STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

WHAT is the difference between the married couple’s allowance and the marriage allowance?

D. B., via email. You can claim the married couple’s allowance only if one of you was born before April 6, 1935. It could cut your tax bill by between £322 and £835.50 a year.

The new, less generous marriage allowance is available to those born on or after April 6, 1935.

I t allows one partner to transfer £1,060 of their unused tax allowance (£10,600 for this tax year) to the other — saving them £212 in tax.

The ‘giver’ must be a nontaxpayer and the ‘receiver’ on the 20 pc basic rate. UNDER the new rules where husbands and wives can inherit Isas, does it mean the money will go to my husband, even though I have left it to my sons in my will?

S. S., via email. No, Your husband inherits an extra Isa allowance — not the actual money.

If, for example, you have £10,000 in your cash Isa, he can put another £10,000 into his Isa on top of the usual Isa allowance (£15,240 for this tax year). Your sons will get the money as stipulated in your will. MY HUSBAND cashed in his Isas before he passed away earlier this year.

We both saved up to the maximum amount each year.

Can I still inherit his Isa allowance and add the money he saved in Isas to my normal Isa allowance for this tax year?

W. H., via email.

PLEASE accept our condolences for your loss. But, sadly, the answer to your question is no.

since December, a spouse can inherit an extra Isa allowance on the death of their partner, but unfortunately this doesn’t apply in your case.

This is because your husband did not have any Isas on the date of his death. I RECEIVED an email claiming to be from HMRC, saying that I am due a tax refund of £315. Is this genuine? J. B., Southend-on-Sea, Essex. No, The e mail is f r om crooks trying to lure you into handing over your bank details, so t hey can t hen s natch your cash.

The taxman says it would never email you about a tax refund. Any correspondence about this would come through the post.