How to cancel the Rai license fee: the complete guide

All cases of exemption from payment and cancellation of the charge on the electricity bill; the self-certification form for the application to be sent to the Revenue Agency.

Many Italians would like to know How to cancel the Rai license feewhich, together with the IMU and the car tax, is one of the most hated and resented taxes.

It is not clear what the fee for the service is, given that it is a tax on the possession of devices capable of receiving all radio and television channels, and not just those of the state public TV; furthermore, the license fee is also due by those who watch television little or not at all.

Many, then, contest the quality of the programs offered by the public service and others highlight the fact that those who do not have a television, but can still watch all the programs via the Internet and on smartphones through the appropriate apps such as

RaiPlaydoes not have to pay. And this is an unresolved oddity, because the Rai license fee was born many decades before computers and its regulatory discipline has not been updated to these new reception possibilities.

Now, beyond the complaints, let’s get down to business and see how to cancel the Rai license fee. It can be done very simply, by submitting an application to the Revenue Agency, but you must respect certain terms and possess the exemption requirements. In this way, you can obtain the elimination of the periodic charge of the fee in the electricity bill, which since 2016 has become, by law [1] the mandatory payment method for all Italian families, in order to prevent the easy tax evasions that occurred in the past.

Who has to pay the Rai license fee?

In the current system, it is presumed until proven otherwise that anyone has a

domestic electricity user registered in their registered residence has an appliance at home suitable for receiving television broadcasts. It’s a presumption of possession of television in every familyunderstood in the anagraphic sense, therefore not only as marriage or civil union, but also as de facto cohabitation or a nucleus of several people united by kinship ties and cohabiting [2].

This means that the‘the Rai fee is automatically added to the electricity bill: the annual fee – the fee amounts to 90 euros but for 2024 has been temporarily reduced to 70 euros – is divided into 10 monthly instalments, from January to October, and the energy supplier includes it in each periodic invoice issued in the course of the year.

Who can cancel the Rai license fee?

You can request and obtain cancellation of the Rai license fee:

• • who has accomplished 75 years old of age and has a income total not exceeding 8.000 euro in the reference year (the spouse’s income, if any, is also calculated);
• • chi declares formally, in a self-certification, of do not have a television;
• • who is the owner of aother electricity supply on which the television license fee has already been charged;
• The diplomatic agentsconsular officials or officials of international organizations and foreign military belonging to the NATO forces present in Italy.

Declaration of not owning a TV

Apart from the case of the

over 75 with low income and the situation of those who already pay the fee on the bill on another electricity user, the situation that interests us most is that of declaration of not owning a television set.

It must be done in the form of self-certificationunder their own responsibility, and with awareness of the sanctions, including criminal sanctions, provided for in the case of false statements made in an affidavit (articles 75 and 76 of Presidential Decree no. 445/2000).

We remind you that there is no longer the possibility of asking to seal the existing television, so that it cannot be used (in the past the device was placed in a leaded jute bag).

How to cancel the Rai license fee?

To cancel the Rai license fee you must fill in the appropriate form modulo available on the websiteRevenue Agency (you can also download it here) and declare that in none of the homes where a personally registered electricity supply is activated is there a television set of one’s own or belonging to another member of the registered family.

Once completed, the form can be submitted:

• online by sending it electronically, via the web application on Revenue Agency website;
• through a intermediary qualified (accountants, CAF, Patronages);
• with a Pec (certified email) signed with digital signature and sent to the mailbox [email protected];
• through registered letter (without envelope and enclosing a copy of a identification document valid) to the address: Revenue Agency – Provincial Directorate I of Turin – TV License Office – PO Box 22 – 10121 Turin.

How long does the cancellation last?

The cancellation of the Rai license fee is not valid for a lifetime nor is it automatically renewed, but it is limited to one year only (or, if presented during the year, only for one semester, as we will tell you more about shortly). Therefore, if the requirements for exemption or not having a TV in the home remain, it must be renewed annually.

Precisely, if the declaration is submitted from February 1st to June 30th the exemption has valid for the second semester of the year, while if it is presented from July 1st to January 31st allows you to avoid paying the fee for the entire following year.

For example, if you cancel on 30 October 2024 you will not have to pay the Rai license fee for 2025, while if you send it on 29 June 2024 the exemption will be limited to the second half of 2024: therefore starting from 1 July, up to 31 January 2025, you will have to renew the request to also be exempt from the Rai 2025 license fee.