A.) The Blind Persons Allowance (BPA) is an extra amount of tax free allowance, it is in addition to the Personal Allowance (PA). The BPA for the current 24/25 tax year is £3,070. The BPA, unlike the PA, is not reduced if the individual’s income is above a certain amount.
To be eligible to claim the BPA one of two conditions needs to be met, these are found at ITA2007 s38 which states –
38(2) The first condition is that the individual is–
(a) registered as a severely sight-impaired adult in a register kept under section 77(1) of the Care Act 2014 (registers kept by local authorities in England), or
(b) registered as a severely sight-impaired adult in a register kept under section 18(1) of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 (registers kept by local authorities in Wales).
38(3) The second condition is that–
(a) the individual is ordinarily resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland, and
(b) because of the individual’s blindness, the individual is unable to do any work for which eyesight is essential.
The residency condition also needs to be met. As your client is a UK resident this condition is fulfilled. If eligible, to claim the BPA you can contact HMRC by phone on 0300 200 3301.
https://www.gov.uk/blind-persons-allowance/how-to-claim
If your client does not need to use all of the BPA due to the level of their income it is possible to transfer the unused amount to their spouse/civil partner (they do not have to also be blind).
The spouse/civil partner, who also needs to meet the residency condition, must be living with the person claiming the BPA. If the spouse/civil partner is not UK resident, the residence condition can still be met if the criteria at ITA2007 s56 is satisfied.
The amount that can be transferred is found by deducting the PA from the individual’s net income and comparing the resulting amount to the BPA for the relevant tax year. Net income is the total taxable income less certain reliefs (e.g. trade losses), the full list of reliefs can be found at ITA2007 s24.
ITA2007 s39(2) states that in order to make the transfer the individual needs to make an election AND their spouse/civil partner then needs to a make a claim. The election is irrevocable and must be made within 4 years of the end of the tax year to which it relates. This can be done by completing Form 575T.
The Low Income Tax Reform Group (an initiative of the Chartered Institute of Taxation), have useful guidance which can be found at:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-nic/income-tax/tax-allowances/blind-persons-allowance
The Croner-i Direct Tax Reporter guidance is at 157-000.
