No more exemptions: Everyone now has to pay the Serafe fee

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Anyone who does not have a radio or television, a computer with internet access, a smartphone or tablet, or a car radio could previously be exempt from the Serafe fee by applying for an “opt out”. This option will now expire after a five-year transition period, as announced by the Federal Communications Office (Bakom) at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.

This means that everyone in Switzerland must pay the radio/TV broadcast fee. According to the Federal Office for Communications (Bakom), only households of people receiving supplementary benefits, diplomats or deaf-blind people are exempt.

Approximately 7,000 additional ratepayers

According to Serafe AG’s 2022 annual report, 7,833 households across Switzerland were exempt from reception fees at the end of last year. More recent data for December 2023 was not yet available. In previous years, the number of households using this opt-out was even smaller: there were 5,065 exempt households in 2021, 4,725 in 2020 and 6,901 in 2019.

Bakom expects about 7,000 households to be subject to the tax. This corresponds to additional income of approximately 2.2 million francs.

The numbers represent all accepted applications. Rejected applications or households sanctioned during inspections are excluded from statistics. Between January 2019 and December 2022, Bakom checked 1,463 households to see if the tax exemption conditions were met. In 174 cases, a penalty notice was required in connection with the withdrawal.

Each household in Switzerland currently pays a fee of 335 francs a year, which is used to fund Swiss radio and television as well as other stations. Companies with a turnover of more than half a million also pay fees. However, there is currently an initiative that aims to exempt companies from the fee completely. (SDA/rae)

Source :Blick