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Taxes
A radio and television license fee (known as the ) of €18.36 per month must be paid per apartment or dormitory room. This fee is used in Germany to pay for public television and radio broadcasters (unlike the purely commercial private broadcasters).
Once you are registered with the city registration office, the Rundfunkbeitrag service can then check whether payment has been made for your apartment/ room in a residence. Failure to do so will result in a fine. If you live in a shared apartment or similar situation, the fee must be paid only once per apartment, and not by each resident.
Information
The Rundfunkbeitrag is a broadcasting licence fee, which finances the public broadcasting media channels (radio, television, online) in Germany. The fee is mandatory for everyone above 18 years of age, companies and institutions as well as public interest bodies in Germany – regardless of their actual media use. In this way, everyone can benefit from the variety and quality of the freely available public broadcasting services. The objective is to ensure the highest possible level of fairness in the financing of these channels and their independent reporting.
How much do I need to pay?
The fee is not charged per person but per household: one household pays one fee. Since January 2013, a flat-rate contribution of €18,36 per month is charged to every single household (e.g. house, apartment, dorm room) in Germany, irrespective of whether any devices in the household are available and/or used. The fee can be paid monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or annually.
How do I pay the Rundfunkbeitrag?
You can either wait for the broadcasting service (Beitragsservice) to contact you by mail (shortly after you register your address at the city hall) or you can contact their offices at “ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Beitragsservice” directly. The registration form you need is available
. Please note that the fee is due starting from the first month you are registered in Germany. It does not matter if you report to them yourself or wait for a letter from their office.If you live in a shared apartment (WG), you can share the Rundfunkbeitrag with your roommates. This means that one person can be registered as the main tenant of the apartment (you can decide who that person is) and can transfer the fee. However, everyone who lives there should be contributing equally every month (e.g. if you and 2 other people share one apartment – each of you would be paying only €6,12 per month).
In case someone in your flat is already paying the broadcasting fee, you need to inform the Contribution Service about it. You can do this
.
In case you live in a student dormitory and have a private room, you still need to pay the Rundfunkbeitrag, even if you do not have a fully functional apartment with a private bathroom or kitchen. If you live together with a – you do not need to pay the Rundfunkbeitrag fee as your host family is already doing that. Finally, if you are registered in multiple addresses (flats) you might have to pay the fee several times, as the contribution is paid per apartment and not per person.
If you have not yet paid the broadcasting contribution for your flat, you are obliged to register immediately (within one month). If you do not do this, you are committing an administrative offence which can be punished with a fine. So make sure you do everything right and register now!Register for the Rundfunkbeitrag
After registering your residence you will be contacted by the Contribution Service (‘Beitragsservice’) and asked to register for the broadcasting fee (Rundfunkbeitrag). This is a broadcasting license fee, which finances the public broadcasting media channels (radio, television, online) in Germany. The fee is mandatory for everyone above 18 years of age regardless of their actual media use. Click through to find more information.
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