Married couples are being warned they have just a fortnight remaining to make a change that could see them receive a backdated payment of £1,260. Appearing on BBC Morning Live, finance expert Laura Pomfret cautioned that people have only until April 5 to submit their application.

She stressed that this makes it a ‘job for this week or next week’. The UK Marriage Allowance enables lower-earning spouses or civil partners to transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to their higher-earning partner, cutting the couple’s tax bill by as much as £252 annually. To be eligible, one partner must earn below the Personal Allowance (usually £12,570) whilst 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 sum is calculated using each partner’s individual 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 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 who transfers their allowance, if they then go on to earn more than £11,310, 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 explained that to qualify, the higher earner must fall within the basic tax band – meaning taxable income between £12,571 and £50,270 for the year – and be 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 noted that upon approval, HMRC will backdate the claim to the start 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 means someone submitting their application promptly who meets the criteria could receive £1,260 in retrospective payments covering the 2025/26 tax year plus the four preceding years. Ms Pomfret highlighted that even separated individuals can claim if they satisfied the requirements during the years in question.

She continued: “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.”