Personal finance expert has urged married couples to claim a valuable tax relief that 2.1 million eligible couples are currently missing out on
11:37, 02 Mar 2026Updated 11:37, 02 Mar 2026
Martin Lewis has said some married couples need to take urgent action(Image: ITV)
Martin Lewis has called on all couples to act before April – potentially securing a significant tax break. The financial guru discussed how married partners can access this benefit when one isn’t earning.
Mr Lewis explained it effectively provides a £1,260 tax saving for married couples – noting it’s available ‘provided one of you is aged under 90’ – specifically those born after 5th April 1936.
Around 2.1 million individuals are missing out on claiming these funds – and those who haven’t previously applied could receive £1,260 as a lump sum – backdated for four years plus the current year.
One partner must be a non-taxpayer, allowing them to transfer the section of their personal allowance they’re not using. He explained: “Imagine we have a couple here. The crucial part of this. One of you needs to be a non-taxpayer, so you are not earning your full personal allowance you can earn before you start paying tax on it.”
If somebody isn’t paying income tax, he confirmed that would make them eligible as a non-taxpayer for this relief. The other partner must be paying no more than the 20 per cent tax rate.
He said: “Clearly you have to be married or civil partners. Then what happens is this, each of you have your £12,570 personal allowance. That’s the amount you can earn that you don’t pay tax on each year.
“So the non-taxpayer can apply to Gov.uk to move 10% of their tax-free allowance across to the basic rate taxpayer.”
He clarified that this arrangement would grant the non-taxpayer an allowance of £11,310, whilst the taxpayer would receive a combined allowance of £13,830.
“Now that 10% extra tax-free allowance they have, remember they would have paid tax on it at 20%, so the gain there is £252 a year, and that’s what moving across works, and in virtually every circumstance, even if the person here earned a little bit above that threshold where they might pay a little bit of tax, but as long as the person on this side is earning over £13,830, you’re always going to be net up if there’s a non-taxpayer and a taxpayer.”
Mr Lewis drew attention to an imminent deadline, as it relates to a specific tax year – with the present one finishing on 5 April. Individuals who haven’t previously claimed the benefit could be entitled to a considerable backdated payment, he noted: “The tax year ends on the 5th of April, you can claim back up to 4 tax years as long as you are eligible, which means A total gain of £1,258.
“The way it works for the current year your tax code is changed, for past years they send you a check or they send you a bank transfer. So the marriage tax allowance is absolutely crucial to do.”
Mr Lewis disclosed that the marriage allowance website is currently unavailable for a two-week period due to ‘essential maintenance’, a timing he branded as ‘terrible’, encouraging individuals to note March in their calendars. Martin advised: “So this is what you need to do. Either put in your diary now to do this on the 1st of March. There are 2.1 million eligible couples who are not claiming this, who should be claiming this and could gain. So do it on the 1st of March, or if you’re the type of person, and some people are who go, if I don’t do it now I’ll never do it, then you can go onto gov.uk you can download a form online and then you can post that in.
“And as long as it all happens before the 5th of April, you will get this year’s and you will be able to backclaim the prior 4 years. But frustratingly, I found out this afternoon they’ve just taken it down. Terrible timing, but hey, these things happen.”
You can apply for marriage tax allowance here.
