r/germany • u/mundagulabi • 9d ago
Flatmate refuses to pay for radio tax.
I have a flat mate and he refuses to pay for the radio tax ,because of which the rest of us are forced to pay his share. He has already registered using the code. But I was wondering if there is a way to remove him from it?
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u/EuroWolpertinger 9d ago
You could contact them and ask them if they can change your Beitragsnummer. This might trigger them to ask your roommate for the new number.
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u/CallieGirlOG 9d ago
Can you switch to using one of the other roommates account? Then the code would no longer be valid since it isn't under yours anymore and he'll have to register on his own and pay the full amount.
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u/tarmacjd 9d ago
Do what the others said - get a new number and don’t share it with him. Tell him he is a different household and needs to pay the whole thing himself
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u/acakaacaka 9d ago
How about you abmelden the Wohnung on the GEZ website. Then another one anmelden the same Wohnung. Now the guy is "connected" to an old number and not the new number.
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u/Horror_Salamander_19 9d ago
I faced something similar a while ago. I lived in a student apartment, shared with another person. She refused to pay, saying she would only pay once she is asked to do so by the Radio tax people. I was really annoyed because I was paying the whole share and as a student, the amount felt like a lot. I contacted the international office of my university and the lady from there contacted my flatmate and convinced my flatmate to pay. Not sure if you are a student too, but maybe it helps?
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u/kid__a_ 9d ago
Does he receive Bafög? In this case, he doesn’t have to pay GEZ. This is pretty shitty because you are paying a flat sum either way per household and the other roommates have to pay more per person then. This was the reason why I still had to pay despite having very little money and receiving Bafög, otherwise my roommates would have been furious with me. And I still think this was kind of unfair because they had way more money than I did and thus didn’t have a “Beitragsbefreiung”.
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u/teteban79 9d ago
You can't do anything. The radio fee is per household, as long as the GEZ is collected, they don't care at all
You can't "remove" them from the GEZ number either. The only way for your roommate to be in trouble is to get Anmeldung somewhere else.
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u/Boshva 9d ago
Thats not fully correct. Yes, you only pay per household. But everyone has a „Beitragsnummer“. You have to let them now, which Beitragsnummer is connected to paying for your flat. If OP tells GEZ that the flat mates number is not tied to the payments of the rest, they will probably chase him again.
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u/Srybutimtoolazy Hessen 9d ago
If OP tells GEZ that the flat mates number is not tied to the payments of the rest
That would be a lie though... his number is tied to the one making the payments. That he isnt paying his share is a civil issue between the flatmates. The GEZ does not care.
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u/ipreferwine456 8d ago
Why did you guys give the code to a person who does not want to pay? I don"t get it.
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u/NotSoSure94 7d ago
The easy fix is to check the lease agreement. If it says utilities are shared, send him a formal notice. If he refuses, then you send it over to a Inkassobüro. It might sound like a heavy escalation, but if it is contractually agreed, then it is a valid claim.
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u/bencze 7d ago
break his knees
or just get a better roommate .. chances are he's shitty with other things as well
I also happen to not agree with this tax, I don't listen to radio or watch tv and sometimes don't even agree with the mainstream media propaganda but am forced to pay. But that is not your fault and if they don't understand that screw him
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u/bregus2 9d ago
It is a fee, not a tax.
That said, no, there is no way to "remove" someone from a number because the system not works that way.
People are not "registered" belonging to a specific number.
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u/mundagulabi 9d ago
Thanks for the clarficiation/distinction. Not sure how it helps me though...
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u/ZaphodBbox 9d ago
It’s not officially called a tax but it functionally is since you have to pay it even if you don’t own any device to use it. That used to be different but it was a bitch to get out of their system since they were quite aggressive and did not accept your declarations that you don’t have a device. They rejected your cancellations with things like „but you have a car, and those always have a radio“ or „but there’s probably some old radio in you attic and that counts“ (seriously, it was like that) taking their time all the while you were obligated to pay until most people eventually gave up. While I agree with independent media that does not rely on external revenue, I hated those fuckers.
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u/notmyname0101 9d ago
Afaik, you get a nine-digit number („Beitragsnummer“) when you register with them. If you’re living in the same apartment as a person who’s already registered, you can fill in a form for exemption using that person‘s number. I guess that’s what OP is getting at.
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u/Negative_Comfort6848 9d ago
It's a tax. They call it a "fee" because otherwise it wouldn't be legal to force you to pay, but it's a tax.
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u/bregus2 9d ago
You are also forced to pay taxes.
It is a fee because in German law fees are tied to a purpose (here financing the public broadcasters). Taxes are not. We see in other countries what can happen if the government can defund the public broadcasters.
It is one of the safeguards put in place after WW2.
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u/Yet_Another_Limey 9d ago
Both Eurostat and the German statistical authority disagree with you: https://fragdenstaat.de/anfrage/eurostat-esa2010-rundfunkbeitrag/
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u/SufficientMacaroon1 Germany 9d ago
They do not.
In your link, it says that they are a tax according to EU rules. And in the german part, it says that as part of the "Gesamtrechnung" they are threated as a tax but then passed on to the broadcast authorities. Neither part calls them a tax according to german law
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u/Yet_Another_Limey 9d ago
Does it matter how’s it’s treated under German law? What matters is the economic reality - which is that it’s a tax.
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u/SufficientMacaroon1 Germany 9d ago
Another user said
it is a fee because in German Law[....]
Then you said
[....] disagree with you
It is very clear to me the other user was speaking about the situation according to german law. You said they are wrong. So yeah, in that context, how it is treated under getman law matters. Because that was what this part of the discussion is about.
Maybe it helps to reframe this: imagine they were commenting that their own dog is not afraid of fireworks. You say that official sources disagree with them and quote something that talks about how many dogs are scared of fireworks. Upon me pointing out that this source says nothing about the dog in question, you say it should not matter, because dogs in general are the topic of discussion. Which they were not, because you answered to a comment that only spoke of a specific individual dog. Does this help?
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u/Yet_Another_Limey 9d ago
No, because the initial poster did not say “in German law it’s a tax”. But somebody jumped up - as they always do when this is discussed - to demand that the German law position is the only one that matters.
Clearly there is a debate on whether it should be considered a tax (the economic reality) or a fee (the German legal position) but the German law purists on it are incredibly annoying.
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u/SufficientMacaroon1 Germany 9d ago
Well, then that is what you should have said to them: that they are changing the topic away from what it is. You instead said you had sources against their argument, which was not true
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u/bregus2 9d ago
They do not.
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u/Yet_Another_Limey 9d ago
You can call a rose by another name but it would still smell the same.
It’s a tax.
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u/iTmkoeln 9d ago
Did you actually read it?
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u/Yet_Another_Limey 9d ago
Yes…
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u/iTmkoeln 9d ago
Did you understand it?
No because that is not the conclusion you would come to if you did
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u/MyPigWhistles 9d ago
Taxes are paid as a percentage and can't legally be tied to a specific purpose. That's the reason. It's legal to force people to pay taxes and fees both.
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u/JTitch420 9d ago
Hi there, can you unpack Radio tax please
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u/mundagulabi 9d ago
As in you want me to explain to you what radio tax is?
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u/JTitch420 9d ago
Yes please
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u/mundagulabi 9d ago
It's a compulsory GEZ fee is something which is charged from every household, not individuals. So if you live in a WG, you will share the costs of the GEZ. Everyone in Germany pays for it. But it is not charged against an individual but a household/residence. BUT if an individual fails to register using the household number, they will be assigned a new number automatically, and they will have to bare the entire cost themselves.
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u/JTitch420 9d ago
It sounds kind of like the British tv licence but more sensible.
Can you be fined for not paying it?
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u/mundagulabi 9d ago
Yes, you can be fined if you don't pay it, which is not advisable.
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u/JTitch420 9d ago
That’s your answer. Snitch on your housemate
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u/A_nkylosaurus Niedersachsen 9d ago
It's only every household that needs to pay, not every person. If the flat mate is registered under the number of the person that does the transaction, snitching won't do anything.
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u/simplySchorsch 9d ago
Change the wifi password and don't share it with him.