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Are you thinking about leaving the church? No matter how you came to this decision, there are some aspects to consider.
In this post you will learn 5 important Consequencesthat you should urgently consider if you want to buy a Church exit Switzerland-wide. Should you stick to your decision, there is a Church Exit Template for download. In addition, there is some food for thought on what you can do with the saved church taxes.
Let's start directly with important aspects and the church leaving consequences.
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You must notify your parish in writing when you leave the church. A letter is sufficient for this, since there is no specific requirement for a form.
Be sure to use the correct address of your church's governing authority. The Date of your departure from the church is the date on which your Writing at the Parish arrives. A Registered mail can therefore help, but is not mandatory.
If your municipality requires the signature to be notarized, you can do this at the office. A Justification to leave the church you must not specify.
Once your exit from the church is successfully completed, your parish will confirm the exit to the associated Residents' Office.
Whether you are Roman Catholic or Protestant Reformed, we have prepared two Church Leaving Switzerland templates for you to leave the church. You can customize the Word templates with your data and then send them to the appropriate church.
Here you get the free Templates.
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If you want to leave the church, you can do this very easily. However, consider the consequences, for example, if you have children of your own or want to become a godfather or godmother.
If you leave the church, think about what you will do with the money you save. You can, for example, look for another charitable institution, donate to it and deduct the donations from your taxes.
Which organization would you support first as an alternative or in addition to the church? Feel free to leave a comment!
Yes, this is still allowed.
In the Catholic and Reformed churches, this may be possible after consultation with the pastor.
As a withholding taxpayer, you must communicate your departure from the church not only to the church, but also to the tax office of your employer. Your employer will forward your resignation to the tax office. Therefore, you cannot leave the church without the knowledge of your employer.
Here is a Article on the use of church taxes.
Be sure to follow your local church's guidelines, address your letters correctly, and use certified mail if necessary.
3 responses
Unfortunately, there is no central deregistration option from the church, there are somehow more than 1000 parishes and depending on the canton it can be different. I (already left) find these tips useful
It's a joke that you have to write to the church to change your denomination at the residents' registration office, and you'd think that in the 21st century you'd be able to change that at some point directly at the municipal counter.
I left the church many years ago,
I am happy to donate to the foundation of the Zurich Children's Hospital, the Eleonorenstiftung, where the money is well invested.
Thanks for sharing, Annabella!