MARTIN Lewis is urging married couples to claim a tax break refund worth up to £1,188 by April 5 – or miss out on £220.
The tax perk, known as the marriage allowance, was set up in April 2015 to encourage more people to tie the knot.
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The allowance applies to couples where one of you is a non-taxpayer (earning less than £12,500) and the other is a basic-rate tax payer, meaning you earn less than £50,000 a year.
It allows you to transfer £1,250 of your personal allowance (the amount you can earn tax-free each tax year) between you to cut your yearly tax bill.
Writing in his weekly MoneySavingExpert newsletter, Martin said: “Apply for the marriage tax allowance now or lose up to £220.
“If you’re eligible for the government’s marriage tax allowance, once you sign up, you get it year after year.”
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Who can claim Marriage Allowance?
TO be able to claim your tax break you need to tick all of these boxes:
- You’re married or in a civil partnership
- Your income is £12,500 or less. This includes people who don’t work
- Your partner’s income is between £12,501 and £50,000
You can’t claim it if
- You and your partner live together but aren’t married
- You were born before April 6, 1935.
For more information visit the Gov.uk website.
However, the claim can only be backdated by up to four years, meaning time is running out to get it for the 2016/17 tax year.
The current tax year is set to end next month on April 5, so you’ll need to make a claim before then.
Martin recently also urged viewers of The Martin Lewis Money Show to do the same thing.
Speaking during last week’s show, he said: “Do it now, and you’ll get it for the 2016/17 tax year.
“But if you left it for three weeks, you’d lose that and it’s about £200.
“It only takes a couple of minutes to claim on the Gov.uk website, so it’s worth checking out.”
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One viewer of the show followed Martin’s advice and said he received a tax rebate of £953.65.
The marriage tax allowance for the current 2020/21 tax year is worth up to £250.
But in addition to this year’s allowance, you can also get it for the previous four tax years (currently 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20).
The tax break was worth £220, £230, £238 and £250 during those years respectively, meaning you can get up to £1,188 in total.
How do I apply?
You can only apply if you are the non-taxpayer – or lower earner – in the relationship.
You need to fill out a form on the Gov.uk website and you’ll need your national insurance numbers and a form of ID for the non-taxpayer.
Whatever way you apply, any backdated money owed to you will be calculated automatically and sent to you as a cheque.
If you need any assistance applying, you can call the HMRC helpline on 03000 200 3300.
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Last year, it was estimated that 1.78million couples out of 4.2million eligible ones were missing out, according to Government figures.
In last week’s episode, Martin Lewis also revealed other ways to get an up to £2,000 boost by cashing in on government rewards.
Plus, he today warned workers to check their tax codes are correct – or you could miss out on thousands of pounds.
Martin Lewis explains how you could be due back £100s from tax on PPI payouts
