When you thought just had it all under control, the German administration has a way to remind you who is the boss. This reminder might take the form of an innocent ARD ZDF letter letting you know about the TV & radio broadcasting fees in Germany, otherwise known at the Rundfunkbeitrag.
This is no less than a German TV tax that each household ought to pay in order to finance the production and the broadcasting of content by public channels.
Put your anti-bore suit on and learn here why it’s important to take care of this and fast.
Table of contents
Why and how did you receive this Rundfunkbeitrag letter at home?
This German TV tax has been issued by the government in 2013 to replace an older rule that stated that only owners of radio and TV sets should pay any kind of fees. This older rule was hard to apply since it was practically very difficult to check whether or not it was the case for any given individual. Many people lied and got away with it since agents were not legally allowed to come into your home.
Arguably, consumption of public content can now happen with tablets, computers and phones, which everybody has nowdays. As a result, this flat fee was decided and each household in Germany has to pay 17,50€ monthly (since 2015). The institution in charge of collecting TV & radio broadcasting fees in Germany is called “Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio”, or simply “Beitragsservice”. It replaces the older institution called GEZ (Gebühreneinzugszentrale), which is why you might see this name in forums sometimes.
The reason why you received this Rundfunkbeitrag letter is simple:
The Beitragsservice is a public institution with access to public resources. When registering yourself at the Bürgeramt with the Anmeldung, it was able to access your data and send you a letter.
Which courses of action can you take?
Pay up
The most obvious decision is submit to what is after all an institutionalized TV tax in Germany. A law has been passed and it applies to all citizens. You can register or submit your account details online on the official website.
Apply for exemptions or reductions
Of course, if your vision or your hearing is impaired, you can let the Beitraggservice know about it to reduce or avoid altogether the fee. Recipient of social welfare benefits (Arbeitslosengeld II, Sozialgeld or Grundsicherung im Alter) or grants (BAföG, Berufsausbildungsbeihilfe or Ausbildungsgeld) are also exempted. It makes sense: no need to pass public money around. If you are not German-speaking, i’m afraid this doesn’t count. You still have to pay.
If you are not German-speaking, i’m afraid this doesn’t count. You still have to pay.
Prove someone already pays it for you
This case is particularly relevant for people living in shared flats or other communities. The flat fee of 17,50€ apply to one household and not to each person living within it. This means that if your flat mate already pays for it, simply let them know about it and they will leave you alone.
Ignore the letters
Now there are very well documented cases of people simply staying put and hoping the Beitragsservice letters will go away after a while. After initial reminders, their response will gradually increase in severity. Although this can earn you some time to think about it, the Beitragsservice can use legal actions to obtain their money. Eventually, you will receive a letter from your Finanzamt asking you to pay this on their behalf. Even if this happens only after a year or two, you will have to pay hundreds of euros for all the time you didn’t reply. (17,50€ per month remember?). Additional fees will also occur for sending reminders and being late. More info about this in German here.
Take part to a boycott
There are a certain number of people who think it’s quite unfair to pay a TV tax in Germany when they are never watching any of the programs on public channels. This might seem even more absurd when they can’t speak the language. If you agree, you can take part to boycott movements at your own risks. It is by nature illegal. This website is a good place to start.
Beware, it is by nature illegal.
How to notify you are leaving the country and stop paying the German TV tax?
This is an issue that is all too often forgotten by foreigners moving back to their country. It won’t be enough to notify the Bürgeramt you are leaving the country. An additional notification to the Beitragsservice will be necessary so they remove you from their databases. It is recommended to do it a bit in advance via their website via this form. If you don’t do that and come back to Germany; they will look for you, they will find you, they will make you pay.
How do i let them know that somebody else in already paying it in my flat/house?
In the case you are moving in somewhere, it’s quite likely somebody else is already paying it. In this case, you can let them know about that via this form, and you won’t need to pay anything further. You will need to provide name, first name and “Beitragsnummer” of that person.
Although it is quite frustrating to be obligated to pay this Rundfunkbeitrag, you might as well give public programs a shot. It’s good for your German skills after all. ARTE is my personal favorite.
Hey,My room mate who is registered and pays the ARD fee moved out.Should i just pay to the same account stating the beitragnummer. Is the beitragnummer personal or is it for the apartment?
Hey Kunle. This applies.
I have moved to a city in Germany for temporary accommodation, did the city registration and have got the letter to pay radio tax. An I will be moving to a permanent house in 2 months. Looks like I will have to pay radio tax for 2 months but I exempt it only If I share my house owner Radio tax no. with tax dept. Now the problem is house has told me that he has not got any document from tax department for Radio tax, hence he does not have Radio tax id with him. So just sharing the person’s name with the tax department will be enough for the tax exempt ?
Hey Deepak. If I understood correctly, the main tenant/landlord already pays the TV tax but cannot provide a “Beitragsnummer”. You can’t just share their name to get an exemption.
Hello Bastien,
I have a question. I live in a WG and I have registered myself and I have my Beitragsnummer. One of my roommates went to the website and gave her details with my Beitragsnummer because we thought all of us had to register on that website with my Beitragsnummer.Later, we read that it is not necessary for all to register. What do I do at this point. Will 2 bills be generated with my Beitragnummer? If yes what do I do about it. Please suggest. I tried calling the radio office but no luck.
Thanks in advance
Hey Deeksha. It’s only one bill per household, so there is no foreseeable problem here. If by some chance, they do send another bill to your household, you simply to state that you are already paying.
Hi Bastien,
I was not educated about this when I moved to Germany in 2018 and I don’t remember receiving any such letter, or at least, I don’t have it anymore. I was living with my friends and one of my friend was paying behalf of us. I don’t remember if my number was registered with his. In fact I don’t remember anything I did during that period to take care of this. later in 2019 I moved to my new place and the other guy in the flat is paying for us. I am certainly not registered with his number since I don’t know my own number. I know that I sound very sloppy here 🙁 . I wrote about this issue to ARD Deutschlandradio and provided them with my personal details and requested them to send the number again. However they informed me that they can’t find any number associated with my name! I don’t have the confirmation letter I received(?) from them in the beginning, I cant check my bank transactions from 2018 o look for that number (No money was debited from my account anyways). Now, I am clueless about how to find my number back. Could you suggest any ways? I want to sort this out. I want to know my number and register with the current address and the guy who is paying behalf of us in our flat.
Thanks a lot in advance
Hey Sandeep. Sorry to hear about your troubles. I dont’ really understand your concerns though. In both places, somebody has been paying the TV tax for the household, and you never received letters about this. What’s the issue? It seems to be taken care of.
Hi Bastien, thanks for your reply. My issue is that I don’t have my Beitragsnummer. I am just worried that it’s not taken care of. Also, I wish to move to a new address in near future and I will have to register my number with the new address. So, I am looking for ways to retrieve my Beitragsnummer.
Hey Sandeep. You don’t have a Beitragsnummer in your name per say, since the persons you have been living with have been paying for you. If you are not sure they have been paying, then you need to ask them.
Hi @Bastien, thanks for taking the time of preparing this blog and answer the upcoming questions. I moved into a new apartment in June 2020 but I officially didn’t register my name under the Beitrag number of the person that it was paying in the WG. Do you know if it is possible to register retroactively (I mean if it can have effect from this date in the past) ? I gave her my part in cash but actually, I never inform the ARD. Or if its sort of a deadline for this change
Thank you 🙂
Hey Camila. That’s about the only option you have anyway. If somebody has been paying for your address all this time, it should not be an issue.
Hi,
I have been paying the fee for the last three months. However, I am unable to figure out if there are any free tv channels linked to this service. Can anyone please let me know if this fee includes any free channels and the way in which I can access them? I have been trying to scan for channels through all available options in my tv, however I do not receive any signal. Please let me know if you have any thoughts. Thank you
Hey Vish. Here are all the channels financed by the TV tax.
Hi!
I lived in Berlin for 3 months in 2014/2015 and have not lived in Germany since. I did the Abmeldung (and the deregistration when I moved out). I have recently started hearing about the TV-taxes, and am worried because I do remember getting some sort of letter back in 2014, though I don’t believe I officially “registered for it”.
Is there a way to find out if you owe money for unpaid TV-taxes in Germany? Since I didn’t register with GEZ, I certainly did not de-register, and if I have 6 years of unpaid debts – I’d want to know sooner rather than later. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Hey Hanna. I don’t think that would be possible since they would want to know a reference number (Beitragsnummer) from you, or a reference to the letter your received back then. Do you have that?
Thank you so much for your reply! This article and the comments have been very helpful and I so appreciate you taking the time.
I don’t. I don’t remember at all what was in the letter – I didn’t speak German – and remember that the person who I rented a room from said to not bother about it. I just know that I can’t have answered it to register since I wasn’t at all established in Berlin really – I never had a bank account for example, which I’m assuming I would have had to send to them.
Do you think I should try to get a hold of my schufa score to see if there’s any debts? Or try to contact GEZ to see if there is a number on file for me? I do have a copy of my registration and deregistration from Berlin, as well as my personal identification number.
I am not planning on living in Germany again and guess I don’t have any other reason to worry than having time pass and risk getting a letter to my home country asking for hundreds of thousands of euros in years from now..
Hey Hanna. Just an opinion here, it doesn’t represent advice: you are probably fine and anyway, without any reference, it’s going to be hard to check any of this.
Hi!
Someone else is paying my ARD taxes and I don’t know how to inform this. I have already the information of the person who’s paying for that.
Ahem. Have you read this in the FAQ?
Hey,
I lived in a room (3 room Flat) with a sublease contract from Oct. 2019 – Feb. 2020, and another month in march without contract. I had connected to the Beitragsnummer that the other 2 people in the flat were using and paid the bill. The person originally registered with that Beitragsnummer left the flat at the same time I did and deregistered himself.
However, I got a room myself again in the same house with contract but in a different flat (3 room flat) from April 2020. When I went for city registration, they told me since I will be living in the same house, a new city registration isn’t required. I asked them what would happen of my radiobill but didn’t get a reliable answer. When I shifted to the new flat, I didn’t get a letter from Beitragsservice. However recently, the person in this new flat registered for the radiobill from April and paid the bill until December. I am not clear as to how to go about this.
Should I register anew? Request for a change in address? Is my old Beitragsnummer still there? I am in a dilemma as to what to do !
Should I call the Beitragsservice? Should I email them with my issue?
Any kind of help would be appreciated.
Hey Manzur. If I understand correctly: somebody was paying for the household in both the old and new flat. It was not you. Until now, you just contributed to the costs. If nobody is paying this from Jan, then you could register for that. What’s the confusion?
Hello, I moved to Germany in 16th November 2020, I am living in a dormitory and was registred in the 18th november… I had no idea about the Tv and Radio Tax until a friend asked me if I received any letter, I checked my letter box and I did not find anything. meanwhile I had always problems with delivery then after asking some neighbors I discovered that the address written in the rent contract was missing the number of the building!!! So I guess that was the problem why I did not receive anything. Thus I registred my apartment in th rundfunkbeitrag website last week and I did not receive anything. I am confused I don’t know what I am supposed to do! If anyone could tell me what should I do I would be so grateful.
Hey Dija. Just wait and see for now. It takes some time until they get back to you.
Hey Bastien,
I did my Anmeldung at an Hotel address on 15th September 2020, I got the letter but the owner didn’t want to bother to give me prove that he is paying the radio tax. 2 months later, in November I left Germany.
I wanted to go online and pay for those months I stayed and de-register, but first I needed to register on their website and then have the prove of my Abmelden from the Bürgeramt, and only now I revived the letter from them in my own country.
What do I do now, do I register just to de-register on the Rundfunkbeitrag website?
If I am not yet registered, can’t they just see that someone is paying already on that address?
Also if I register, will I pay for does 2 months or until now? I do have my abmelden letter with the date of 4th of November. Thank you
Hey Hanna. Best case scenario is that you provide a Abmeldungbescheinigung together with the Beitragsnummer from the hostel owner.
Hey Bastien,
I registered in my apartment about 2 weeks ago and I just received this letter from ARD.
I was having some problems with noisy neighbors so I moved to another apartment.
The letter was addressed to me, but I’m now living in a different apartament. What can I do in this case?
Additionaly, both apartments are Airbnb’s so I guess this fee is covered by the hosts, but I don’t know.
Hey Ivan. Ask your guests if they already pay for it for this address (you’d need a Beitragsnummer to prove this to ARD).