Tax benefits for being married?

[Xtype]

Hi all,

Im getting married next May, and was just wondering what financial benefits there are for being married that I might not be aware of, or tax credits etc

I purchased my first house a few years back and I have no debt other than the Mortgage, I have a pretty good credit rating..but does being Married improve your rating? if so why?

[Eric Mc]

Despite Cameron's ambitions, there are no special Income Tax reliefs for being married (unless you're over 75).

There are definite Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax advantages as transfers between spouses are essentially ignored for both taxes.
These rules also apply to those in Civil Partnerships.

This is not the case if the couple were merely "living together".

[Xtype]

so in effect, the amount of inheritance is halved because we are married and gets split between us, and we would pay less tax because the amount of money we both would receive will fall below one of the taxation brackets?

sorry..im not very clued up with taxaition...other than being sad when I see how much the taxman takes on my payslip

Edited by Xtype on Tuesday 20th December 10:40

[Eric Mc]

Xtype said:

so in effect, the amount of inheritance is halved because we are married and gets split between us, and we would pay less tax because the amount of money we both would receive will fall below one of the taxation brackets?

sorry..im not very clued up with taxaition...other than being sad when I see how much the taxman takes on my payslip

Edited by Xtype on Tuesday 20th December 10:40

Obviously

Inheritance occurs at death (naturally). If one spouse dies and leaves their half of their estate to the other spouse, no Inheritance Tax is payable AT ALL by the surviving spouse, no matter how large the inheritance is.

If the couple are not married, then the surviving spouse will be charged Inheritance Tax on that part of the inheritance they receive that exceeds the Inheritance Tax threshold.

Husbands and wives can also gift as much as they like to each other with no IHT ramifications.