A common scenario for Australian couples: crypto is bought on individual exchanges, then transferred to shared hardware wallets or MetaMask for storage. Over time, both partners' holdings become mixed together and come tax time, separating whose is whose gets complicated.
This guide explains how to handle this correctly in Summ.
Australian Tax Rules for Couples
In Australia, there is no joint tax filing for couples. Every individual, married or de facto, lodges their own tax return. Each person can only report disposals and acquisitions of assets they personally own.
This means:
There is no mechanism to co-report or share a tax return
Each person's Summ account should only contain transactions relevant to them. Transactions that solely belong to the other partner should not be included
Commingled holdings in a shared wallet need to be attributed to the correct individual before a tax report can be accurate
Transfers of crypto between partners are treated as a change of ownership, a disposal for the sender and an acquisition for the receiver
Recommended Setup in Summ
The cleanest way to handle this is with two separate Summ accounts, one per person. Each account should only contain transactions that belong to that individual.
For transactions that represent a transfer of ownership between partners, these should be categorised as:
Outgoing Gift on the sender's account, which records a disposal at market value and locks in the cost base
Gift on the receiver's account, which records an acquisition with the market value at the time of receipt becoming the new cost base
This correctly creates a disposal event for the sender and an acquisition event for the receiver, which is the accurate way to represent a change of ownership under Australian tax law. For more on how categories work, see Review: Categorize Transactions.
Important: By default in Summ, outgoing gifts are treated as taxable disposals. Do not toggle on "Treat outgoing gift as non-taxable disposal" for Australian users, as this would incorrectly remove the CGT event.
Cleaning Up Historical Data
If you have been using shared wallets for some time, both accounts will need to be set up with the full imported data first, including the shared wallets. The shared wallet data will then be treated differently in each account depending on who was in control of each transaction.
A practical approach is to work through the data on one account first and use that as a reference map for the second. Here is a step by step process:
Import all data into both accounts, including all exchanges and shared wallets
Work through one account first. As you review the shared wallet transactions, leave a comment on each one to indicate what it is and who it belongs to. Use a consistent comment format so you can filter by it later. Comments can be added to multiple transactions at once using the bulk edit feature — see How to Bulk Edit Transactions. For example:
Partner 1 — this transaction belongs to Partner 1 and stays in this account
Partner 2 — this transaction belongs solely to Partner 2 and should be excluded from this account
Partner 1: Outgoing Gift — this was a transfer of ownership from Partner 1 to Partner 2, categorise as Outgoing Gift
Partner 2: Gift — this was a transfer of ownership received by Partner 1 from Partner 2, categorise as Gift
For transactions that belong solely to Partner 2, do not delete them. Instead, categorise them as Ignore Out or Ignore In as appropriate. This removes them from tax and balance calculations while keeping them in the account. They remain findable via comment filter if you ever need to revisit them. See Ignoring or Deleting Transactions for guidance on when to use each approach
Filter by comment to isolate each group of transactions and categorise them in bulk where possible. See Using Filters on the Transactions Page for how to do this
Export a filtered transaction report for the transactions tagged as Partner 2's. This export, taken from Partner 1's account, becomes the reference map for building Partner 2's account. It contains all the transaction IDs, dates, amounts and context needed to replicate the correct categorisation on the other side. See Export Transactions on the Transactions page for how to do this
Use the exported report to work through Partner 2's account. Match the transactions by ID, apply the correct categories, and ignore anything that belongs solely to Partner 1
If you have kept a separate spreadsheet recording who initiated each swap or transaction, this is exactly the kind of record the ATO expects and will make the attribution process much easier.
Going Forward: Separate Wallets
The most important step you can take is to set up separate wallets for each person going forward. This eliminates the commingling problem entirely.
The cleanest approach is to create two brand new wallets, one per person, with no shared history. Any existing shared wallets can then be wound down once the historical data has been attributed correctly.
Once each person has their own wallet and exchange accounts, Summ can be used straightforwardly. Import each person's accounts into their own Summ account and the tax reports will reflect only their activity.
FAQ
Can my partner and I use one Summ account and report together?
No. In Australia, every individual lodges their own tax return. Each person needs their own Summ account so that their reports reflect only their own transactions.
Is transferring crypto to my spouse a taxable event?
Yes. Once crypto moves from one person's ownership to another's, that is a change of ownership. The sender has a disposal event (CGT applies) and the receiver acquires the asset at its market value at the time of transfer. We recommend consulting a tax professional to confirm the treatment for your specific situation.
We both use the same hardware wallet. Do we need to change this?
Going forward, yes. Setting up separate wallets, one per person, is the cleanest way to ensure accurate reporting. It removes the need to manually attribute transactions at tax time each year.
For the existing shared wallet history, you will still need to work through the historical data cleanup process described above. The shared wallet transactions need to be correctly attributed and categorised in each account before either person's tax reports will be accurate.