If you live in Northern Ireland and are unable to perform any work for which eyesight is essential, you can claim blind person's allowance (BPA). If you can't use up some or all of your allowance, you may be able to transfer it.
Blind person's allowance is added to your tax-free personal allowance - so is an extra amount of income you can get each year without paying tax. If you are on a low income, or even if you don't pay any tax, you may be able to transfer your blind person's allowance to your spouse or civil partner - see the section on transferring below.
Blind Person's Allowance for the tax year 2009-10 is £1,890 - there are no age or income restrictions. So if, for example, you're 58, registered blind with your local authority and have:
You only need to pay tax on £1,635 (£10,000 less the sum of £6,475 and £1,890).
If both you and your spouse or civil partner qualify for Blind Person's Allowance you can each get an allowance.
If you think you may be able to claim blind person's allowance contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on their priority telephone number 0845 366 7887. Lines are open from 8.00 am to 10.00 pm Monday to Friday ,and 8.00 am to 4.00 pm, Saturday.
If your tax bill isn't high enough to use up all of your blind person's allowance, you can use form 575 'Notice of transfer of surplus Income Tax allowances' to transfer any unused allowance to your spouse or civil partner. If you are making a claim for repayment of tax on a form R40, you can also request form 575 by ticking the appropriate box.
If you don't pay tax and your spouse or civil partner does you can still transfer your unused allowance to them.
If you are able to claim married couple's allowance you must transfer any unused allowance when you are transferring your unused blind person's allowance.
Money, tax and benefits
