Resigning from and joining a religious community

Joining a religious community

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

Leaving a religious community

You can leave a religious community

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

Leaving a religious community is registered in the Population Data 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 because the matter is automatically considered in the taxation. Your next year’s taxes are determined based on the data recorded in the Population Data System on the last day of the previous year.

Joining or resigning a child from a religious community

As the child’s guardian, you can notify

the joining of a child with a paper notification to the religious community
the resigning of a child with a paper notification to the religious community or with an online form / paper notification to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Please note that the written consent of all guardians is required for the notification.

If you are submitting the notification on behalf of a child aged 12 to 17, you will need the child’s consent.

If you are aged over 15 and leaving a religious community, you can submit the notification yourself. However, you must attach your guardians’ written consent to the notification.

Checklist

As a guardian, you cannot submit a notification of resignation on behalf of a minor with your own ID in the Suomi.fi online service. The service is tied to the personal identity code, so you can only notify information there on your own behalf and using strong identification. Use the online form in the case of a minor child. If using the online service is not possible, submit the notice of resignation with a paper form signed by the guardian(s).
If you submit a notification of resignation for a minor with an online form, you will need a means of strong identification (e.g. online banking IDs).
The religious affiliation of a child aged 12 or over can only be changed with the child’s consent.
A child who has reached the age of 15 can, with written consent from the guardians, independently resign from a religious community.
The child’s religious affiliation is not automatically determined by the guardians’ affiliation. Instead, resignation is always based on the guardians’ separate declaration of their will.

Price

Free of charge

Processing time

A resignation made through the Suomi.fi Web Service is registered 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 535 690

Service hours:

Mon-Fri 9-15