In Germany, simply being a member of a church means 8-9% of your income tax amount is deducted from your salary as "church tax." The collector is not the church but the state (Land) tax office. It is a system, in place for over 100 years since the Weimar Constitution, in which the state collects religious communities' "membership fees" on their behalf. In 2025, about 660,000 people filed their withdrawal at government offices — yet church tax revenue stood at about 12.8 billion euros (about 2.3 trillion yen), a record-high level. We sort out the system's design and history, similar arrangements in the Nordic countries and Italy, and how it differs from Japan's design of "tax exemption for religious corporations," from primary sources. This is not an article passing judgment on religion itself.
How it works: the state tax office collects an extra 8-9% of your income tax
Germany's church tax (Kirchensteuer) is paid only by members of religious communities recognized as "public-law corporations" — the Catholic Church, the Protestant regional churches (EKD members), Jewish communities and others. Non-members pay nothing at all.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Who pays | Members of religious communities recognized as public-law corporations (based on the fact of baptism or joining) |
| Rate | 9% of your income tax amount (8% in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg) |
| How it is collected | Withheld at source from salary (deducted together with income tax). Banks also automatically add it to capital income such as interest and dividends |
| Who collects | The state (Land) tax office (churches pay the state a collection fee of roughly 2-4% of the revenue) |
| How to leave | You file your withdrawal not with the church but with a government office (the civil registry office or local district court, depending on the state). Fees range from free to about 35 euros |
Note that it is 8-9% of your income tax amount, not 8-9% of your income. Official church explanations put the actual burden at roughly 1% of income.
Example (in a 9% state)
Someone paying 4,000 euros a year in income tax → church tax is 4,000 euros × 9% = 360 euros a year (about 65,000 yen)
* Church tax is deductible from income as a special expense, so the effective burden is slightly lighter than this.
In payroll, the employer deducts it together with income tax based on the registered religious affiliation and passes it on to the church via the tax office. Employees almost never pay it themselves. German payslips have a line for church tax (KS), right alongside the "childless surcharge" of long-term care insurance, which is likewise deducted at source.
Why it exists: the churches' "right to tax" written into the Weimar Constitution
The starting point is 1803. In the era of the Napoleonic Wars, the "Final Recess of the Imperial Deputation" let the princes confiscate (secularize) church lands, and in return a framework emerged in which the state supported church finances. Through the 19th century the individual states enacted church tax laws, and in 1919 Article 137 of the Weimar Constitution made it explicit: religious communities that are public-law corporations may levy taxes on the basis of the civil tax rolls. Article 140 of the 1949 Basic Law (the current constitution) carried this provision over unchanged, and it remains in force today.
"There is no state church. But state and church cooperate" — Germany's church-state relationship is an intermediate model in which the state keeps its distance from the churches while cooperating on matters such as collection on their behalf and the establishment of theology faculties. Church tax is designed not as "the state handing tax money to religious communities" but as "membership fees paid by members, which the state collects on their behalf for a fee."
- The right to tax belongs to the religious community itself; the state merely administers it on the community's behalf
- That is precisely why only members are liable — and once you withdraw, the taxation stops
- On the basis of the same constitutional provision, Jewish communities and others besides the Catholic and Protestant churches also levy church tax (cultural tax)
Today: 660,000 people leave per year, yet revenue is at record highs
Church tax now stands at a major turning point. The figures published in church statistics (German Bishops' Conference and EKD) line up as follows.
- Membership: at the end of 2025, about 19.22 million Catholics plus about 17.40 million EKD (Protestant) members = about 36.62 million people, 43.8% of the population. Members of the two major churches now make up less than half the population
- Withdrawals: in 2025, about 660,000 people (about 307,000 Catholic, about 350,000 EKD) formally filed their withdrawal — a high level following about 670,000 in 2024
- Revenue: even so, 2025 church tax revenue came to 6.75 billion euros for the Catholic Church (about 1.2 trillion yen, +1.9% year on year) and about 6.09 billion euros for the EKD (about 1.1 trillion yen), a combined total of about 12.84 billion euros. Even as membership declines, wages and income tax keep rising, so nominal revenue keeps growing (in real, inflation-adjusted terms it is shrinking, and the long-term outlook is for falling revenue)
Leaving the church (Kirchenaustritt) is a legal procedure at a government office, not at the church. Depending on the state, you appear in person at the civil registry office (in Bavaria, for example) or the local district court (in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example). Fees range from free in some states to about 35 euros (about 6,300 yen) in others, and charging money to leave has itself become a point of debate from the standpoint of freedom of religion. In most states, membership ends at the end of the month in which you file, and church tax stops from the following month. Note that after leaving, church weddings, funerals and the like may be restricted (the treatment depends on each church's internal rules).
Similar systems worldwide: Nordic "member taxation" and Italy's "taxpayer designation"
Systems in which the state is involved in religious finance are not rare in Europe. They fall broadly into three types.
| Country | System | Approximate burden |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Members only; state tax office collects on the churches' behalf | 8-9% of income tax amount (around 1% of income) |
| Denmark | Members of the national church only; collected together with taxes | Average 0.87% of taxable income (0.39-1.2% range by municipality) |
| Sweden | Church fee collected by the national tax agency on the church's behalf | Around 1% of taxable income (roughly 0.8-1.5% by parish) |
| Finland | Church tax collected by the tax authority | 1-2.25% of taxable income (by parish) |
| Austria | The church collects it itself (the state is not involved) | "Church contribution" of about 1.1% of taxable income |
| Italy | Taxpayers designate the destination of 0.8% of total income tax (8/1000) | No extra burden; you choose the destination in your tax return |
Italy stands out. Regardless of whether you are a member of anything, 0.8% of the nation's income tax revenue is carved out in advance, and taxpayers designate its destination (the state, or one of a dozen-plus bodies such as the Catholic Church, Jewish communities and the Buddhist union) when they file. Nobody pays anything extra — the design is "choosing where the taxes you paid go," and the share of those who expressed no choice is apportioned according to the ratio of the choices that were expressed. Though it differs in adding no burden, the idea of taxpayers choosing how tax money is used has something in common with Japan's hometown tax donation (furusato nozei).
Comparison with Japan: involvement at the "collection" stage vs tax exemption "after receipt"
Japan has no church tax. Under the separation of religion and state in Articles 20 and 89 of the Constitution, neither the national nor local governments can operate a system that collects or spends money for the benefit of a specific religious organization. Instead, Japan's design exempts from tax the money religious corporations have received.
| Germany | Japan | |
|---|---|---|
| How the state is involved | Collection on behalf (collects members' fees as a tax) | Tax exemption (no tax on religious-activity income such as offerings and donations) |
| Believers' burden | 8-9% of income tax amount, automatically withheld | No legal burden (offerings etc. are voluntary) |
| Religious organizations' business income | Church tax is the pillar of church finances | Corporate tax on 34 categories of profit-making business (15% up to 8 million yen a year, 19% above) |
| Tax treatment of donations | Church tax is deductible from income | Offerings and donations to religious corporations are, in principle, not eligible for the donation deduction |
In short, Germany involves the state at the "collection" stage, while Japan grants exemption "after receipt" — the point of state involvement is exactly opposite. How far Japanese religious corporations are tax-free, and where taxation begins (what about selling amulets? running a parking lot?), is covered in detail in Why are religious corporations tax-free? How the offering exemption works. This is not a question of which design is superior — it is a comparison in which the history of church-state relations has taken shape directly as tax law.
When it concerns Japanese people: the "religion" field of the residence registration decides
For Japanese expatriates and students in Germany, church tax is not someone else's problem. The residence registration (Anmeldung) that everyone must complete when starting life in Germany includes a field for religion, and anyone registered there as a member of the Catholic or a Protestant church has church tax withheld from their salary — Japanese nationals included.
- Registration is based on facts. Whether you are a church member is determined not by self-description but by the fact of baptism or joining, and people who have been baptized may be treated as church members on the basis of church registers and records
- People who belong to no body subject to church tax — the non-religious, Buddhists and so on — are not taxed. Most Japanese expatriates fall into this category
- If you are a church member and do not want to pay church tax in Germany, you need the formal withdrawal procedure at a government office (with a fee) described above. Since the step also carries religious meaning, the decision is left to each individual
- Once you return to Japan and your German tax liability ends, the church tax burden ends too. Offerings and donations to churches, temples and shrines in Japan involve no legal collection of the German kind
What to do today
What to do today
- If you are due to move to or study in Germany, check before departure what you will be writing in the religion field of your residence registration (the facts of your own baptism or affiliation)
- Take a fresh look at the deductions column of your payslip. In Germany that means the church tax line; in Japan, knowing the breakdown of income tax, resident tax and social insurance premiums is the first step toward thinking about your take-home pay
- If you donate to a religious corporation in Japan, check together with your receipts whether the donation qualifies for the donation deduction (in principle it does not)
FAQ
Q. Do Japanese people working in Germany pay church tax too?
A. Only if they are registered as members of a body subject to church tax (the Catholic Church, the Protestant regional churches and so on). It is not levied on the non-religious or on members of religions outside the system, such as Buddhists. However, baptized church members can be liable regardless of nationality. The religion field of the residence registration is filled in based on the facts.
Q. How do I stop paying church tax?
A. You file your withdrawal not at the church but at a government office in the state where you live (a civil registry office or local district court, depending on the state). Fees range from free to about 35 euros; in most states membership ends at the end of the month in which you file, and church tax stops from the following month. About 660,000 people completed this procedure in 2025.
Q. What is the collected church tax used for?
A. Each church, not the state, decides how it is used. It goes to the salaries of clergy and staff and to church operations, as well as to kindergartens, welfare facilities and other institutions the churches run. The state (Land) acts as the collector and in return receives a fee from the churches of roughly 2-4% of the revenue.
Q. Does Japan have anything like a church tax?
A. No. Under the separation of religion and state in Japan's Constitution, the state cannot operate a system that collects money for a specific religious organization. Instead, Japan exempts religious-activity income such as offerings and donations from tax and levies corporate tax only on 34 categories of profit-making business — a design that operates "after receipt." Offerings individuals make to religious corporations are also, in principle, not eligible for the donation deduction.
References (sources)
* Figures are based on materials published as of August 2026. Yen conversions use an approximate rate of 1 euro = 180 yen. The systems of Germany and other countries apply to residents and church members of those countries and do not affect taxes paid in Japan. This article is informational and compares systems; it is not intended to evaluate any religion or organization. For individual tax decisions, consult a tax office or a tax accountant.