Hi,
Hypothetically speaking, I am not content with the church taxes (reformiert) I am paying each year, and would like to excuse myself from this obligation. How would I go about this?
(in the name of the….)
Thanks for advice!
ding ding ding
Quite esay to find the answer online 
Steht Ihr Entscheid dennoch fest, müssen Sie Ihre Austrittserklärung handschriftlich unterzeichnet – also per Post – der Kirchgemeinde Ihres Wohnortes einreichen. Sie werden dann von dort eine Bestätigung erhalten.
Translation: letter with hand written signature to the church of the place you are living.
Source: Mitgliedschaft | Reformierte Kirche Kanton Zürich
Your friend is a stingy c*nt!
Kidding. Ja, quite simple to do, link has already been posted. Good luck.
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I am currently testing what happens if you click ‘Keine Konfession’ in the tax declaration without formally exiting church.
Either I get charged no church tax any more and then no declaration is needed or the selection in the tax declaration is useless. I would bet on the latter outcome.
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We need thorough testing, though: once you really formally exit church, please unclick ‘Keine Konfession’ in the tax declaration and select either Catholic or Protestant. Please report back here.
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Checking the box the right way works well when moving to a new place. Either when joining/returning from abroad or just by relocating. There does not seem to be a process to check for plausibility.
Wrong. You need to go to the city borough and they will ask you what’s your religion. There you can say none. The checkbox on the taxes is basically useless, or maybe as @Your_Full_Name want to test, it’s used only if you don’t have a religion but pick that you do.
Well, just because nobody notices it doesn’t automatically make it legal. It really is just a simple letter… it’s not rocket science to leave the church. At least that’s how it was in my case.
It took 10 minutes max.
When exiting church, they might write back that they want to talk to you first, that they need reasons for your exit, or that they need to know time and place of your baptism; and before that happens, they won’t process your exit and hence it is not legally valid.
If that happens, you can kindly inform them that:
- Their conditions are illegal and your notice was enough, and you will take legal steps if they don’t comply
- they will increase their chances to go to hell for the way they behave (probably very effective considering the recipient)
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I did quit church while living in one place CantonA. After I moved back to where I grew up Canton B. Filled all forms correctly. when tax declaration came my formerly confession was declared. Could‘nt undo it. At the Gemeinde they told me I should have said that explicit, that I changed confession while living at another place (they never ask for it) according to them.
Took some weeks of frequent mails and calls between me, the gemeinde, and the cantonal bureau to get right in the tax declaration software.
Long story short. If your friend quit, make sure to keep some proof in case you were re-included without being asked.
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Slightly related, has anyone reclaimed the communal part of the church tax in canton VD?
For those unaware, there’s no religion box to tick when registering in VD, the religion tax is automatically taken from the general taxes with no “easy” way to opt out.
There is however the possibility to request the reimbursement of the communal part of the tax if you’re unaffiliated with a recognised religion.
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It doesn’t seem very difficult, see these leaflets for Lausanne and Morges, but the recoverable amount is only about 0.2% of the communal taxes. Note the reimbursement method, you need a communal tax bill above 25’000.- to get 50.- via IBAN, below that you have to collect it in person at the office 
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Goodness that sounds more like France than Switzerland. Vive la Deutschschweiz.
Nah thanks all. I appreciate the feedback and banter. Look the friend is actually my Mrs and I’m the one doing the tax return. We had a chat and decided although it’s almost 1k a year, it’s probably doing some good in the community so we’ll just stick with it.
I’m down as „keine confession“ after telling them I was loyal to the good old Church of England and after some back and forth they let me off with that. 500 each a year I can live with
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Everybody should be glad that leaving the church doesn’t come with being burnt at the stake, anymore!
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Haha yeah I was tempted to say earlier that I believe it used to be much more complicated in the past.
Tout montant non perçu à l’expiration de ce délai est réputé abandonné. Il sera versé à titre de don du contribuable au Fonds du 700ème anniversaire de la Confédération dont la vocation est d’apporter une aide solidaire aux lausannois les plus démunis
I guess if you really want to stick it to the church, you can ask for it and never collect.
Thanks for the links, I had checked the procedure before, but never realised it was so little. At my income it would probably barely cover the cost of sending the letter.