Transferring £1,260 of personal allowance saves a couple up to £252 a year, and you can backdate four years.
Reference notes for the UK tax year 2026/27, computed from HMRC's published rates rather than copied from another site.
One partner transfers £1,260 of unused personal allowance to the other. It works only if:
- The lower earner has income below £12,570
- The higher earner is a basic-rate taxpayer, so under £50,270
£1,260 at 20% is £252, which is the maximum.
The partial cases matter and most calculators skip them. If the lower earner has income between £11,310 and £12,570, transferring still helps but the lower earner starts paying some tax, so the household gain is less than £252.
Claims can be backdated four tax years, which is worth up to about £1,000 in one go.
If the higher earner is a higher-rate taxpayer you are not eligible at all. Marriage Allowance is different from the Married Couple's Allowance, which applies only where one partner was born before 6 April 1935.
Marriage Allowance Calculator UK →
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Full deduction breakdowns, computed on 2026/27 rates:
| Salary | Take-home a year | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|
| £25,000 after tax | £21,519.60 | £1,793.30 |
| £35,000 after tax | £28,719.60 | £2,393.30 |
| £50,000 after tax | £39,519.60 | £3,293.30 |
| £60,000 after tax | £45,357.40 | £3,779.78 |
- Household income calculator — see the household picture the claim sits in
- Tax rebate calculator — backdated claims arrive as a refund
- Income tax calculator — check the tax the transfer reduces
- UK tax rates and thresholds 2026/27 — every band and threshold on one page
- Take-home pay statistics — effective and marginal rates from £20,000 to £200,000, free to cite
- How the calculator works — the order of calculation and the source for every rate
- rates.json — the same figures as machine-readable JSON, no key required
- Maternity Pay Calculator UK
- Statutory Sick Pay Calculator UK
- Child Benefit Calculator UK
- Tax-Free Childcare Calculator UK
Full index: UK Tax & Take-Home Pay Guide — twelve guides, twelve worked salary examples and a reference table covering the whole UK system.
Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year, which runs 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, and were checked against gov.uk on 28 August 2026.
Rates change every April, and often at a Budget. Check the tax year a figure belongs to before relying on it.
Found a wrong number? Open an issue with the figure and a gov.uk link. Tax errors are worth fixing quickly.
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