Moving joint savings into low tax payers account

[Notfinanciallysavvy]

Hi

My dh is a higher rate tax payer and I only work p/t so am a low rate tax payer. We are saving for a house so, for a short time (1 year max), we have quite a stash of cash in our joint account.

We have just come to the end of a year long fairly good interest rate and now it goes to almost nothing so we need to change accounts.

We were wondering whether it is legal to put it into a bank account in my name only so it benefits from my low tax paying status. We are not trying to rip-off anyone so was wondering whether this is legal or not? My dh is employed so doesn't complete tax returns to be able to declare this.

Many thanks in advance

yes it is legal and often recommended by financial advisers

see here forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=792

yes it is legal, although there was some talk (within the accountancy profession) a while ago over whether it would come under the settlement legislation and could potentially be challenged (not the legality of putting it in the lower tax payers account, but as to whether it should then be taxed on the higher tax payer).
I haven't heard anything recently, and it was certainly something we did personally.

Thanks for the replies. Good to know!

One more thing- the bank only ever deducts tax on interest at basic rate- it doesn't know your tax payer status, so your DH does need to do a tax return to get his tax right, unless he's already declared it and it's coded into his tax code (even then it would only be approximate).