Joint Bitcoin Wallet Does Not Equal Equal Ownership for Tax Purposes

A married couple manages their Bitcoin together on a hardware wallet, but this does not automatically mean each spouse owns 50 percent of the Bitcoin for tax purposes.

In Austria, attributing an asset turns on beneficial ownership and the overall picture of the actual circumstances.

The fact that both spouses know the seed or private key does not in itself prove ownership is split in half for tax purposes.

What can matter includes who bought the Bitcoin, whose assets financed the purchase, who is allowed to decide on sales, who benefits economically from gains and losses, and what arrangements exist between the spouses.