Rundfunkbeitrag - Befreiung beantragen

Would you like to be exempt from the broadcasting fee? In particular, recipients of social benefits and people with certain disabilities are entitled to this.

Under certain conditions, an exemption from the obligation to pay the broadcasting fee or a reduction in the fee can be granted upon application. Exemption from the obligation to pay the broadcasting fee is possible for receivers used exclusively for private purposes.

• Severely disabled pass
• Letter (or copy) from the service provider on the granting of the corresponding social benefits

  If the required documents are not yet available, although the social benefit or the RF mark has already been applied for, a precautionary exemption application must be made. In these cases, the documents must be submitted upon receipt.

Natural persons (private individuals in the legal sense) can be exempted if they belong to at least one of the following groups of people:

1. Recipients of assistance for subsistence in accordance with the Third Chapter of the Twelfth Book of the German Social Security Code (social assistance) or in accordance with §§ 27 a or 27 d of the Federal Pension Act,
2. Recipients of basic security benefits in old age and in the event of reduced earning capacity (Chapter Four of Book Twelve of the German Social Code),
3. Recipients of social benefit or unemployment benefit II including benefits in accordance with § 22
4. recipients of benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act,
5. Recipients not living with their parents of training assistance under the Federal Training Assistance Act, vocational training allowance under §§ 99, 100 No. 3 of the Third Book of the Social Code or under Chapter Four, Section Five of the Third Book of the Social Code or training allowance under §§ 104 et seq. of the Third Book of the Social Code
6. Special welfare beneficiaries within the meaning of § 27 e of the Federal Pension Act,
7. recipients of care assistance in accordance with the Seventh Chapter of the Twelfth Book of the Social Code or of care assistance as a benefit of war victims' welfare in accordance with the Federal Pension Act or of care allowance in accordance with state regulations and
8. recipients of care allowances in accordance with § 267 Para. 1 of the Equalization of Burdens Act or persons who are granted an allowance due to the need for care in accordance with § 267 Para. 2 Sentence 1 No. 2 Letter c of the Equalization of Burdens Act,
9. adults who live in an inpatient facility in accordance with Section 45 of Book Eight of the German Social Security Code as part of the provision of benefits in accordance with Book Eight of the German Social Security Code, and
10. deaf-blind people and recipients of assistance for the blind in accordance with § 72 of the Twelfth Book of the Social Code.

The broadcasting fee is reduced to one third for the following persons upon application:

• blind or not only temporarily significantly visually impaired people with a degree of disability of at least 60 percent solely due to their visual impairment,
• hearing-impaired people who are deaf or who are unable to communicate sufficiently by ear even with hearing aids, and
• disabled persons whose degree of disability is not only temporarily at least 80 percent and who are permanently unable to participate in public events due to their condition.

The exemption or reduction granted to the applicant extends within the home to

• the spouse,
• the registered partner,
• the occupants of the home who have been taken into account when granting a social benefit as part of a community within the meaning of Section 19 of the Twelfth Book of the German Social Code.

In cases of particular hardship, exemption from the obligation to pay contributions may be granted upon separate application. A case of hardship exists in particular if a social benefit (see numbers 1-10) has been denied in a decision issued by the competent authority on the grounds that the income exceeds the respective need limit by less than the amount of the monthly broadcasting contribution.

For exemption, the broadcaster must submit an application for exemption from the obligation to pay the broadcasting fee. This is

• at the social welfare office,
• at the Bremerhaven job center
• at the Office for Care and Integration - Bremerhaven branch office
• at the Bürgerbüros Nord and Mitte

or can be downloaded online. The completed and signed application must be sent to "ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio" together with the required documents. The decision on the application will be made in writing from there.

In addition to submitting the original or a certified copy of the benefit certificate, it is also possible to submit a separate original confirmation from the benefit provider containing only the data required for the fee exemption as proof of receipt of the above-mentioned social benefits.