To think the married couple tax break is a waste of time

[mpje]

Most people don't seem to understand it / don't claim it.

It will benefit well off the most as they are the ones that are most likely to have one unused tax allowance and for these people 200 odd extra a year isn't very much.

I think it should of just been used to raise the income tax threshold.

Just looked online- it only costs £46 to get married in my county.

Stickerrocks Thu 11-Feb-16 12:42:44

thank you

I'm having a slight lol at the thought of a tax break designed to uphold traditional values being given to gay couples.

Presumably the kinds of people who want to uphold traditional values strongly overlap with the kinds of people who oppose gay marriage.

The law of unintended consequences.......

It's £120 plus a day off work (and childcare costs) where I live. It jumps to around £250 if you want to have any guests other than the witnesses or get married on a Friday or Saturday.

We have been together for over 20 years, have three DC. We are not married. No tax break for us!

20 years and two children for us.

Presumably you'd be expecting to be married for more than one year though Jasper.

Childcare not compulsory for a wedding though jasper, and lots of people have their days off work during the week. Realistically, whether this saves a couple money or not will depend on how much they'd be spending on a wedding and how many years they plan on one of them not using the personal allowance. I don't think you can just say it's unlikely to cover the cost of the wedding when clearly for plenty of people it would.

I agree with nickyeds the prospect of someone getting a letter after their spouse dies saying they no longer get the tax break is an unpleasant one.

I'm opposed to it. I think that income tax should be based on income only, and nothing else.

just done this, thanks

Childcare is compulsory if you are the carer for young children and they aren't allowed in the office. And as we are talking about SAHP, it seems likely that they would be in this situation. Having any guests other than the witnesses bumps the cost of the wedding up from £120 to £265. Maybe I live somewhere that just has particularly expensive wedding fees?

Getting married is really just a declaration that you are a family unit, a declaration to each other, to family and friends and to the legal system. It is a way of making things official. I don't understand people who don't want to get married being annoyed that they aren't officially recognized as a couple when they don't want to be officially recognized as a couple.

As far as I can see it is a small concession which helps one of the anomalies of the benefit system.

Couple A (unmarried) have children together, partner loses his job and moves back in with his mum. Mother claims benefits as a single parent. He claims JSA as a single person.

Couple B (married) husband loses job, even if he moves out, if they are still married and not intending to separate they are still assessed for benefits a couple so get less benefit money overall than couple A.

Granted it is not a particularly common scenario but I have definitely met people who do this.

SweetParsley - but that's fraud.
You can't base a tax system to offset fraud!
And couple B could divorce, if they also wanted to commit fraud.....

op not your intention but thanks for this thread! DH thought about this last year but never applied, we have now I am really hoping there is an automatic back payment it will be extremely useful to get this small bonus, extremely useful we are clawing away at every penny we can so a huge thanks op

PS anyone else - it took us less than a minuete to apply on line, short form, done.

This is one of many possible things that are available to people to help them. You can't just look at a tax. Real for one group of people in isolation.

If you do then of course it's unfair.

But if you look at benefits, tax credits, allowances etc etc etc handed out to different groups and different people then I'd hope that it's better.

And no I can't pass off my tax to my H as he earns I a higher tax bracket.

sweet

I also know a single mum whose father of child doesn't officially live with her but spends most of his time there, pays towards mortgage, child care but she gets benefits as a single person.

to be fair he isnt 100% reliable but not that bad, but as a single mother she is in vulnerable position...but she does get single person benefits

I've just put in an application for this, but not really sure I should have done. For the current tax year April 15 to April 16 I earned under £10,600 as I've been on mat leave. However in the next tax year I'll earn over the threshold. It wasn't clear whether I was applying for this tax year or next so thought I'd just do it anyway. Presume I'll just get an email declining application if I shouldnt have done it. Worried now.

Completely discriminatory and classic Tory. Giving extra money to two people who can both go out to work to earn money, but for whatever reason one has chosen not to, while taking money away from people who really need it is disgusting.

What a nice gesture it would be if the people who are claiming this donated it to a homeless charity or a women's refuge.

ring don't be worried, they will see your details and your earning from your NI etc...

What a nice gesture it would be if the people who are claiming this donated it to a homeless charity or a women's refuge .

Classic MN post ^^ with the crystal ball seeing who does and doesnt deserve some ££.

Do fuck off dear

Not everyone can go out to work Elizabeth. Many many parents can't work at a profit, and some simply can't afford to work.

Elizabeth I'm not sure how you can presume to know the circumstances of all that claim. Not that it is any of your business, but both DH and I work, I don't work full time as we have two preschool age children. We are crippled by nursery fees but I have chosen to stay in work to help my job prospects once my children are older. Frankly any extra money we can claim is very welcome.

My DB and his partner have never officially lived together. He still officially lives at my Mums and his partner works but claims single persons council tax and child tax credits. They've lived together for 10 years, I don't think they will jack all that in to get married for £250.

It's a joke. They should just up the CB, that's given to everyone with children under a certain income married/unmarried/single parent etc

Many many parents can't work at a profit, and some simply can't afford to work.

The same goes for single parents, except there's only one of them and they can't get this tax break. They can't have one parent working day shifts and one working nights to make ends meet. In the absence of disability, a couple has many, many more options to generate income than a single parent. Single parents also can't choose to be SAHMs once their children are school age, and have that decision supported financially by the tax credit system, and now by this additional tax break. It's pure discrimination.