Long promised plans to give a modest tax break to married couples could be published by November, according to sources close to Prime Minister David Cameron.
Mr Cameron has promised yet again that he would recognise marriage in the tax system before the general election in 2015 on the campaign trail last week, the Daily Mail reports.
The move comes after a leading think-tank accused the Coalition Government of breaking its promises to strengthen families.
Mr Cameron made giving tax breaks to married couples a centrepiece of his election campaign in the lead up to the 2010 general election but has repeatedly failed to introduce the measure following opposition from his Chancellor George Osborne and his coalition partners in the Liberal Democrats.
However a senior figure has insisted Mr Cameron is prepared to overrule Mr Osborne over the measure, which is a policy favoured by many Tory backbenchers.
The source pointed out that, Mr Cameron, as Prime Minister, is First Lord of the Treasury and as such was in ultimate charge of tax measures.
A No 10 official said the measure would be introduced in either an autumn statement or a budget, meaning the pledge could be fulfilled when the Chancellor makes his next announcement in November.
A pledge to recognise marriage in the tax system was included in the Coalition agreement three years ago but Mr Osborne has refused to include it in any of his budgets or autumn statements since.
Mr Cameron was asked during a local election campaign drive in Carlisle yesterday if he still intends to go ahead with his plans for the measure.
He said that the Coalition agreement specifically said that while the Liberal Democrats don’t agree with tax cuts for married couples, they would abstain rather than leave the Coalition if the Tories pushed them.
He said he planned to do this before the end of the current Parliament.
However a prominent Tory website, ConservativeHome, reported last week that there were signals that the marriage tax break might be implemented as early as the autumn.
Tory MPs and Cabinet ministers including Iain Duncan Smith have urged Mr Cameron to introduce the measure no later than this year in order to reinforce the Government’s pledge to be the most family friendly ever, rather than leaving it until 2015.
Many believe it would placate Tory voters offended by the introduction of gay marriage, and stay-at-home mothers who will not benefit from new state support with childcare bills.
The Conservative manifesto proposed a transferable tax allowance that would apply to all married couples – and gay couples in civil partnerships – who pay the basic rate of income tax.
Spouses not using all of their tax-free personal allowance, either because they stay at home or work part-time and earn less than the threshold for basic rate income tax, were to be able to transfer £750 of their benefit to their working partner.
Eligible couples where one partner is not using all the tax-free personal allowance and the other earns up to £44,000 would be up to £150 a year better off.