Are you both using your tax-free allowances?
Each of you has your own tax-free allowances. Savings and shares in the name of the one who pays less tax are taxed less, if they're given outright. Enter what each of you earns and we'll show what's unused and what moving could save.
Your answer
Enter what each of you earns a year.
About this calculator
For married couples and civil partners who live together in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
We work out each person's income tax now, list the allowances each of you isn't using, and show the tax if all your savings and shares were in the name of the one who earns less.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
Each person's tax-free allowance (£12,570) covers pay and rent first, then interest, then dividends. Interest can be tax-free under the £5,000 starting rate for savings (it shrinks by £1 for every £1 of pay and rent above the tax-free allowance), then the tax-free interest allowance: £1,000 for basic-rate payers, £500 for higher-rate, none for additional-rate. The first £500 of dividends is tax-free, then 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35%.
Moving everything to the lower earner is an illustration. For income tax it only counts if the gift is outright: no conditions, nothing that can come back to the giver, and more than just a right to income. Gifts between spouses are free of Capital Gains Tax. Rent from a property you own together is taxed 50:50, unless you really own it in unequal shares and send HMRC a Form 17 within 60 days of signing.
Marriage Allowance (giving £1,260 of tax-free allowance to a basic-rate partner) is shown on its own. We don't cover Scotland, pension payments, Gift Aid, the £1,000 property allowance or mortgage interest relief. Every figure is checked a second way before you see it.
Worked example
Moving your savings and shares into your partner's name could cut your tax together by £1,025 a year, from £14,012 to £12,987.
2026/27 tax year · England, Wales or Northern Ireland · married or civil partners living together
| Now | |
|---|---|
| Your income £65,000: pay and rent £60,000, interest £2,000, dividends £3,000 | |
| Your income tax now | £12,926 |
| Your partner's income £18,000: pay and rent £18,000, interest £0, dividends £0 | |
| Your partner's income tax now | £1,086 |
| Your tax together now | £14,012 |
| Your partner: £1,000 of tax-free interest allowance unused | £1,000 |
| Your partner: £500 of tax-free dividends unused | £500 |
| Each of you: £3,000 of gains a year tax-free (we don't ask about gains) | |
| If all savings and shares were in your partner's name | |
| Your income tax | £11,432 |
| Your partner's income tax | £1,555 |
| Your tax together after the move | £12,987 |
| Tax saved a year | £1,025 |
Worked out using HMRC's published rates for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), on a yearly basis.
Questions people ask
Can we just put savings in the lower earner's name on paper?
No. For the income to be taxed on your partner, the gift has to be outright: the money must be theirs to keep and use, with no conditions and no way for it to come back to you. Otherwise the income is still taxed as yours.
How is rent from a jointly owned property taxed?
Married couples and civil partners living together are taxed 50:50, whatever they own. If you really own it in unequal shares, you can both sign a Form 17 and send it to HMRC within 60 days. It only counts for rent after you sign.
Is there Capital Gains Tax when we move shares between us?
No, unless you separated and didn't live together at all in that tax year. Each of you also has £3,000 of tax-free gains a year.
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