Whose name should things be in?
Each of you has your own allowances and basic-rate band. Savings, shares and property in the name of the one who pays less tax are taxed less, if the gift between you is outright. Pick one thing you own and we'll compare the tax in each name.
Your answer
Tell us what you own and what each of you earns.
About this calculator
For married couples and civil partners who live together. Pick one thing you own: savings, shares or funds, a buy-to-let or a second home.
We compare the income tax on it each year and the tax on a sale in your name, your partner's name and joint names, and for property the best unequal split with a Form 17, and show the saving against how you own it now.
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
For each choice we work out your income tax together with and without the income from it, using each person's tax-free allowance, the £5,000 starting rate and tax-free interest allowance for savings, the £500 dividend allowance and the bands. Rent is taxed like pay this year. On a sale, each owner's share of the gain gets their own £3,000 allowance, then 18% within their basic-rate band and 24% above it.
Things you own together are taxed 50:50. Property can be taxed in your real shares only if you really own it unequally and send HMRC a Form 17 within 60 days of signing it. Moving things between you is free of Capital Gains Tax, but the gift must be outright, and the one who gets it takes over the original cost.
We assume a sale this tax year with the same incomes, and treat other income as pay or pension. Inheritance Tax isn't worked out: gifts and legacies between you are free of it. Every figure is checked a second way before you see it.
Worked example
Moving it into joint names, 5:95 (you : your partner) with a Form 17 could save £4,252: £2,280 a year in income tax and £1,972 on a sale.
2026/27 tax year · England · married or civil partners living together · sold this tax year
| Your buy-to-let: £300,000, £12,000 of rent a year, £60,000 gain on a sale | |
|---|---|
| Other income: you £60,000, your partner £18,000 | |
| 1. In joint names, 5:95 (you : your partner) with a Form 17 | |
| Rent: you £600, your partner £11,400 | |
| Income tax a year on it (your tax together with it, less without it) | £2,520 |
| Tax on a sale: gain you £3,000 (tax £0), your partner £57,000 (tax £11,708), after £3,000 tax-free each | £11,708 |
| A year's income tax plus the tax on a sale | £14,228 |
| 2. In your partner's name | |
| Rent: you £0, your partner £12,000 | |
| Income tax a year on it (your tax together with it, less without it) | £2,400 |
| Tax on a sale: gain you £0 (tax £0), your partner £60,000 (tax £12,464), after £3,000 tax-free each | £12,464 |
| A year's income tax plus the tax on a sale | £14,864 |
| 3. In joint names, 50:50 | |
| Rent: you £6,000, your partner £6,000 | |
| Income tax a year on it (your tax together with it, less without it) | £3,600 |
| Tax on a sale: gain you £30,000 (tax £6,480), your partner £30,000 (tax £4,904), after £3,000 tax-free each | £11,384 |
| A year's income tax plus the tax on a sale | £14,984 |
| 4. In your name (now) | |
| Rent: you £12,000, your partner £0 | |
| Income tax a year on it (your tax together with it, less without it) | £4,800 |
| Tax on a sale: gain you £60,000 (tax £13,680), your partner £0 (tax £0), after £3,000 tax-free each | £13,680 |
| A year's income tax plus the tax on a sale | £18,480 |
| Saving against your name | £4,252 |
| Inheritance Tax: gifts and legacies between you are free of it, so it's not in these figures |
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 put it in the lower earner's name just on paper?
No. For the income to be taxed on your partner, the gift has to be outright: it must be theirs to keep, with no conditions and no way for it to come back to you. Otherwise the income is still taxed as yours.
Does moving it between us cost Capital Gains Tax?
No, unless you separated and didn't live together at all in that tax year. But the gain isn't wiped out: your partner takes over what you paid. The saving comes from two £3,000 allowances and two basic-rate bands.
Does it change our Inheritance Tax?
Rarely. Gifts between you and what you leave each other are free of Inheritance Tax, and unused allowances pass to the survivor. The extra home allowance only covers a home the owner has lived in, so talk to us about large estates.
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