allowance they transferred away.

Sources and assumptions

GOV.UK Marriage Allowance overview GOV.UK how Marriage Allowance works GOV.UK apply for Marriage Allowance GOV.UK Married Couple's Allowance

This page uses the standard 2026/27 Personal Allowance and the usual maximum Marriage Allowance saving of £252. It is intentionally a plain-English checker, not a full tax-return engine.