Wohn-Riester was used for your previous German owner-occupied home and a Wohnförderkonto exists. You now want to sell. Besides the sale itself, the cessation of previous owner-occupation must be classified. The proceeds received into the bank account and the Wohnförderkonto kept for tax purposes are different quantities.
This article deals with the specific change of ownership on sale. Whether a new Riester withdrawal for an initial purchase is possible is a separate matter.
Make the subsidy visible in the initial situation
Our editorial recommendation: Present contract data, available Wohnförderkonto balance and the previous use to tax advice. Describe when you intend to move out and transfer ownership and whether another owner-occupied home is already planned. A later purchase not yet confirmed remains marked as an intention.
The advice needs the actual sequence. An initially planned new flat may be cancelled, a move may be brought forward. Such changes are not reported only after completion of all property transactions.
Cessation of ownership is a separate legal question
§ 92a paragraph 3 EStG governs the notification of a cessation of owner-occupation that is not only temporary and also covers the relinquishment of ownership. The provision generally provides for the dissolution of the Wohnförderkonto and corresponding tax treatment of the amounts recorded; it also contains exceptions and further conditions. [ESTG-92a]
Therefore this article does not equate the entire sale proceeds with an immediately taxable amount nor does it claim that the sale will have no consequences for the Wohnförderkonto. The specific notification, the correct recipient and the individual treatment are clarified on the basis of the contract and life-stage situation.
A new dwelling is a conditional possibility
Paragraph 3 describes, subject to conditions, a use for another eligible dwelling or a payment into a certified pension contract. This includes certain time periods and notifications of the reinvestment intention and its further course. [ESTG-92a]
Have the conditions and concrete deadlines applicable to your chosen variant explained and recorded. An intended follow-up purchase or any private savings plan is not confirmed here as sufficient fulfilment. The article does not provide a deadline calculated for your case nor a general guarantee of transfer.
An illustrative sale with an open follow-up purchase
An owner plans the sale and wishes to use part of the proceeds for another home. His initial overview treats the remaining amount as completely freely available after loan repayment. The Wohn-Riester documents are filed in a separate pension folder.
He brings both transactions together for advice. He has the initial position and possible routes explained and reports the actually chosen intention in the appropriate procedure. If the flat search is delayed or he gives it up, the development is reported subsequently.
The result is a sales plan with a professionally explained Wohnförderkonto and comprehensible follow-up tasks. Only on this basis does he decide on the use of the proceeds. An as-yet unexamined hope of a later purchase does not become an implicit tax assumption of his sale today.