The registration authorities record membership of a church, a religious community or an ideological community, provided this is a public corporation.
Membership of a church, religious community or ideological community that is a public corporation may be subject to church tax.
The churches, the religious communities and the Weltanschauungsgemeinschaften, which are corporations under public law, may levy taxes on their members to cover their needs.
As a rule, the wage or income tax forms the assessment basis for the church tax. The state levies it for the churches, the other religious communities and the Weltanschauungsgemeinschaften.
The tax rate is set by the respective church, religious community or ideological community. In Baden-Württemberg, it is generally eight per cent, and for members of the Roman Catholic Church residing in Bad Wimpfen, it has been nine per cent since 1 January 2016. This applies to the postcode area 74206 including the postcodes for post boxes and large recipients.
For the deduction of income tax, the employer is informed of the affiliation to a tax-levying church, religious community or ideological community by means of the electronic income tax deduction characteristics (ELStAM) made available by the tax administration for retrieval. This is based on the information provided to the tax authorities by the registration authorities.