Until what age do you pay the Rai license fee?

Until what age do you pay the Rai license fee? Probably the legislation regulating exemptions from the payment of the Rai license fee are not clear, especially for those who have reached a certain age and are not very practical.
Precisely for this reason it is a question that many Italian pensioners ask themselves, above all because, perhaps, speaking with peers who do not pay for a television subscription, they do not understand why this exemption has not been recognized for them.
The Rai license fee is due until the age of 75 and, therefore, some over 75s are no longer required to pay.
we write "some" because the exemption does not only require age as a requirement and for this reason it is not extended to everyone.
To be entitled to it, in fact, it is necessary to have very specific income requirements, in addition to the personal data.
In this article we will delve deeper into this type of exemption to understand the age at which the Rai license fee is no longer due and also taking a look at the important changes planned for 2024.
Rai license fee, how is it regulated? Even if it is incorrectly called the Rai license fee, it is the television license fee, a tax that all those who own devices suitable or adaptable to receiving television programs in Italy are required to pay.
This is a tax based on Royal Decree Law 246 of 21 February 1938, never repealed, which establishes that: Anyone who owns one or more devices suitable or adaptable to the reception of radio hearings is obliged to pay the subscription fee, in accordance with the rules referred to in this decree.
Originally, therefore, it was foreseen as a fee that users of the service had to pay, transforming, over time, into what it is today: a tax benefit provided for by law, abandoning the connection with the use of the service itself.
To date, in fact, the television license is due not because Rai programs are received, but only for the mere possession of a television set that can receive these programmes.
Exemptions from paying the Rai license fee Different types of taxpayers are exempt from paying the Rai license fee and specifically: those who do not own television sets (the declaration must be submitted to the Revenue Agency); soldiers of the Italian Armed Forces for television sets located for common use; foreign soldiers of the NATO Forces; Diplomatic and consular agents, but only from countries that exempt Italian colleagues from similar obligations; TV retailers and repairers; pleasure boats not used for the exercise of commercial activities; radios and car radios (placed with private individuals); elderly people who have reached the age of 75 provided they have an overall income within the limits established by law.
read also Rai license fee 2023: exemption, who does not have to pay, deadline and application At what age do you no longer pay the Rai license fee? Elderly people may therefore have the right to no longer pay the Rai license fee once they reach the age of 75.
As anticipated, however, chronological age is not enough to grant the right to exemption given that it is also linked to the income of the beneficiary.
Citizens over 75 must have their own income which, added to that of their spouse, does not exceed 8,000 euros per year.
Furthermore, to benefit from the exemption, it is necessary that: the television set is located in the home of residence; there are no other cohabitants with an income excluding the spouse and any domestic worker, housekeeper or carer.
The exemption is valid for the whole year only if the seventy-fifth year of age is completed by January 31st of the year in question, otherwise it is valid for the second semester, but only if the seventy-fifth year of age is completed between February 1st and 31 July of the year in question.
Finally, if you turn 75 between August and December, the exemption can only be requested for the following year.
For this year, therefore, the exemption is available to all those who have reached the age of 75 by 31 January 2024 and who have incomes below the threshold established by the legislation.
In order to avoid paying the Rai license fee, the beneficiary must submit a substitute declaration only once (it does not have to be resubmitted from year to year) as long as the conditions that allow the right to the exemption remain.
Rai 2024 license fee news The 2024 Budget Law has provided for a reduction in the Rai license fee whose amount, which is currently 90 euros per year, drops to 70 euros per year.
Even though it has been announced for years now, the removal of the fee from the electricity bill to extend the payment of the tax to mobile phones and tablets has not been applied.
We will therefore continue to pay the Rai license fee in our electricity bills also in 2024, even if the amount, charged monthly or bimonthly, will be lower and will have an amount of 7 euros per month for 10 months (or 14 euros every two months for five bimonthly bills).
read also Rai 2024 license fee, amount, payment method and news