Getting Started Guide

Getting Started

First Launch & Basic Workflow

Sovereign Tax is a self-sovereign Bitcoin tax calculator that runs entirely on your machine. There are no accounts, no cloud servers, and no third-party access to your data. Every transaction you import, every calculation the app makes, and every report it generates stays local and encrypted. This guide walks you through every feature so you can confidently manage your Bitcoin taxes on your own terms.

First Time Setup

When you open Sovereign Tax for the first time, you'll go through a quick three-step setup:

Installation

macOS

Sovereign Tax is signed and notarized by Apple. Double-click the SovereignTax-macOS.dmg file, drag the app icon into your Applications folder, then open it from Applications. No extra approval steps are needed.

Windows

Run SovereignTax-Windows.exe to install. You may see a SmartScreen warning on first launch — click "More info" and then "Run anyway". This is a one-time approval and is standard for independently distributed Windows software.

Linux

Install the .deb package with: sudo dpkg -i SovereignTax-Linux.deb. Then launch Sovereign Tax from your application menu.

Returning Users

When you reopen the app, you'll see a lock screen. Enter your PIN to decrypt your data and pick up where you left off. Everything is stored locally on your machine.

Basic Workflow

Sovereign Tax follows a four-step workflow:

Sidebar Navigation

The app sidebar is organized into four groups:

• Data: Import, Add Transaction, Transactions
• Portfolio: Holdings, Reconciliation, Simulate Sale
• Tax: Review, Tax Report, Income, Compare Methods
• Insights: Multi-Year, Tax Harvesting, Lot Maturity

Settings and Audit Log are at the bottom of the sidebar.

CSV Import

Importing Transactions

What It Is

The Import Data view is your starting point for getting transaction data into Sovereign Tax. It accepts CSV files exported from any Bitcoin exchange and uses an intelligent auto-detection engine to match your file's column headers to the correct data fields. This means you don't need to manually format your CSVs or worry about different exchange formats — the app handles it.

How It Benefits You

Instead of manually entering dozens or hundreds of transactions, you can import your entire exchange history in seconds. The auto-detection supports 60+ column name variations, so whether you use Amber, CoinSpot, HardBlock, Coinbase, Kraken, or another exchange, your data is mapped correctly. The app also remembers your column mappings per exchange, making future imports even faster.

Supported Exchanges

The import engine recognizes 60+ column name variations across major exchanges, including:

Australian Exchanges

• Amber — dual-column Input/Output format, exchange rate pricing, referral rewards
• CoinSpot — Market asset filter (BTC/AUD), DD/MM/YYYY AM/PM dates auto-converted
• HardBlock — dual-column Sent/Received format, Label-based type detection
• Swyftx

Global Exchanges

• Coinbase & Coinbase Pro (Advanced Trade)
• Kraken, Gemini, Strike, Cash App, River, Swan, Bisq
• Any custom CSV with date, amount, and price/total columns

How to Import

Click Import Data in the sidebar. Drag and drop your CSV file onto the drop zone, or click "Browse Files..." to select it. Enter the exchange name (required) so the app tags your transactions to the correct wallet for cost basis tracking.

After selecting a file, the app reads the headers and auto-maps them. Green checkmarks appear next to matched fields. If everything looks right, click "Import Transactions".

Manual Column Mapping

If your CSV uses non-standard column names, some fields may show "— Not mapped —". Click the dropdown next to each unmapped field and select the matching column from your CSV. At minimum, you need Date, Amount, and either Price or Total mapped — without a price or total, the app can't calculate your cost basis.

Data Preview

Before importing, the app shows a preview of the first 3 rows with your current mapping so you can verify the data looks correct — amounts, dates, and prices should make sense.

Column Reference

Field	Required	Description
Date	Yes	When the transaction occurred. Supports most formats (MM/DD/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD, ISO 8601, etc.)
Type	No*	Buy, Sell, Send, Receive, etc. If not mapped, you set a default type for all rows.
Amount	Yes	The BTC quantity — how much Bitcoin was transacted (not the dollar value).
Price	Yes*	The AUD price of one Bitcoin at the time of the transaction. Required unless Total is mapped.
Total	Yes*	The total AUD value (Amount × Price). Required unless Price is mapped. You need at least one of Price or Total.
Fee	No	Trading fees. Added to cost basis on buys, subtracted from proceeds on sells. Defaults to zero.
Wallet	No	Which wallet or sub-account this transaction belongs to. Used for cost basis tracking.
Exchange	No	The exchange or platform where the transaction happened.
Notes	No	Any extra notes or description.

Bitcoin-Only Filtering

Sovereign Tax is a Bitcoin-only tool. If your CSV contains other cryptocurrencies (ETH, SOL, etc.), those rows are automatically filtered out. Only BTC and XBT transactions are imported. You'll see a count of skipped rows in the import summary.

Duplicate Detection

The app has two layers of duplicate protection:

• File-level: If you import the same CSV file twice, the app recognizes the file hash and warns you before proceeding.
• Transaction-level: Individual transactions are de-duplicated by date, amount, and exchange. Even if you import overlapping files, duplicates are automatically skipped.

Donation Auto-Detection

If your CSV includes donation transactions, the import engine automatically detects them. Keywords like "donation", "gift", "charitable", and "charity" in the type column are recognized and classified as Donation transactions. FMV is carried from the price column.

Default Transaction Type

Some exchange exports don't include a "Type" column. When no Type column is mapped, the app shows an orange info box asking you to select a default type (Buy, Sell, Transfer In, or Transfer Out) that applies to every row in the file.

Dual-Column Format

Some exchanges (like Amber, HardBlock, and Kraken) use a dual-column format with Received Quantity / Received Currency and Sent Quantity / Sent Currency (or Input/Output) instead of a simple Amount column. Sovereign Tax auto-detects this format and handles it correctly — classifying transactions as Buy, Sell, Transfer In, or Transfer Out based on which currency is BTC. Fiat-only rows (e.g., PayID Deposits) are automatically skipped.

Data Concepts

Understanding Your Data

Transactions View

The Transactions view is your command center. It displays all your buys, sells, transfers, and donations in a sortable, filterable table. Each row has Edit and Delete buttons, and every sell/donation row has a Lots button for assigning Specific ID lot elections.

The toolbar includes a year selector and two powerful batch actions:

• Optimize All: One click to auto-assign optimal Specific ID lots to every unassigned sell in the selected year. The algorithm picks the lots that minimise your total tax — losses first, then smallest gains, accounting for non-discount (47%) vs. discount-eligible (23.5%) rates. A confirmation modal shows you the FIFO vs. Optimised comparison before you commit.
• Revert to FIFO: Remove all Specific ID elections for the year, returning everything to FIFO default.

How it benefits you: Full visibility into your transaction history, plus the ability to optimise your entire financial year in one click. No more manually picking lots for every sale — Optimise All does it automatically, and you can fine-tune individual transactions with the Lots button.

Add Transaction

The Add Transaction view lets you manually enter individual transactions. This is useful for recording trades from exchanges that don't offer CSV exports, correcting missing data, or adding one-off purchases. You can set the date, type, BTC amount, price, fee, exchange, wallet, and notes.

How it benefits you: Sometimes a CSV doesn't capture every transaction, or you need to add a purchase made in person or through a peer-to-peer trade. Manual entry ensures your records are complete without needing a CSV file for every single transaction.

Transaction Types

Every transaction in Sovereign Tax is one of five types:

Income Types

Buy transactions can optionally be tagged with an income type to classify them for ordinary income reporting:

• Mining — BTC received from mining operations
• Hard Fork — BTC received from blockchain forks
• Reward — Staking rewards, Coinbase Earn, learning rewards
• Interest — Interest payments from lending platforms

What is a Lot?

A lot is a discrete purchase of BTC at a specific date and price. When you buy 0.5 BTC on January 15th at A$145,000, that creates one lot. Every lot tracks:

• Purchase date
• Amount of BTC (initial and remaining)
• Price per BTC (your cost basis)
• Total cost including fees
• Exchange and wallet

When you sell BTC, the app consumes lots based on your chosen accounting method (FIFO or Specific Identification). The difference between your sale price and the lot's cost basis determines your capital gain or loss.

Wallets vs. Exchanges

The exchange field records where a transaction happened (e.g., "Coinbase"). The wallet field records which specific wallet or sub-account holds the BTC. If no wallet is specified, the exchange name is used as the wallet.

Sovereign Tax tracks cost basis per wallet to help you organise your records. Australia does not require per-wallet cost basis tracking — the ATO uses a global lot pool — but wallet-level tracking gives you better visibility into your portfolio.

Accounting Methods

Cost Basis & Accounting Methods

What This Section Covers

Understanding accounting methods is the most important concept to help reduce your tax bill. The method you choose determines which Bitcoin lots are sold first, which directly affects whether your gains are non-discount (taxed at up to 47%) or discount-eligible (taxed at a reduced rate with the 50% CGT discount), and how much gain or loss is realised per sale. Sovereign Tax supports two methods — FIFO and Specific Identification — so you can find the optimal strategy for your situation.

What is Cost Basis?

Cost basis is the original value of an asset for tax purposes. For Bitcoin, it's the purchase price plus any fees paid. When you sell, your taxable gain or loss is calculated as:

Gain/Loss = Sale Proceeds − Cost Basis

The accounting method determines which lots are sold first when you have multiple purchases at different prices.

Holdings View

The Holdings view shows your current BTC inventory — every lot you own, its purchase date, cost basis, remaining amount, and which exchange/wallet it belongs to. Use the wallet filter to view lots from a specific wallet or exchange.

How it benefits you: This is your real-time portfolio dashboard. You can see exactly how much BTC you hold, what you paid for each lot, and your total unrealized gain or loss at the current market price. It's the fastest way to understand your tax position at a glance.

The Two Permitted Methods

Comparing Methods

Use the Compare Methods view to see a side-by-side comparison of FIFO vs. Optimal Specific ID. The app runs both methods on your data and shows you the difference — a bar chart with total gain/loss for each, a detailed table with non-discount and discount breakdowns, and a green savings callout showing how much you could save by using Specific ID.

Specific ID Guide

Specific ID: Complete Guide

What Is Specific Identification?

Specific Identification (Specific ID) is an accounting method that lets you choose exactly which Bitcoin lots to sell or donate, instead of following a fixed order like FIFO. This gives you direct control over your tax outcome for every disposition.

Why it matters: Different lots have different cost bases and holding periods. By picking the right lots, you can realise losses instead of gains, convert non-discount gains into discount-eligible gains (qualifying for the 50% CGT discount instead of being taxed at up to 47%), or pick high-basis lots to minimise your taxable gain. On a single sale, this can save hundreds or thousands of dollars.

5 Ways to Use Specific ID

Sovereign Tax gives you multiple ways to use Specific ID depending on your situation. Here's a quick overview — choose the approach that fits your workflow.

Method	When to Use	Where in the App
1. Optimize All	You have imported sells and want to batch-assign the best lots to all of them at once	Transactions → Optimize All button (top bar)
2. Edit Lots	You want to assign or change lot selections on a specific sell or donation after the fact	Transactions → click Lots button on any sell/donation row
3. Simulate → Record	You're planning a sale and want to pick lots in advance, then record the actual sale later	Simulate Sale → save selections → Add Transaction → Sell
4. Manual Lot Picking	You're recording a sale or donation and want to pick lots on the spot	Add Transaction → Sell or Donation → select Specific ID
5. Compare Methods	You want to see how much you'd save with Specific ID vs. FIFO before committing	Compare Methods view (Tax section in sidebar)

1. Optimize All (Batch Assignment)

The fastest way to switch from FIFO to Specific ID. In the Transactions view, click Optimize All in the top toolbar. The app analyzes every sell transaction for the selected year and automatically assigns the tax-optimal lots to each one.

The algorithm scores each available lot by its estimated tax impact: (sale price − cost basis) × tax rate, using 47% for non-discount and 23.5% for discount-eligible gains. Lots with losses are picked first (they generate tax savings), followed by lots with the smallest gains. Sales are processed chronologically so lot availability is accurate.

After optimization, each sell shows a blue "Lots ✓" indicator. You can review individual assignments by clicking the Lots button, and revert any or all of them.

2. Edit Lots (Per-Transaction)

Every sell and donation row in the Transactions view has a Lots button. Click it to open the Edit Lots modal, where you can assign or change Specific ID lot selections for that individual transaction.

The modal reconstructs the lot pool as it existed on the date of that transaction — accounting for all prior purchases and sales — so you see exactly which lots were available. It includes the full lot picker with sortable columns, colour-coded rows (green for discount-eligible, orange for non-discount), the Optimise button, and a preview of the tax impact before you save.

This is especially useful for CSV imports. When you import sell transactions from an exchange, they default to FIFO. You can go through each sell and assign Specific ID lots to optimize your tax outcome. See the Sales section for full details.

3. Simulate → Record Workflow

This is the recommended workflow when you're planning a sale that hasn't happened yet:

1. Simulate: Go to Simulate Sale, enter the amount, select Specific ID, and pick your lots (or click Optimize). Review the tax breakdown. Your selections are saved to your session.
2. Execute: Sell on your exchange. Note the final price and exact BTC amount.
3. Record: Go to Add Transaction → Sell. A blue banner appears: "You have saved lot selections from Simulation." Click Use Saved Selections to pre-fill your lot picks, enter the actual sale price, and record.

Saved selections persist for your current session and are cleared when you lock the app, close it, or record a sale. See the Sales section for step-by-step details with screenshots.

4. Manual Lot Picking

When recording a sale or donation in Add Transaction, select Specific ID as the accounting method. A Select Lots button appears. Click it to open the lot picker and manually choose which lots to use for this disposition. You can pick lots individually, enter custom amounts for partial lot sales, or click Optimize to auto-select the best ones.

5. Compare Methods

The Compare Methods view runs both FIFO and Optimal Specific ID on your data for the selected financial year and shows them side-by-side. You'll see a bar chart comparing total gain/loss, a breakdown table with non-discount and discount amounts, and a green savings callout showing the difference. If Specific ID produces a better outcome, you can apply it using Optimize All.

The Lot Picker

All Specific ID workflows use the same interactive lot picker. It shows your available lots with:

• Color-coded rows: Green background for discount-eligible lots (held > 12 months), orange for non-discount — so you can visually prioritise at a glance
• Sortable columns: Click any header (Date, Wallet, Available, Cost/BTC, Days Held, Term) to sort ascending/descending
• Optimize button: Auto-selects the lots that minimize your tax bill using per-lot tax scoring
• Wallet filtering: Filter lots by wallet for better organisation
• Real-time tracking: Target amount vs. selected amount updates as you check lots
• Custom amounts: Enter exact BTC amounts per lot for partial dispositions

Review

Review View

What It Is

The Review view is a guided tax preparation checklist that sits between your data import and your final tax report. It scans your transactions for the selected financial year and flags everything that needs attention — unassigned transfers, wallet mismatches, lot optimisation opportunities — and tells you when you're ready to lodge.

How it benefits you: Instead of checking Transactions, Holdings, and Tax Report separately for issues, the Review view puts everything in one place. Work through the sections top to bottom and you'll know your tax report is clean and ATO-compliant before you export.

The Four Sections

1. Unassigned Transfers

Shows Transfer In transactions for the selected year that have not been assigned a source wallet. Each row has an "Assign" button to open the Source Wallet Modal. The section count tells you how many transfers need attention. When all transfers are assigned, the section shows a green checkmark.

2. Wallet Mismatches

Shows sales and donations where the cost basis engine had to fall back to the global lot pool because no lots were found in the sale's wallet. This typically means a Transfer In hasn't been assigned its source wallet. The fix instructions point you to the specific Transfer In that needs attention. When all mismatches are resolved, the section shows a green checkmark.

3. Lot Optimization

Shows how many sells for the selected year are using FIFO vs. Specific ID, and estimates the potential tax savings from switching to Specific ID. If savings are available, you can click through to Transactions to run Optimize All. If all sells already have optimal lot selections (or no savings are possible), the section shows a green checkmark.

4. Ready to Lodge

A summary section that checks whether all previous sections are resolved. When everything is green, it confirms you're ready to export your tax report. It provides a direct link to the Tax Report view.

Tax Reports

Tax Reports & Lodging

What It Is

The Tax Report view is where everything comes together. It takes your imported transactions, applies your chosen accounting method, and generates a complete summary of your capital gains and losses for any financial year. You'll see total proceeds, total cost basis, net gain or loss, and a breakdown by non-discount and discount-eligible. From here, you export in the format you need for lodging.

How it benefits you: Instead of hiring a specialist or manually computing gains from dozens of trades, the Tax Report does it all automatically. You get an ATO-ready CGT Report in seconds — as a PDF you can print or a CSV for spreadsheets. Hand it to your accountant or lodge it yourself.

CGT Report

The CGT Report is used to report capital gains and losses from the disposal of CGT assets, including cryptocurrency. It has two parts:

• Non-discount gains: Capital gains and losses on assets held 12 months or less (no CGT discount)
• Discount-eligible gains: Capital gains on assets held more than 12 months (eligible for the 50% CGT discount)

Sovereign Tax generates CGT Report data automatically from your transaction history and accounting method. Select a financial year and export in your preferred format. The report automatically detects whether your sales use FIFO or Specific ID (or a mix) and labels the exports accordingly.

The Tax Report also includes an Optimize All button that batch-assigns tax-optimal Specific ID lots to all unassigned sells for the selected year — the same functionality available in the Transactions view. See the Specific ID Guide for details.

Non-Discount vs. Discount-Eligible

The holding period determines how your gain is classified:

• Non-discount: Held for 12 months or less. Capital gain is included in full in your assessable income (taxed at your marginal rate, up to 47%).
• Discount-eligible: Held for more than 12 months. Individual taxpayers receive a 50% CGT discount — only half the gain is included in assessable income.

The app calculates this per ATO guidelines, including proper handling of leap years and boundary dates.

Mixed-Term Sales

Sometimes a single sale uses lots from both non-discount and discount-eligible holding periods. Sovereign Tax automatically splits mixed-term sales into separate line items on the CGT Report — the non-discount portion is reported at full gain and the discount-eligible portion receives the 50% CGT discount.

Export Formats

The Tax Report view offers export options:

Format	Best For
CGT Report CSV	Standard format with non-discount / discount separation. For manual lodging or accountants.
Raw Data CSV	All sale data in a flat format with lot-level details. For record keeping.
PDF Report	Formatted CGT Report PDF. Ready to print or provide to your accountant.
Donation Report CSV	Charitable donation reference data with per-lot details and FMV. Only appears when you have donations.

Capital Loss Carryforward

In Australia, capital losses can only be offset against capital gains — they cannot be deducted against ordinary income. If your capital losses exceed your capital gains for the year, the unused losses are carried forward indefinitely to offset capital gains in future financial years. The app calculates this automatically and shows the carryforward amount.

Sales

Recording & Simulating Sales

These two views are your action center for Bitcoin dispositions. Whether you're planning a future sale or recording one that already happened, Sovereign Tax shows you exactly how it affects your taxes before you commit.

Simulate a Sale

What It Is

The Simulate Sale view is a tax calculator that lets you preview the exact consequences of a potential sale without recording anything. Think of it as a "what-if" sandbox for your Bitcoin taxes.

How to Use It

Enter the BTC amount and price (or use live price from CoinGecko), select an accounting method, and see:

• Total proceeds
• Cost basis
• Estimated gain or loss
• Whether it's non-discount or discount-eligible
• Which lots would be consumed

Simulations are clearly marked as "NOT A REAL TRANSACTION" and nothing is saved.

How it benefits you: Before you sell any Bitcoin, you can see the exact tax impact — down to which lots will be consumed, the holding period of each, and whether your gain qualifies for the CGT discount. This lets you time your sales strategically, potentially saving thousands in taxes by waiting for lots to reach the 12-month discount threshold.

Record a Sale

To record a sale, go to Add Transaction in the sidebar and select the Sell type. Enter the sale date, BTC amount, price per BTC (or use the live price toggle), wallet, and accounting method (FIFO or Specific ID). Click "Preview" to see the full tax breakdown before committing, then "Record Sale" to save. This:

• Creates a Sell transaction in your transaction history
• Creates a sale record with lot-level details
• Consumes the appropriate lots (reducing their remaining BTC)
• Appears in your Tax Report and CGT Report exports

If you used the Simulate → Record workflow, a blue banner will appear offering to pre-fill your lot selections.

Specific ID Lot Picking

When you select Specific ID as the accounting method for a sale or donation, you get an interactive lot picker where you choose exactly which lots to use. The picker shows color-coded rows (green for discount-eligible, orange for non-discount), sortable columns, an Optimise button that auto-selects the tax-optimal lots, and real-time amount tracking.

For the complete guide on Specific ID — including all 5 ways to use it, the lot picker, the Simulate → Record workflow, batch optimization, and retroactive lot editing — see the Specific ID Guide.

Live Price

Check the "Use live price" box to automatically fetch the current BTC price from CoinGecko. This requires an internet connection. The price is used for the simulation or sale — no personal data is sent.

Duplicate Sale Detection

If you try to record a sale that matches an existing sell transaction on the same day for a similar amount, the app warns you to prevent accidental duplicates. You can still proceed if the sale is intentional.

Charitable Donations

Charitable Donations

What It Is

Sovereign Tax supports charitable Bitcoin donations as a first-class transaction type. When you donate BTC to a deductible gift recipient (DGR), it is not a taxable sale — no capital gain or loss is recognised. Instead, you may be eligible for a tax deduction on your tax return based on the Fair Market Value (FMV) of the donated Bitcoin.

How it benefits you: Donating appreciated Bitcoin directly to a DGR can be more tax-efficient than selling first and donating cash. You avoid triggering capital gains tax on the appreciation, and you may deduct the FMV. Sovereign Tax tracks all the details you need for donation reporting.

How Donations Work

A donation consumes lots just like a sale, but with zero proceeds and zero gain/loss. The cost basis is still tracked because it affects your deduction:

• Discount-eligible donations (held > 12 months) — may be deductible at FMV when donated to a DGR
• Non-discount donations (held ≤ 12 months) — deduction may be limited to cost basis
• Mixed-term donations — the discount-eligible portion may be deductible at FMV, the non-discount portion at cost basis

Adding a Donation

Importing Donations from CSV

If your CSV file includes donation transactions, Sovereign Tax auto-detects them. The import engine recognizes keywords like "donation", "gift", "charitable", and "charity" in the type column and automatically classifies those rows as donations.

Donations in the Tax Report

Donations appear in a dedicated Charitable Donations section on the Tax Report, separate from taxable sales. This section shows:

• Total BTC donated
• Total Fair Market Value
• Total cost basis
• Per-donation details with holding period, lot breakdown, and applicable deduction information

Donations are excluded from the CGT Report since they are not taxable dispositions. Instead, use the Donation Report CSV export button to generate a reference file for your charitable contribution reporting.

Purple UI Treatment

Donations are visually distinct throughout the app with a purple theme. You'll see a purple heart indicator in the Transactions view, purple badges on donation dispositions in the Tax Report, and a purple-bordered card for the donation report section. This makes it easy to distinguish charitable donations from taxable sales at a glance.

Advanced Tools

Advanced Tools

These views go beyond basic tax reporting to give you strategic insights into your Bitcoin portfolio. Each tool is designed to help you make smarter decisions about when to sell, which method to use, and how to minimize your tax burden legally.

Method Comparison

What It Is

The Compare Methods view runs both FIFO and Optimal Specific ID on your data for the selected financial year and shows them side-by-side. A bar chart compares total gain/loss, a detailed table breaks down non-discount vs. discount-eligible, and a green savings callout highlights the difference.

How to Use It

Select a financial year and the view automatically computes both methods. If Specific ID shows savings, click Optimize All in the Transactions view to apply it. See the Specific ID Guide for the full workflow.

How It Benefits You

Choosing the right accounting method can save you significant money. This view quantifies exactly how much you'd save by switching from FIFO to Specific ID — no guesswork required.

Tax-Loss Harvesting

What It Is

The Tax-Loss Harvesting dashboard scans your portfolio for BTC lots that are currently trading below their cost basis. These represent unrealized losses that you could "harvest" by selling and immediately rebuying, locking in the loss for tax purposes to offset capital gains.

How to Use It

The view requires a live BTC price (fetched from CoinGecko) to calculate which lots are currently at a loss. Select a financial year and optionally a specific wallet to filter by. It shows:

• Total harvestable losses
• Your current year realised gains
• Net position after harvesting
• Estimated tax savings (at 47% marginal rate)

You can simulate harvesting all losing lots at the current price to see the full impact. The simulation respects your wallet selection — only lots from the selected wallet are included.

How it benefits you: Tax-loss harvesting is one of the most powerful legal tools for reducing your tax bill. By strategically selling lots at a loss, you can offset gains from other sales — potentially saving thousands of dollars. The wash sale rule does not currently apply to cryptocurrency under most interpretations, you can sell and immediately repurchase without the 30-day waiting period that applies to stocks.

Multi-Year Dashboard

What It Is

The Multi-Year Dashboard gives you a panoramic view of your Bitcoin tax history across every financial year you've been trading. It displays a bar chart with green bars (gains) and red bars (losses) for each year, plus a detailed table with non-discount, discount-eligible, and total columns.

How to Use It

Open the view and it automatically computes gains and losses for every financial year in your data. Year-over-year deltas help you spot trends — whether your gains are increasing, decreasing, or whether you have carryforward losses from prior years.

How it benefits you: Understanding your multi-year tax picture helps with planning. If you had large gains last year, you might prioritize harvesting losses this year. If you have capital loss carryforward from previous years, you can see how it offsets current-year gains. This view turns years of scattered trading activity into a clear financial picture.

Lot Maturity

What It Is

The Lot Maturity view is a countdown timer for each of your BTC lots, showing exactly when they cross the 12-month CGT discount threshold. It displays every lot with its purchase date, maturity date, days remaining, and a colour-coded status badge.

How to Use It

Open the view to see all your lots sorted by maturity date. Lots approaching the discount threshold are highlighted so you can decide whether to wait before selling.

How it benefits you: The difference between non-discount and discount-eligible tax treatment can be enormous. Non-discount gains are taxed at your full marginal rate (up to 47%), while discount-eligible gains receive the 50% CGT discount. If you have a lot that matures in 10 days, waiting those 10 days could save you thousands in taxes. This view makes that information impossible to miss.

Lots are colour-coded:

• Red — 30 days or less until discount-eligible
• Orange — 31 to 90 days
• Blue — 91+ days remaining (non-discount)
• Green — Already discount-eligible

Income Tracking

What It Is

The Income view aggregates all BTC received as mining income, staking rewards, hard forks, or interest for a given financial year. It shows the total BTC received, total fair market value in AUD at the time of receipt, and a breakdown by income type.

How to Use It

Select a financial year to see all income-type transactions for that period. You can export an Income CSV for your records.

How it benefits you: Mining income, staking rewards, and interest are taxed as ordinary income, which is reported differently from capital gains. This view separates that income automatically so you have the exact numbers you need for your tax return, without manually sifting through transactions.

Audit Log

What It Is

The Audit Log is a tamper-evident, timestamped record of every action you take in the app — imports, edits, deletions, recorded sales, PIN changes, and backups. Think of it as a digital paper trail that proves exactly what you did and when.

How to Use It

Open the Audit Log from the sidebar. You can filter entries by action type (import, edit, delete, sale, etc.) and export the entire log as a CSV for your records.

How it benefits you: If the ATO ever questions your tax lodgements, the audit log provides documentation showing how your data was entered and when. This level of record-keeping demonstrates due diligence and may support your position during an audit. The ATO requires you to keep records for at least 5 years after lodging your return.

Wallets & Transfers

Wallets & Transfers

This section addresses one of the most common questions Bitcoin holders have: "I bought BTC on an exchange and transferred it to my own wallet — how does that affect my taxes?" The short answer is that transfers between your own wallets are not taxable. Below is a detailed explanation of how wallet tracking, transfers, and reconciliation work.

Cost Basis Tracking

Australia uses a global lot pool for cost basis tracking. Unlike the US, there is no per-wallet requirement — you can use lots from any wallet when calculating your cost basis on a disposal.

Sovereign Tax still tracks lots by wallet for organisational purposes. This gives you better visibility into your portfolio and makes it easy to see where your BTC is held and what each lot cost you.

Transfers Are Not Taxable

Moving BTC between your own wallets or exchanges is not a taxable event. No gain or loss is realised. The cost basis of the BTC stays the same regardless of where it's stored.

For example, if you buy 1 BTC on CoinSpot at A$150,000 and transfer it to your cold storage wallet, the cost basis is still A$150,000 — it doesn't change because you moved it. The holding period also carries over, so time spent on the exchange counts toward the 12-month CGT discount threshold.

Source Wallet Assignment & Lot Re-Tagging

When you transfer BTC between wallets, the lots need to move too for accurate record-keeping. If you buy on Coinbase and transfer to cold storage, then later sell from cold storage, the app needs to know those lots originated from Coinbase so it can track them properly.

This is what Source Wallet Assignment does. You tell the app where each Transfer In came from, and the engine automatically re-tags the lots from the source wallet to the destination wallet — preserving cost basis and holding period.

How It Works

Why Source Wallet Assignment Cannot Be Automated

A common question is: "Why can't the app just figure out which wallet the BTC came from?" There are several fundamental reasons why this must be done manually:

• Exchange CSVs do not include destination information. When you withdraw BTC from Coinbase to your Trezor, Coinbase's CSV shows a "Transfer Out" — but it does not name the destination. It only records the on-chain address, which the app cannot map to a wallet name.
• Cold storage wallets often have no CSV at all. Hardware wallets (Trezor, Ledger, etc.) and self-custody setups typically do not produce importable transaction files. The Transfer In at the destination wallet is usually added manually.
• Only you know your wallet topology. The app sees wallet names as text labels ("Coinbase", "Trezor", "Cold Storage"), but it has no way to know which of your wallets are connected by real-world transfers. You might have multiple Coinbase accounts, wallets you share with a spouse, or intermediate hops (exchange → hot wallet → cold storage) that only you understand.
• On-chain data is not available. Sovereign Tax is a privacy-first desktop app — it does not connect to the blockchain. Even if it did, mapping on-chain addresses to named wallets is unreliable and privacy-invasive. The ATO requires you to maintain your own records of wallet-to-wallet movements.
• Transfer fees complicate matching. When you withdraw 0.5 BTC and the network fee takes 0.0001, the exchange CSV shows 0.5 BTC out but your cold storage receives 0.4999 BTC. These amounts don't match exactly, so even automated matching produces ambiguous results that need human confirmation.

This is why Sovereign Tax takes the explicit, user-driven approach: you tell the app where each Transfer In came from, and the engine handles the lot re-tagging automatically. This is more reliable than any automated guessing and gives you full control over your ATO records.

Smart Suggestions

While the assignment itself is manual, the app helps you make the right choice. When you click "Assign" on a Transfer In, the Source Wallet Modal shows smart suggestions based on the reconciliation engine's transfer matching:

• Green "Suggested" badge: A confident match was found — a Transfer Out from another wallet with a near-exact BTC amount within a 7-day window. This is almost certainly the correct source wallet.
• Yellow "Possible match" badge: A match was found but flagged — typically because of an unusually high implied fee between the outgoing and incoming amounts. Double-check before accepting.
• No badge: All other wallets are listed alphabetically. Pick the correct one based on your own records.

The suggestions save time by putting the most likely source wallet at the top of the list, but the final decision is always yours.

Exchange to Cold Storage: Step by Step

This is the most common transfer scenario. Here's the complete workflow, including the source wallet assignment:

Reconciliation View

What It Is

The Reconciliation view is your data integrity tool. It cross-references all your transfers to match outgoing withdrawals with incoming deposits, calculates per-exchange BTC balances, and flags potential issues in your data.

How to Use It

Open the Reconciliation view after importing from all your exchanges. Review the summary cards at the top, then check the details:

• Matched Transfers: A withdrawal from one exchange paired with a deposit at another, within a 7-day window and near-exact BTC amount match.
• Unmatched Outgoing: Withdrawals without a matching incoming transfer. Common for cold storage withdrawals — usually not a problem.
• Unmatched Incoming: Deposits without a matching outgoing transfer. May indicate a missing CSV import from the source exchange.
• Exchange Balances: Net BTC per exchange. A negative balance may indicate missing buy or transfer-in data.

How it benefits you: Incomplete data leads to incorrect tax reports. Reconciliation catches problems early — like a missing CSV import from an exchange you forgot about, or a negative balance that indicates missing purchases. Fixing these issues before lodging ensures your tax report is accurate and defensible.

Warnings & How to Fix Them

Sovereign Tax shows warnings when your transfer data is incomplete. Here's what each warning means and how to resolve it:

Red Banner: Unassigned Transfer In

Appears at the top of Transactions and Tax Report when one or more Transfer In transactions have not been assigned a source wallet.

• What it means: The engine cannot re-tag lots to the correct wallet. Lots stay in the source wallet, and any sale from the destination wallet may trigger a wallet mismatch.
• How to fix: In Transactions, find the red-highlighted Transfer In rows and click "Assign" to set the source wallet.

Yellow Banner: Wallet Mismatch

Appears at the top of Transactions and Tax Report when one or more sales used lots from a different wallet than the one the sale occurred in.

• What it means: The app fell back to a global lot pool because no lots were found in the selling wallet. This happens when BTC was transferred to a wallet but the Transfer In's source wallet was never assigned, so the lots were never re-tagged.
• How to fix: Find the Transfer In that moved BTC to the selling wallet, click "Assign", and select which wallet it came from. Once lots are re-tagged, the mismatch resolves.
• Note: While Australia uses a global lot pool (so this is not a compliance issue), fixing wallet mismatches ensures accurate record-keeping and cleaner reports.

Yellow Icons: Per-Sale Mismatch

Individual sale rows in Transactions and Tax Report show a yellow «⚠» icon when that specific sale used the global lot pool fallback.

• How to fix: Same as above — assign the source wallet on the relevant Transfer In.

Yellow Box in Edit Lots Modal

When editing lot selections for a sale whose wallet has no lots, the lot picker shows a yellow warning explaining that it's displaying lots from all wallets as a fallback. It includes the specific fix instructions.

Yellow Box in Optimize All Modal

When using Optimize All (in Transactions or Tax Report), if any sales triggered the wallet mismatch fallback, a yellow warning appears in the results modal showing how many were affected. You can still apply the optimizations, but the warning recommends fixing transfers first.

Export Area Warning

Before the export buttons in Tax Report, a yellow message appears when wallet mismatches are present. All exported documents (PDF, CSV) include a note about the affected sales.

Recommended Tax Preparation Workflow

For the most accurate and ATO-compliant tax report, follow this workflow in order:

Security

Security & Backup

What This Section Covers

Sovereign Tax is designed with a zero-trust security model. Your financial data never leaves your device, there are no user accounts to breach, and all sensitive data is encrypted with AES-256-GCM cryptography. The Settings view gives you full control over your security, privacy, backups, and display preferences.

Encryption

All sensitive data is encrypted with AES-256-GCM. Your PIN is used to derive an encryption key via PBKDF2 with 600,000 iterations — a widely-used standard in security applications.

The PIN itself is never stored. Only the encrypted salt is kept, which is useless without your PIN.

What Gets Encrypted

Data	Encrypted?
Transactions	Yes — AES-256-GCM
Recorded Sales	Yes — AES-256-GCM
Column Mappings	Yes — AES-256-GCM
Import History	Yes — AES-256-GCM
Audit Log	Yes — AES-256-GCM
Preferences (theme, method)	No — plaintext
Price Cache	No — plaintext

Changing Your PIN

You can change your PIN at any time from Settings. When you change your PIN, the app:

1. Decrypts all data with your old key
2. Derives a new encryption key from your new PIN
3. Re-encrypts all data with the new key

This is a seamless process — no data is lost.

Privacy Blur

Toggle "Hide Amounts" in Settings to blur all BTC and AUD values on screen. Useful when screen sharing, presenting, or using the app in public.

Backup & Restore

Create encrypted backups of all your data from Settings > Backup & Restore:

• Create Backup: Exports a .sovereigntax file containing all your transactions, sales, mappings, import history, audit log, and preferences.
• Restore Backup: Select a .sovereigntax file to restore. A confirmation dialog prevents accidental overwrites.

Theme

Choose between System (follows your OS preference), Light, and Dark themes in Settings.

Live BTC Price

The live price toggle fetches the current BTC price from CoinGecko. When disabled, the app operates fully offline. When enabled, only a simple price request is made — no personal data is sent.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I export my CSV from Amber?

Log in to Amber, go to Account > Transaction History > Export. Download the CSV file. Sovereign Tax auto-detects Amber's dual-column format (Input/Output Amount and Currency). Fiat-only rows like PayID Deposits are automatically skipped. Referral rewards are imported as Buy transactions.

How do I export my CSV from CoinSpot?

Log in to CoinSpot, go to Orders > Buy/Sell History and click Download CSV. CoinSpot CSVs use DD/MM/YYYY dates with AM/PM — Sovereign Tax handles this automatically. Only rows where the Market column contains "BTC/AUD" are imported (other coins are filtered out).

How do I export my CSV from HardBlock?

Log in to HardBlock, go to your transaction history and export as CSV. Sovereign Tax auto-detects HardBlock's dual-column format (Sent/Received Amount and Currency). The "Label" column is used for transaction type detection. Fiat-only deposit rows are automatically skipped.

How do I export my CSV from Coinbase or Kraken?

Coinbase: Go to Account > Statements (or Reports > Transaction history), select your date range, and download the CSV. Kraken: Go to History > Export, select "Ledgers" or "Trades". Both formats are auto-detected by Sovereign Tax.

My import shows "missing required fields"

This means one or more required columns haven't been mapped. You need Date, Amount, and either Price or Total at minimum. Use the dropdown menus next to each field to select the matching column from your CSV. Once all required fields are mapped, the warning will clear and you can import.

Why does Reconciliation show a negative exchange balance?

A negative balance means you have more BTC going out (sells + transfers out) than coming in (buys + transfers in) for that exchange. This usually indicates missing import data — check if there are older purchase CSVs you haven't imported yet.

What happens if I change my accounting method?

All tax calculations are recalculated instantly based on the new method. This does not affect previously recorded sales (which store the method that was used at the time of recording). You can freely switch between methods while exploring, but the ATO expects consistency within a financial year when lodging.

Can I import from multiple exchanges?

Yes. Import each exchange's CSV separately. The app merges all transactions and handles cost basis tracking across exchanges automatically. Duplicates are detected and skipped.

How do transfers affect my cost basis?

Transfers between your own wallets are non-taxable movements. The cost basis and holding period stay exactly the same. For accurate record-keeping, the lots are re-tagged to the destination wallet when you assign a source wallet on a Transfer In — see Wallets & Transfers for the step-by-step guide.

What is a mixed-term sale?

When a single sale uses lots from both non-discount and discount-eligible holding periods. For example, selling 1 BTC where 0.6 BTC was held for 8 months (non-discount) and 0.4 BTC was held for 2 years (discount-eligible). Sovereign Tax automatically splits these into separate line items on the CGT Report.

Where is my data stored?

All data is stored locally in your browser's localStorage, encrypted with AES-256-GCM. Nothing is ever sent to any server. There is no cloud, no account, and no telemetry. Your data lives on your machine and nowhere else.

How do I update the app?

Go to Settings > About > Check for Updates. If a new version is available, you'll see the release notes and a link to download the latest version from au.sovereigntax.io.

What if I lose my PIN?

Your data cannot be recovered without the PIN. This is by design — there are no backdoors, no cloud recovery, and no "forgot PIN" option. We recommend writing your PIN down and storing it securely. If you created a backup file before losing your PIN, you can restore from that backup after clearing the app data.

How do I record a charitable Bitcoin donation?

Go to Add Transaction, select the Donation type, enter the date, BTC amount, and Fair Market Value per BTC on the date of donation. Choose an accounting method (or use Specific ID to pick exact lots), preview which lots will be consumed, and save. The donation appears in the Tax Report's Charitable Donations section with a donation report CSV export.

Are Bitcoin donations taxable?

No. Donating BTC to a deductible gift recipient (DGR) is not a taxable event — no capital gain or loss is recognised. Instead, you may claim a tax deduction. Sovereign Tax tracks these details automatically and exports them in a donation report.

What is Fair Market Value (FMV) and why is it required for donations?

FMV is the price the Bitcoin would sell for on the open market on the date of donation. It's required because the ATO uses FMV to determine your charitable deduction amount. When adding a donation, enter the FMV per BTC on that specific date. You can fetch the historical price from CoinGecko if live pricing is enabled.

Does Sovereign Tax support other cryptocurrencies?

No. Sovereign Tax is Bitcoin-only by design. If you import a CSV with other cryptos (ETH, SOL, etc.), those rows are automatically filtered out. Only BTC and XBT transactions are processed.

Can I undo a recorded sale?

Yes. Go to Transactions, find the sell transaction, and click Del > Delete. The lots consumed by that sale are automatically restored — the cost basis engine rebuilds from all remaining transactions, so deleting a sale puts your lots back exactly as they were before. The deletion is recorded in the Audit Log.

How do I use Specific ID to choose which lots to sell?

There are 5 ways to use Specific ID in Sovereign Tax: Optimize All (batch-assign optimal lots in Transactions), Edit Lots (per-transaction in Transactions), the Simulate → Record workflow, manual lot picking in Add Transaction, and Compare Methods to see savings. The fastest path is to open Compare Methods, see the savings, then click Optimize All. See the Specific ID Guide for the complete walkthrough.

Can I assign Specific ID lot selections to sells I already imported?

Yes. Go to Transactions, find any sell or donation, and click the "Lots" button. This opens the Edit Lots Modal, which shows you the exact lots that were available at the time of that transaction. Select your lots, preview the tax impact, and save. The sale will use your Specific ID election in all future tax calculations. You can also click "Revert to FIFO" to remove an existing election.

Important note: The ATO requires that you maintain adequate records to identify which parcels were disposed of. Ensure your lot selection method is consistent and defensible. If you did not document Specific ID elections at the time of the original transaction, FIFO may be a safer default for those sales.

What does "Assign Source Wallet" mean on Transfer In rows?

When you record a Transfer In (BTC arriving at a wallet), the app needs to know where it came from so it can re-tag the lots to the correct wallet for accurate record-keeping. The "Assign" button opens a modal where you select the source exchange or wallet. For example, if you withdrew from Amber to your Trezor, you'd click Assign on the Trezor Transfer In and select "Amber". The engine then moves Amber's lots to Trezor, preserving cost basis and holding period.

How do I fix wallet mismatch warnings?

Wallet mismatch warnings (yellow banners and icons) appear when a sale used lots from a different wallet because no lots were found in the selling wallet. The fix is:

1. Go to Transactions
2. Find the Transfer In that moved BTC to the wallet you sold from (look for red-highlighted rows)
3. Click the "Assign" button on that Transfer In
4. Select which wallet the BTC came from
5. Click Save

Once lots are re-tagged to the correct wallet, the mismatch warnings disappear and your records are accurate.

What is lot re-tagging?

Lot re-tagging is what happens when you assign a source wallet on a Transfer In. The cost basis engine finds the lots in the source wallet (in FIFO order), and re-tags them to the destination wallet. If the transfer is a partial amount, lots are split proportionally. The cost basis per BTC and the original purchase date carry over — nothing changes except which wallet the lot belongs to. This ensures accurate record-keeping for ATO purposes.

Why is the exchange name required when importing?

The exchange name you enter during import becomes the wallet tag for all transactions in that CSV, helping you organise your records. It also saves your column mapping for faster future imports. Use consistent naming across all CSVs from the same exchange (e.g., always "Coinbase", not sometimes "coinbase").

What if I have transfers but no Transfer In recorded?

If you withdrew BTC from an exchange to cold storage but only imported the exchange CSV (which shows a Transfer Out), you need to also record the Transfer In at the destination. Go to Add Transaction, select Transfer In, enter the same BTC amount and date, and specify your cold storage wallet name. Then assign the source wallet on that Transfer In row. Without the Transfer In, the app cannot re-tag lots and may show wallet mismatch warnings when you sell from cold storage.

How do I clear all my data and start over?

Go to Settings > Data > Clear All Data. This permanently deletes all transactions, sales, mappings, and history. You'll be prompted to confirm. Consider creating a backup first.

Why can't the app automatically detect which wallet my BTC came from?

Exchange CSVs do not include destination wallet information — a Coinbase withdrawal just shows "Transfer Out" with an on-chain address. Cold storage wallets often have no CSV at all. And only you know your own wallet topology (which wallets connect to which). The app cannot reliably guess, so you assign the source wallet manually. The app does provide smart suggestions based on amount and timing matching to speed up the process. See Wallets & Transfers for the full explanation.

I used FIFO in prior years. Should I switch to Specific ID now?

Keep prior years as FIFO. If you lodged using FIFO (or never made Specific ID elections at the time of sale), those years should remain FIFO in the app. Retroactively assigning Specific ID lots to past-year sells is generally not recommended. You can start using Specific ID for current and future year sells by making the election at or before the time of sale. Use the year selector to verify each prior year is clean.

What is the Review view?

The Review view is a guided tax preparation checklist. It scans your data for the selected financial year and flags four categories of issues: unassigned transfers, wallet mismatches, lot optimisation opportunities, and overall readiness to lodge. Work through each section from top to bottom. When all four sections show green checkmarks, your tax report is clean and ready to export. See Review View for details.

What does the green "Suggested" badge mean when assigning a source wallet?

When you click "Assign" on a Transfer In, the Source Wallet Modal shows smart suggestions from the reconciliation engine. A green "Suggested" badge means a confident match was found — another wallet had a Transfer Out with a near-exact BTC amount within a 7-day window. A yellow "Possible match" badge means a match was found but flagged (usually due to an unusually high implied fee). Wallets without a badge are listed alphabetically for manual selection.

What happens if I edit or delete a Buy transaction that has Specific ID elections?

When you edit a Buy transaction in a way that affects lot eligibility (amount decreased, wallet changed, type changed) or delete it entirely, the app automatically invalidates all Specific ID elections that reference that Buy as a lot source. You'll see a warning directing you to re-assign lots via the Edit Lots button on the affected sells. This prevents stale lot references from producing incorrect tax calculations.

Why does Tax-Loss Harvesting have a wallet filter?

The wallet filter on the Tax-Loss Harvesting view lets you see per-wallet harvest opportunities for better organisation. The "All Wallets" view gives a portfolio-wide overview. In Australia, you can use lots from any wallet when harvesting losses since the ATO uses a global lot pool.