I think you have worded that a bit confusingly Delgirl, although I know what you are trying to get at. You use the expression "transfer income" whereas I think you might mean transfer income source as you cannot assign your income to your spouse. What you can do is use an element of your spouse's standard rate band. If a married couple has one income the standard rate cut-off for the couple is E38,400 (the earner has their own standard band of E29,400 and can use E9,000 of their spouse's E29,400 band. The other E19,400 of the spouse's standard rate band is lost). The only way that the other E19,400 can be used is if the spouse has their own income and to do this they must have an income source, e.g. employment, property from which to derive rental income, etc. You cannot transfer income to the spouse for them to use the remainder of their standard rate band but you can transfer an income source, e.g. a rental property.