Church tax

Kirchensteuer, or church tax, may be charged to members of religious communities recognised as public-law corporations. The rules and rate depend on the Land. If you want to leave your community, check the local procedure; church tax is not a fee charged by the registration office.

In short

• Kirchensteuer depends on being recorded in the official tax lists as a member of a religious community recognised as a public-law body. Attending a service does not by itself create it, and rarely attending does not by itself avoid it.
• The rate follows Land rules. Check your tax assessment and the applicable Land tax information.
• Leaving follows the Land procedure for Kirchenaustritt. A letter to the Finanzamt alone is not the exit, and withholding can continue until the lists change.
• Registering your address at the Bürgeramt does not cancel the tax.
• Your tax class does not determine whether you owe church tax; your recorded affiliation matters.

What you need to know

Article 140 of the Basic Law makes Articles 136, 137, 138, 139, and 141 of the Weimar Constitution part of the Basic Law. Article 137 (6) of that older text says that religious communities which are corporations under public law are entitled to levy taxes on the basis of the civil tax lists, according to Land law.

Membership of such a community is what the Land rules use to decide who pays. The registration record and the tax office usually show a religious affiliation because Article 137 ties the tax to those lists. You do not owe the tax merely because you attend a service, and you do not avoid it merely because you rarely attend, if the list still shows you as a member.

The rate follows Land rules, so confirm it with your Land tax authority. Different Länder can use different percentages of income tax. Your payslip may show a church-tax line if your employer withholds it alongside wage tax. Whether it is withheld that way, and at what percentage, depends on the Land and the affiliation in your tax data. Your tax class does not create the tax; your recorded affiliation matters.

Leaving the community follows the applicable Land procedure. Use the official Kirchenaustritt service finder and select the place where you live. Check that entry for the competent office, accepted procedure, documents, fee and effective date before booking or filing. After the exit is recorded, the tax lists change; withholding can continue until they change. Follow the exit procedure shown for your locality: a letter to the Finanzamt alone does not replace it.

Article 136, which Article 140 also incorporates, says that civil rights do not depend on religious practice, and that no one may be forced to take part in a religious act. The tax is a consequence of membership of a public-law community, not a test of belief at the Bürgeramt.

What to do

1. Look at your wage slip and your tax assessment for a church-tax line. If there is none, and you have never been recorded as a member, there may be nothing to do.
2. If a line appears and you do not regard yourself as a member, ask the authority that holds the affiliation data which community is recorded. Do not guess the percentage from another Land.
3. If you want to leave, open the official Kirchenaustritt service finder, select your locality and follow its procedure. Keep the certificate. Supply it to the tax office if the local instructions require it.
4. Check the next wage slip against the date the Land rule uses. If church tax is still withheld, use the official service for changing church-tax withholding, select your locality and follow the contact and correction instructions. Keep the certificate available when asking about the tax data or assessment.

Common mistakes

• Stating 8 percent or 9 percent as the German rate. Those figures are Land choices. Article 137 (6) does not contain them.
• Expecting the Bürgeramt registration of your address to cancel church tax. Address registration and exit from a religious community are different acts.
• Ignoring a church-tax line on your payslip if you think it is wrong. Corrections go through the tax data and the assessment.