You are resident in Austria and are selling a property in Germany. Someone says that because an exemption from tax applies in Germany, Austria will automatically tax the sale instead. Another person claims that with a German exemption you no longer need to consider anything in Austria. Both short statements leave the concrete cross-border examination open.
This article prepares exactly this constellation for qualified tax advice. It neither determines your residence nor a German exemption and does not provide a complete presentation of the double taxation agreement.
Write down the actual tax case
Our editorial recommendation: Compile the persons involved, the location of the property, acquisition and use data and the planned time of sale. Add what the assumed German exemption is actually based on: a professional opinion, an already existing assessment or hitherto only a private assumption.
Residence, domestic tax liability and classification under the treaty are separate questions. The possession of an Austrian registered address is not used in this article as the conclusive residence decision. The advice requires the real facts and may request further documents.
Read an official classification with its narrow case reference
The Austrian BMF deals in EAS 3457 of 30 July 2025 with the sale of a German property by a taxpayer resident in Austria. It distinguishes an internal German tax exemption where the treaty qualification is the same from a qualification conflict and for the described case applies the Austrian exemption method with progression reservation. [BMF-EAS3457]
Article 13 paragraph 1 of the DTA covers the described gain on the disposal of immovable property in the other Contracting State. Article 23 paragraph 2 governs Austrian relief including reservation of the tax rate, paragraph 3 the deviation referred to there. [DBA-13] [DBA-23] The EAS ruling classifies the specific non-taxation case in this context; it is not a personal tax commitment. No individual obligation to declare, its cessation or an additional tax amount is determined here. The remaining treaty and domestic requirements remain the subject of your concrete advice.
Present an invented contradiction in an orderly manner
A seller receives a reasoned German assessment regarding a possible exemption. In a conversation in Austria she instead hears only that non-taxation in both countries could not be correct. She does not simply choose the statement that is more favourable to her.
She submits the acquisition and usage documents, the German rationale and the specific Austrian objection together to cross-border competent tax advice. The advice should explain whether indeed the same qualification and which personal facts underlie it. The example does not decide whether the seller is entitled to the exemption.
Explicitly request the required results
Ask which tax declarations and proofs are required in both states for the actual transaction. Who assumes which examination and which confirmation is still needed? A reference to a DTA does not replace every national declaration and no foreign technical term replaces an understandable answer.
Also record which data and periods the advice uses. For an inherited or gifted property older documents may be required; the article does not establish a new general period for this.
Reuse the result with its limits
For your own proceeds planning only the correspondingly classified status is then used. An open foreign tax question remains visible, instead of being replaced by a self-chosen zero or a precautionarily invented double burden.
This allows the tax advice to assess the cross-border case on its actual foundations. The possible German exemption is neither dismissed across the board nor declared, without examination, to fully resolve all Austrian questions.