Martin Lewis reveals all the financial benefits of being married on his Valentine's Day special (and warns those who aren't could lose their home)

Martin Lewis has revealed all the financial benefits of being married in a Valentine's Day special of his ITV show. The British Money Saving Expert founder, 52, marked the February 14 holiday by explaining why tying the knot was 'financially worth it' - and how to take advantage of the eight bonuses. Speaking on The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Thursday evening, the financial expert revealed how all the benefits only apply to couples who are married or in civil partnerships, and not to those who are only cohabiting.

The host said: 'None of these apply if you’re just living together, I don’t care whether you’ve lived together for 20 years, it doesn’t make any difference, I don’t care if you’ve got kids, it doesn’t make any difference. This is about marriage and civil partnerships.'. However, Martin warned that he was discussing the potential benefits of marriage between two individuals who trust one another - and not talking about weddings, which he warned 'can be very expensive'.

'They don't need to be. Please don’t get yourselves in debt... start your marriage nice and clean without it,' he urged viewers. Explaining that the benefits begin from the day a couple is wed, Martin explained that the first advantage was a £1,260 marriage or civil partnership tax break. 'So this is all about what is called the marriage tax allowance, and it works provided one of you is aged under around 90,' said the financial expert. 'Specifically, one of you needs to have been born after the fifth of April, 1935.'.

Martin Lewis (pictured) has revealed all the financial benefits of being married in a Valentine's Day special of his ITV show. He added that a crucial part in claiming this bonus was that one of the couple needed to be classed as a non taxpayer (someone who doesn't pay income tax), while the other needed to pay the basic 20% rate of tax. 'Then what happens is this, each of you have your £12,570 personal allowance. That's the amount you can earn that you don't pay tax on each year,' explained Martin.

'Okay, so the non taxpayer can apply to gov.uk to move 10 per cent of their tax free allowance across to the basic rate taxpayer. 'The net result of that is the non taxpayer now has an allowance of £11,310, and the taxpayer has a combined allowance of £13,830. 'Now that 10 per cent extra tax free allowance they have, remember, they would have paid tax on it at 20 per cent, so the gain there is £252 a year, and that's why moving across works.'.

Martin warned: 'You need to do this quickly, because this year, it's each tax year, and the tax year ends on April 5. You can claim back up to four tax years as long as you are eligible, which means a total gain of £1,258.'. The British Money Saving Expert founder, 52, marked the February 14 holiday by explaining why tying the knot was 'financially worth it' - and how to take advantage of the eight bonuses.

Speaking on The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Thursday evening, the financial expert revealed how all the benefits only apply to couples who are married or in civil partnerships, and not to those who are only cohabiting. Although, the TV host did admit that the gov.uk marriage tax allowance application site is down for the next two weeks for essential maintenance. Martin revealed that there are 2.1million eligible couples who are not claiming the benefit as he urged people to either write the date down in their diary for when the online application would be open or pick the postal method on the website.

Moving onto the next set of benefits for married couples, the financial expert brutally admitted: 'Look where marriage really counts is when you die. That's the truth of it. This is where the really big benefit comes from.'. He continued: 'So the first thing to say, anything you leave to your spouse is exempt from inheritance tax, so there is no tax to pay on anything that you leave your spouse... you've got to be both UK residents to be able to do this, or it can get complicated.

'That's not the big one, though. The next one is the big one. Any unused inheritance tax allowance passes on to your spouse, you don't need to do anything to activate it... That is by far the biggest benefit of marriage for those who have assets.'. Martin then explained how ISA allowances can be passed on to your spouse, and also insisted that if an unmarried partner were to die without a will, then their partner may get nothing.

'You need something that gives you some agreement, that will would give you some agreement... If you don't have any of those (will, marriage or civil partnership), depending on your ownership structure, an unmarried partner could lose the home,' warned the expert. However, Martin explained: 'I don't make these rules, some of these are deliberate social engineering about encouraging marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system.