Unclaimed Tax Reliefs – Could HMRC Owe You Money?

According to analysis work done by Pie Tax, more than £4 billion worth in tax reliefs and perks are currently unclaimed for the 2023-2024 tax year. This means there could be reliefs you’re missing out on. In the hope of ensuring you’re getting all the financial aid that might be available to you, we’re going to break down the main tax reliefs people are failing to claim for. 

Marriage Allowance

This allows those earning below the Personal Allowance (currently £12,570) to transfer £1,260 of their allowance to their higher-earning spouse or civil partner (provided said spouse or civil partner is a basic rate tax payer). Essentially, this results in less of your spouse’s total income being taxed, which can decrease your or your partner’s tax bill by up to £252.  

Do you think you could be one of the 2 million eligible couples HMRC estimates has yet to claim for this allowance? Their marriage allowance calculator can help you work out all the necessary sums. 

Pensions

Pie Tax’s data results show there is £1.7 billion in unclaimed pension credit for lower earners from the 2019-2020 financial year. In this instance, a ‘lower earner’ is a pensioner currently receiving less than £201.05/week as a single person, or £306.85/week for a couple.

Higher earners (people receiving more than the values stated above) may also be missing out on extra money they are entitled to from HMRC’s pension tax relief. This scheme allows higher earners to claim an additional 20% or 25% tax relief on top of the 20% they already get as standard on their contributions.  

Not sure if this applies to you? Simply use the government’s pension credit calculator to find out if this is something you can claim for. 

Child Trust Funds

At present, there is a total of £1.7 billion in unclaimed child trust funds, currently sitting in accounts that were automatically set up by the government for children born between 2002 and 2011. These funds acted as a precursor to junior ISAs, and the government would pay in at least £250 when a child was born and another £250 when they turned seven. 

Almost 430,000 child trust fund accounts have been left unclaimed.  

How Does This Affect You?

If you think that any of these tax reliefs may apply to you, or if you’d like to know more about them, we recommend getting in contact with your Caroola accountant before the end of the 2023-2024 tax year (5th April 2024) and setting up a phone call or meeting to discuss which tax reliefs you may be eligible for. 

Looking for other tax breaks? This article might have some answers: Six DWP and HMRC tax perks families can use to save thousands before April – Chronicle Live