Administrative services A-Z

• Application for exemption or reduction

If you receive state social benefits, you can be exempted from the broadcasting fee. The same applies to deafblind people and recipients of assistance for the blind.

• They receive state social benefits, such as:
  • Unemployment benefit II
  • Welfare
  • BAföG
  • Basic social security
• or you are deafblind
• or receive assistance for the blind.

Hints:

You can apply for exemption from the broadcasting fee as a special hardship case if you do not receive social benefits because your income exceeds the respective requirement limit by less than EUR 17.50.
If you are exempt from the obligation to contribute, the exemption within the home also extends to your wife or husband. The same applies to your registered partner.

• when receiving social benefits
  • Original proof of receipt of one of the above-mentioned social benefits (approval notice or certificate from the social security provider)
• for deafblindness:
  • current medical certificate of deafblindness in the original or
  • Severely disabled pass with the marks "Bl" and "Gl" or
  • Certificate from the Pension Office on the degree of hearing and visual impairment
• when receiving assistance for the blind
  • Current approval decision or certificate from the authority on the receipt of benefits according to § 72 Twelfth Book of the Social Code (SGB XII) or §27d Federal Pension Act (BVG)
• in cases of hardship
  • the rejection notice of the social security provider in the event of a slight exceeding of the income limit as a special case of hardship
• if necessary, further evidence

If you send in the original approval notice, please mark it with the word "original". Otherwise, you may not get it back, as all incoming mail will be destroyed after digital archiving.
You will not receive the certificate from the authority or the service provider back. You do not have to mark the original severely disabled pass. You will receive this back without being asked.

Application procedure and examination: none

You must apply in writing to the competent authority for exemption from the broadcasting fee. To do this, use the prescribed form.
You will receive it

• in the case of cities,
• in the case of municipalities,
• the competent authorities, and
• on the Internet.

You can fill out the online form. Print it out at the end of the input process and sign it. Enclose the required supporting documents and send your documents by post to the competent office.

You must submit the application for exemption within two months of the grant decision being issued.

You will receive the exemption from the first of the month specified in the approval decision as the start of the benefit.

• Interstate Treaty on the Broadcasting Contribution (RBStV)
• § 72 Twelfth Book of the Social Code (SGB XII)
• §27d Federal Pension Act (BVG)

The broadcasting fee replaced the broadcasting fee on 1 January 2013.

• Information on exemption from the obligation to pay the broadcasting fee and on the reduction of the broadcasting fee

SWR;
editorial revision by BW/GK LeiKa on 17.02.2014