BBC Morning Live finance expert explained people can take advantage of £252 per year - and backdate it 4 years before April 5

Married couples are being warned they’ve only got a couple of weeks to make a change which could mean they would get a back payment of £1,260. Speaking on BBC Morning Live finance expert Laura Pomfret said people only have until April 5 to apply.

And she said this means it’s a ‘job for this week or next week’. The UK Marriage Allowance lets lower-earning spouses or civil partners transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to their higher-earning partner, reducing the couple’s tax bill by up to £252 per year. To qualify, one partner must earn below the Personal Allowance (usually £12,570) and the other must pay basic rate tax (up to £50,270)

She told hosts Greg Rutherford and Gaby Roslin: “The good news is it really doesn’t take that long to apply for it if you’re eligible, and it could mean £1,000 that you could get back from the government. So, this is the marriage tax allowance. It lets you transfer some of your personal tax allowance to your partner. um to reduce the amount of tax that they pay on their income.

“It can reduce your partner’s tax by up to £252 per year and you can go back four years that’s getting us with the you know the thousands amount that you could get back but you need to act quickly because to get that backdated payment to 202122 you need to do it before the end of the tax year. So by the 5th of April because the new tax year starts on the 6th so this is the job for this week or next week.”

The money is based on each of the couple’s tax allowances. Ms Pomfret explained: “People that earn less than £100,000 will have a personal allowance of £12,570 where you don’t pay tax on that income. Anything that you earn between £12,571 and £50,270 or in Scotland it’s £43,662 is taxed at 20% known as the base rate. So, there are tax bans above this amount, but they don’t apply to the marriage allowance

“And in your marriage, both of you will have two separate incomes, each with a personal allowance of £12,570. Now, if one of you is earning more than the personal allowance tax uh personal tax allowance threshold, and the other is earning less, the marriage allowance lets the person earning less transfer £1,260 of their allowance to their partner. So, their spouse has an increased personal allowance of £13.830 in instead of the £12,570, which means they’ll have a little less of their income taxed at the 20% base rate.

"This also means that the lower earners personal allowance drops, it dips to £11,310, but that’s how you transfer it over. It is important to consider that the person that transfers their allowance, if they then go on to earn more than £11,310, they will be taxed at 20%. And that includes all forms of income. So it could be part-time income, it could be pensioned income will all be counted, but it is a good hack to use if you do qualify.”

She said to be eligible the higher earner needs to be basic tax band earners - so between £12,571 and £50,270 in terms of their taxable income for the year and married or in a civil partnership “If you lived together as a couple, but you’re not married, you’re not eligible. And you and your partner need to be born after the 6th of April 1935.

“If you were born or your partner’s born before then, you may qualify for the married couple’s allowance.” She said that if successful HMRC will backdate it to the beginning of the tax year. She said: “Those that are eligible can apply via the government website. It is very, very, easy to do and they’ll backdate it to the beginning of the current tax year. You can also do it by printing off a form online and do it by post. You download that on gov.uk. But that’s the way that you will also be able to backdate four years by doing it by that method.”

This would mean someone applying in time now who is eligible could get £ 1260 in back pay for the 2025/26 tax year and four previous years. Ms Pomfret said that even people who are separated can get it if they were eligible in the years claimed for.

She added: “Both parties must consent to the marriage allowance claim because one individual is transferring their allowance to the other person. So, you need both people’s consent. And crucially, it is the lower earner in the couple that will fill in the form and send it to HMRC because it’s their allowance being given. But, you could still qualify.

“And or anyone who would have been eligible but their partner’s passed away since April the 5th, 2021, you can still claim. And the way that you would do this is you would call the income tax helpline on 0300200300. But it’s worth checking because £1,000 is lots to lots of people. Go see if you’re eligible, but do it in the next few days.”