Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 1031I

Method of apportioning reliefs and charging tax in case of separate assessments

Section 1031I sets out how personal reliefs are to be apportioned between civil partners who have opted for separate assessment under section 1031H, and provides for the transfer of unused reliefs and standard rate band entitlements between them.

• Where civil partners are separately assessed, each personal relief is allocated between them according to specific rules that vary depending on the type of relief involved.
• Some reliefs are split equally between the partners, while others are allocated in proportion to the expenditure each partner incurred or according to which partner is entitled to the relief.
• Where the reliefs allocated to one civil partner exceed the tax chargeable on that partner's income, the surplus is transferred to reduce the tax chargeable on the other partner's income.
• Each partner receives a single person's standard rate band, but where one partner does not fully use that band, the unused portion may be transferred to the other partner, subject to an overall maximum.