ROUTE
Rundfunkbeitrag
Interactive checklist for the Rundfunkbeitrag: new registration, shared payment with a flatmate, or applying for exemption. The tool automatically selects the right path for your situation.
✓ Checked: 15/08/2026
The Rundfunkbeitrag is the compulsory public broadcasting fee: €18.36 a month per flat, not per person — and entirely regardless of whether you own a television. Whether one, two or five people live in the flat, it is paid exactly once, and everything else in this route follows from that.
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Do you receive Bürgergeld, Sozialhilfe or BAföG?
Is someone in your flat already paying the broadcasting fee?
› More about this route
The key point is this: liability starts on the day you move in, not the day the letter arrives. The letter comes anyway, but by then arrears have already built up — demands for several hundred euros after two years of silence arise exactly this way, with reminder fees on top. Registering itself takes five minutes on the official site.
From there the route splits into three situations. If you receive Bürgergeld, social assistance or BAföG, you are entitled to a full exemption, backdated up to three years where your benefit decision covers the period. If a flatmate already pays, all you need is their Beitragsnummer. In every other case it is a standard first-time registration.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
All possible documents for this route
- Meldebescheinigung (Anmeldebestätigung)Registration certificate (Anmeldebestätigung, issued by Bürgeramt)
- Beitragsnummer des MitbewohnersFlatmate's broadcasting fee account number (for joining)
- Bescheid vom Jobcenter oder BAföG-AmtExemption notice from Jobcenter or BAföG office
WHERE PEOPLE MOST OFTEN LOSE MONEY AND TIME
- Waiting for the letter instead of registering. The fee runs from move-in, so waiting saves nothing — it turns five minutes of work into a surprise demand for past months.
- Taking a previous tenant's or flatmate's word that “it is all paid”. Arrears attach to the flat, not the person: a flatmate who moved out without deregistering leaves the problem to the next occupant. The status can be checked on the official site.
- Registering individually. A couple or a shared flat in one dwelling pays once; if everyone registered out of ignorance, the surplus registrations are cancelled and overpayments for past months refunded on request.
- Forgetting the end date of your benefit decision. The exemption lapses with it, silently, while the charge restarts by itself. Submit the new decision one to two months in advance.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ROUTE
What does it cost per year and what does the amount depend on?▾
€18.36 a month, so about €220 a year — per flat. Neither the number of residents nor the presence of a TV, radio or computer changes it: the unit of assessment is the dwelling, not the device and not the person.
What happens if you simply do not register?▾
The charge accrues anyway, from your move-in date. After a year or two the demand arrives for the whole period plus reminder fees, and three-figure sums are the norm. Registering yourself in the first week after moving is therefore not a box-ticking exercise but the way to avoid paying twice.
Moved house or moved out of a shared flat — what needs doing?▾
Liability attaches to the dwelling: when you move, the old flat is deregistered and the new one registered. When leaving a shared flat where you were the payer, simply moving out is not enough — as long as the registration is in your name, the charge continues. Keep the Beitragsnummer from your confirmation alongside your tax ID: it is needed for every one of these changes.
Once granted, is an exemption permanent?▾
No, it lasts exactly as long as your benefit decision does. When that expires, the exemption ends automatically and without warning, and the charge resumes from that moment. So set a reminder for the end date and submit the new decision in good time.