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Introduction

Married couple's allowance is available where one member of the married couple or civil partnership was born before 6 April 1935. Unlike other personal allowances, the married couple's allowance is given by way of a tax reduction of the allowance at 10% at Step 6 of the income tax computation. See E1.101B and E1.102.

In 2025/26 the maximum married couple's allowance is £11,270, although this may be reduced to the minimum amount of £4,360 if the primary claimant's income exceeds the income limit (see 'Restriction of married couple's allowance—2016/17 onwards' below)¹. The allowances for earlier years are given in T6.113 and T6.115.

Note that as far as tax devolution in Scotland and Wales is concerned, the married couple's allowance is a reserved matter, which means the level of the allowance is set by the UK Government.

'Primary claimant' is not a term used in the legislation, but is useful in terms of aiding understanding of the provisions and is used in the commentary below.

The commentary below discusses the conditions