Getting married
If one of you earns under £12,570, Marriage Allowance can cut your tax by up to £252 a year, backdated to 2022. Marrying changes your will, gifts and more too.
Your answer
Enter both your incomes.
About this calculator
For couples getting married or forming a civil partnership, or already married and wondering what they've missed.
We work out Marriage Allowance for this tax year and the years you can backdate, then list the other things that change: your will, wedding gifts, gifts between you and the Child Benefit charge.
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
Marriage Allowance (the transferable tax allowance): the lower earner gives £1,260 of their £12,570 tax-free allowance to the other, whose tax goes down by 20% of £1,260, up to £252 a year. The lower earner must earn under £12,570; the other must pay tax at no more than the basic rate (income up to £50,270, or £43,662 in Scotland).
If the lower earner earns between £11,310 and £12,570, they pay a little tax on the allowance they give up, so we take that off.
You can backdate a claim to April 2022 for any year you were married, even for part of it. We assume your incomes were the same in those years.
Worked example
Marriage Allowance would save you £252 a year between you.
2026/27 rates · England, Wales or Northern Ireland · married June 2026 · incomes are pay or pension, the same in earlier years
| You: income £35,000, income tax now | £4,486 |
|---|---|
| Your partner: income £9,000, below the £12,570 tax-free allowance | |
| Marriage Allowance: 20% × £1,260, never more than the tax | − £252 |
| Your partner: extra tax with £1,260 less tax-free allowance | + £0 |
| Saving between you a year | £252 |
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
Does getting married cancel my will?
In England and Wales, yes: marrying or forming a civil partnership cancels a will made before, unless it was made with the marriage in mind. In Scotland it doesn't, but you should still review it.
Can I give my husband or wife money or property tax-free?
Yes. Gifts between husbands, wives and civil partners who live together have no Capital Gains Tax, and no Inheritance Tax if the one receiving it lives in the UK permanently. That lets you share assets so you both use your allowances.
We live together already. Does marrying change the Child Benefit charge?
No. The charge already looks at the higher of your two incomes if you live together, married or not.
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