Resigning from and joining a religious community

Joining a religious community

If you wish to join a religious community, submit a notification directly to the religious community.

You can join a religious community that accepts you as their member. Religious communities decide themselves whether their members can also belong to other communities.

Submit a notification of joining to the religious community that you wish to join.

Resigning from a religious community

You can resign from a religious community:

on the Suomi.fi Personal Data page,
by submitting a notification to the religious community, or
by submitting a notification to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Your resignation from the religious community will be registered in the Population Information System. If you make the notification of resignation on the Suomi.fi Personal Data page, the resignation will be registered in the Population Information System immediately. You will also receive a written confirmation of your resignation.

You do not need to notify the Finnish Tax Administration when you resign from a religious community because the matter is automatically considered in the taxation. Your next year’s taxes are determined based on the data recorded in the Population Information System on the last day of the previous year.

Do the following

If you wish to join a religious community, report it directly to the religious community. You can use the form below.

Notification of joining a religious community (in Finnish and Swedish)

If you wish to leave a religious community, notify the Digital and Population Data Services Agency via the Check your data online service or on a form.

The Check your information online service

Notification of resignation from a religious community (in Finnish and Swedish)

The religious affiliation of a child who has reached the age of 12 can be changed only with the child’s consent.

Consent form for persons aged 12 to 17 (in Finnish and Swedish)

A child who has reached the age of 15 can with written consent from the guardians independently resign from a religious community.

A guardian’s consent form for a child aged 15–17 joining a religious community or resigning from it (in Finnish and Swedish)

Checklist

The Check Your Information service is linked to the individual personal identity code. A guardian cannot use his or her own codes to submit a notification in the name of the child if the notification requires electronic identification. Notifications concerning under-age children must be submitted using a printable resignation form signed by the guardian/guardians.
The religious affiliation of a child who has reached the age of 12 can be changed only with the consent of the child and a child who has turned 15 can with the guardians’ written consent independently resign from a religious community.
The child’s religious affiliation is not automatically determined by the guardians’ religious affiliation. Instead, a child’s resignation from a religious community is always based on the guardians’ separate declaration of their will.

Price

Free of charge

Processing time

A resignation notification submitted through electronic identification is recorded directly in the Population Information System.

Links to laws related to the matter

Act on the Freedom of Religion (in Finnish)

Contact us

Email

Please use secure email if your message contains personal or otherwise confidential information. Choose [email protected] as the recipient:

Send secure email

Telephone

Telephone service number is 0295 536 220.

Service hours:

Mon-Fri 9-15

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