Income Tax Act 2007 section 42

Tax reductions under Chapter

Section 42 introduces the rules on married couple's allowance — a tax reduction available where one party to a marriage or civil partnership was born before 6 April 1935.

• The married couple's allowance is only available where at least one spouse or civil partner was born before 6 April 1935.
• The relief takes the form of a tax reduction (not a deduction from income) and is applied at Step 6 of the income tax calculation in section 23.
• The allowance can be transferred between spouses or civil partners in various ways — by individual election, joint election, partial transfer back, or transfer of unused relief.
• Where an individual claims the remittance basis of taxation, they lose entitlement to the married couple's allowance for that tax year.