Salzburg warns of costly online church withdrawal service

The City of Salzburg has warned that a private online service charges up to 89.90 euros to arrange a church withdrawal, although the process can generally be completed free of charge through the responsible authority, ORF reported.

The city administration said it had recently received more complaints about the platform “kirchenbeitrag.com”. Users apparently believed its payment requests came from the city. The charges are not related to city fees, the administration said.

A fee applies only if someone specifically requests written confirmation of their withdrawal. That document costs 23.10 euros. The city recommends using only official forms from the authority responsible for the withdrawal.

According to the city, the private provider forwards completed online declarations to the responsible district administrative authority. In Salzburg, that is the city’s district administration. The website was unavailable on Thursday morning.

The city also said applications submitted through the provider often lacked required documents, prompting further inquiries and delaying processing. People may not realise they have used a paid service until they receive an invoice, it said.