How to avoid paying the €90 Italian TV fee in your electricity bill

QUESTION:

I don’t have a TV in my Italian home, but I’ve been charged for it in my electricity bill.
How do you solve this to avoid paying the fee?

ANSWER:

In Italy, the TV licence fee is used as a way to partially finance RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana), i.e., the public service (radio and television).

The TV fee is 90 €/year and is called “Canone RAI”.

NOTE: From July 2016, the TV fee will be paid directly in the electricity bill. This means that you will pay the fee and the electricity with the same bill. The amount is divided into 10 monthly installments from January to October. The Italian Tax Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) controls all payments.

Here’s how it works:

The TV fee is paid per household.
It doesn’t matter if you are registered in Italy or not. Everyone who owns a house and a TV should pay the fee.
You only pay an annual fee (90/€) even if you own several televisions or several homes in Italy.
If you rent a house in Italy for a longer period of time, have a TV set and draw up an Italian electricity contract in your name, you must also pay the TV tax.

There are 3 exceptions for not paying the fee:

if you don’t own a TV;
if you are at least 75 years old and have an annual income of no more than EUR 6 713;
others (including diplomatic agents, military personnel with non-Italian nationality, etc.).

If you do not own a television, it is important that you communicate this to the Italian Tax Agency. The request is made through a paper form sent by post to the Tax Agency (do not forget to also attach a copy of a document confirming your identity, such as your passport) or through an online request via the Tax Agency’s website (this service requires registration).

NOTE: The request must be sent every year or the charge will automatically appear on your electricity bill.

Here is an example for the year 2022:
=> requests sent by 31 January 2022 will exempt you from paying the fee for the whole of 2022;
=> requests sent between 1 February and 30 June 2022 will exempt you from paying the fee for the second half of 2022 (from July to December 2022).

The same deadlines apply for future years.

As the charge is automatically linked to the electricity bill, there is a risk that you will have to pay the charge when you buy a house in Italy, even if you do not own a TV. So, if you have bought a house in Italy and drawn up an electricity contract don’t forget to send the request to the tax office every year.

The form is called “Dichiarazione sostitutiva di non detenzione” and it must be filled in with your details on the first page. In Ram-A (Quadro A) on the other side, you state that you do not have a TV.

Here is an explanation of how to fill in the form: