Disclaimer: This article is intended as an informative piece. This is not accounting or tax advice. Please speak to a qualified tax professional about your specific circumstances before acting upon any of the information in this article.
You can account for spouse or civil partner transfers in Recap by either using the Activity screen or by importing transactions into a Custom Account via a CSV file.
⚠️ This guide covers UK no gain/no loss transfers between spouses or civil partners. The treatment generally applies where you are married or in a civil partnership and living together. If you are separated, divorced, dissolving a civil partnership, or unsure whether the rules apply, speak to a tax adviser before using this transaction type.
Add only the side of the transfer that applies to you: Send Gift (Spouse) if you are the sender, or Receive Gift (Spouse) if you are the recipient. Never add both sides of the same transfer to one person's Recap account.
Using the activity screen:
Navigate to the Activity screen and click the +Add Transaction button in the top right corner.
From the transaction type dropdown menu, select either Receive Gift (Spouse) or Send Gift (Spouse) then choose the appropriate account to add the transaction to using the Account dropdown menu. Click Next.
Enter the required details, including date and the amount of the gift.
Note that for Receive Gift (Spouse) transactions, you must also enter the Gift Value. This is the allowable acquisition cost attributed to the gifted asset, including any allowable costs. Under HMRC's no gain/no loss rules, this amount becomes your acquisition cost for the asset. It is not the market value on the date of the transfer.
If your spouse or civil partner is using Recap, this amount can be found in the 'Gift Disposals' section of their downloadable Capital Gains Report.
Click Next to add the transaction to Recap.
Using a custom account:
Prepare Your CSV File by following the detailed instructions in our custom account guide.
Import Your CSV File:
Sign in to Recap and go to the 'Accounts' screen.
Click the 'Add Account' button.
Choose 'Custom' and press 'Next'.
Give the account a name (you can change this later).
Scroll to your new account, press the cog icon, and choose 'Import Recap CSV'.
Select the file and press 'Import'.
Example transaction for sending a Spouse gift:
Type | Date | OutOrSellAmount | OutOrSellCurrency | FeeAmount | FeeCurrency |
Spouse | 2019-12-25T12:22:22Z | 0.1 | BTC | 0.0001 | BTC |
ValueAmount is the total allowable acquisition cost for the whole amount received, not a per-unit value. In the example below, the recipient received 400 ADA with a total allowable acquisition cost of 140 GBP.
Example transaction for receiving a spouse or civil partner gift:
Type | Date | InOrBuyAmount | InOrBuyCurrency | ValueAmount
| ValueCurrency |
Spouse | 2022-05-28T08:23:32Z | 400 | ADA | 140 | GBP |
Understanding ValueAmount and ValueCurrency
These fields are only used when receiving a spouse or civil partner gift. Enter the allowable acquisition cost attributed to the gifted asset, including any allowable costs. Under HMRC's no gain/no loss rules, this amount becomes your acquisition cost for the asset; it is not the market value on the date of the transfer.
For example, if your spouse or civil partner gifts you 1 BTC with an allowable acquisition cost of 5,000 GBP, you would enter 5000 in the ValueAmount column and GBP in the ValueCurrency column.
A few things to be aware of:
When you send a gift to your spouse or civil partner, Recap automatically applies HMRC's no gain/no loss treatment and calculates the disposal proceeds required to produce a gain of £0, so there is no value to specify.
If your spouse or civil partner also uses Recap, the correct figure to use is shown in the Gift Disposals section of their downloadable Capital Gains Report. If a fee was paid on the transfer, use that figure rather than adjusting it yourself: it already reflects Recap's no gain/no loss calculation.
Common mistakes to avoid
Don't use the market value on the date of the transfer as the ValueAmount: use the no gain/no loss acquisition cost.
Don't include thousands separators or currency symbols: use 5000, not 5,000 or £5,000.
Don't enter a ValueAmount when sending a spouse or civil partner gift: it is ignored.
Don't add both sides of the same transfer to one person's Recap account.
Don't use this transaction type for gifts to unmarried partners, friends, family or charities: use the Gift or Donation types instead.
Keep evidence of how the acquisition cost was calculated in case you need to support the figures later.