The Marriage Tax Allowance was revealed in 2013 as a part of the then Prime Minister, David Cameron's pre-election promises. It was introduced into tax legislation in April 2015 and allowed couples to transfer 10 percent of their tax free personal allowance to their partner.
The transferable tax allowance was equivalent to £1,060 tax free in 2015/2016 and is worth £1,100 tax free in 2016/2017. Once the transfer is made, the partner receiving the allowance gets 20 percent of the allowance off their tax bill. It is therefore worth £220 for this tax year and if not claimed for 2015 that can also be added for a total saving of £432.
HMRC stats show 4.2 million couples are eligible to claim - the requirements being that one partner earns less than the standard personal allowance amount and the other is a basic rate taxpayer.
Only 1 million couples have made use of this allowance and could be missing out on a decent saving off their tax bill. HMRC have set up an online registration service for the marriage tax allowance and in five minutes the claim can be started. Visit https://www.gov.uk/apply-marriage-allowance for more detail.