TV licence

[Marie]

Hi all

Apologies to all those who have answered this question before, but I can't find the answer anywhere!

I seem to have been given conflicting advice on the question of whether I need a TV licence in France or not - my builder said no, the current issue of LF says yes, and an article I read in France in October said they were being made part of the local tax bill as from next year!! Do I need one now or not, if so, how much are they and where do I get one from??

 

Marie

[Paul_Gyn]

Hi Marie,

Your builder is wrong... If you have a TV in France (that is, a set of any kind with a tuner in it) and a permanent address  (sounds like you have that) then you DO need a licence.

I suspect you could make a case for exemption if you brought a UK set and a Sat box over from the UK, as it wouldn't be able to receive French terrestrial transmissions, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Yes there are plans to roll it into the general taxation system but as far as I'm aware they are still just plans.

Do you live in the back of beyond? Perhaps your builder was just being pragmatic; the likelyhood of your being caught if you live w-a-y  out in the country (and you are not already on their database) is pretty remote.

If you buy a TV set in France the retailer is obliged to take your address details and forward them to the authority (see below) if you have done this, then they will eventually send you a bill, you need do no more about it until then. Pay it or they WILL hound you! 

Strangely, the retailer isn't required to forward information to the licencing aurthority if you buy a VCR, yet that would be the easiest way for a UK TV to pick up B&W French Pictures. (connected via a scart cable).

the address is:

Service de la Redevance de l'Audiovisuel

Immeuble "Le Turgot"

Le Colombier

35046 RENNES  Cedex 9

Although they are part of the Tressor Public, you local office is unlikely to be of any help.

If your French is up to it their phone number is 02 99 85 72 85

Cost : E116.50

cheers,

paul

[Marie]

Thanks Paul

Yes I do have an address in France, but I bought the TV before I had the house so they don't have my French details! I'll give them a call and see what I need to do.  Do you know if it makes any difference that it is in a holiday home and therefore only used for part of the year??

 

Marie

[Richard-R]

Not if your other home is in the U.K. But you only need one licence for how evr many homes you may have in France.

[opas]

It doesn`t matter that you may live in a`backwater`, the detector van still drives around, there was a notice on our local Marie a couple of months ago announcing this......but the funny thing was they stated the day and date!

[Richard-R]

Detector is an joke. They know from tax records where people live and compare them to T.V. licence records. The Van with the dish is a big scam so thet people do not think big brother is watching them...thing again.

[IAN_S]

If you have a TV that works of course you need a licence. Do you think you would get away with it in the UK? I doubt that you would for long.

If you have a new sat dish somebody, usually La Poste I think, will see it and report it. I did nothing about a licence for a year and then a questionaire arrived in the mail just like UK! You can either lie and take a chance or buy a licence.

[Mrh74]

Don't want to hijack this but interested to know if anyone has any ideas where I will stand for this issue, I bought a new TV in France, Darty, but it has since been stolen in a burglary, so I don't have a TV anymore and at this time we are not intending to replace it as our house is a holiday home and we want to wait a while to see if we get targeted again. Will I be ale to explain this to the authorities when they come looking for us to buy a TV licence or will I still have to get one?

 

Cheers

Mark

[jrhartley]

But isn't it the case that 1/3 of French households don't actually own a telly license?  the enforcement can't be THAT good or the fines THAT punitive if around 8 million households are claiming they don't watch the box.

[Teamedup]

Re the stolen tv. You must contact the redevance service and tell them, I would suggest by lettre recommande with accuse de reception. Personally I would also include a copy of the declaration you made to the gendarmerie and insurance company.

[Miki]

[quote]But isn't it the case that 1/3 of French households don't actually own a telly license? the enforcement can't be THAT good or the fines THAT punitive if around 8 million households are claiming they ...[/quote]

Not sure if those figures are corect in the way you might mean. Many people do not have to pay, all those over 65 with low incomes, RMI 'istes and others with invalidity plus a few other cases as well. So a fair percentage of folks don't pay and those are probably included in what you have read. Although 8 million homes does seem a bit far fetched.

If, as some believe, the redevance is to be put on taxe Hab then this will certainly bring down the number who avoid the TV licence fee. Seems more and more, that the onus is being put on people to declare that they are NOT liable to payment, rather than the authorities having to seek out the people who have to pay. I have read soemwhere that it is as good as read, that all houses have a TV and only a nominal percentage do not have a TV, inc of course SOME maison secondaires.

 

[Miki]

[quote]Not if your other home is in the U.K. But you only need one licence for how evr many homes you may have in France.[/quote]

Not true Richard.

It can be the case that if you have a large "estate" and a couple of houses on that plot. Then with one address, one licence should suffice for the authorities.

If you have another house and have a TV permanently at that other property, it is as liable as any other place to have a TV licence accorded to it. If you take a portable or even a large set from your main property to the other house, that is seen as OK but permanent installations are certainly liable for another TV licence.

 

[CeeJay]

Received a demand for licence fee recently which should be paid by the end of November, however my French set is broken and I took over, in the summer, an English PAL set with Sky box.

I have now sent the facture back to the local TV Office in Toulouse explaining that I can only  receive English television...........I await their reply with great interest

[Miki]

Ceejay,

The law simply states that any apparatus that receives a TV signal is deemed to be liable to require a licence.

Since the very early days of Brits having Sky in France, there have been many debates on this issue, it was taken seriously by the Redevance, so much so that they issued a letter to the News then called something else, which told Brits or others, that receiving Sky TV made one laible for redevance.

Now what someone in an office can be bothered to do about your letter, is in the lap of the proverbials !

I just don't get it, why people should feel not to be liable for a TV licence, as they don't receive French TV, isn't the principle the same ? Do people genuinely expect remboursements for times when folks have their TV is in the repair shop as well then, come on, it is around 116€ not a massive amount is it?

Anyway, wouldn't you have already paid the redevance when your French TV was working?

 

 

[Teamedup]

Same thing in the UK. Some people with satellite only at one time deemed that as they weren't using terrestrial broadcasting weren't obliged to have a license. However, they were still obliged to have them.

 

Grey area here may be student accommodation. Students in the UK are obliged to have their own licence at their lodgings. Where as in France, I believe that the argument would be given that a student lodging was just an extention of a family home and the family already had a license. A grey area? I don't know how this works or is considered under law. Where family is concerned many things seem very flexible.

[Coral]

I understand that in the UK if you are over a certain age (65? 70? 75?) you do not have to pay for a TV licence no matter what your income. Is there any equivalent in France?

Coral - soon to be in Ariege - I hope!

[David584]

You are exempt from paying the TV licence fee in France PROVIDED you meet ALL of the following conditions.

1. You are over 65 on the 1st January of the relevant year.

2. Paid NO income tax in the previous year AND live alone OR with other people in the same situation.

 

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

Just not paying income tax here isn't quite enough, you need to have filed a tax return and have a worldwide income so low that you are not liable for income tax.

Pedantically

[Sallyb]

We have had our house in Normandy for over 3 years and earlier this year received a letter from the licensing peeps in St Lo saying it had been noted that we had paid tax habitation for the last 3 years but did not have a TV license with a form to complete further details.  We replied to say we were taking over a UK TV for video and DVD use only as we have no receiving device, aerial or sat dish and to let us know if need to pay a licence.  (Didn't own up to having had an old analogue dish which we tried to use with a small portable but never successfully so disposed of dish some time ago before the letter came).This was about 6 months ago but understand we may still hear and have to pay...so we shall see.

[IAN_S]

As I understand it the law is exactly the same as in the UK. IE if you own a TV that is able to receive a transmitted signal you need a licence. It is irrelevant whether you do or do not choose to look at French TV programs.

This rubbish about " I only look at Sky and videos" is just that.

[Alexis]

According to the French news it is definate.  2005 taxe d'habitation will include your telly licence.  I received a form at one of the other houses asking me to declare if there was a telly there.  It is my name on the habitation bill.  Just said I lived here.  Heard no more.  Will have to wait until next year to see if they believed me!

[BJSLIV]

I bet they are busy reprogramming the computers at the Fisc.

From next year the TV redevance will be changing. Everyone will have to sign on their tax return to declare if they do not have a TV.

If this declaration is not made the assumption will be that they do have a TV and the redevance will be collected with the Taxe d'habitation.

There will be no redevance for maison secondaire, as at present. IE a family only needs one licence.

How they will cope with Brits who do not have a tax return, and their only  house is already marked as secondaire should keep them busy.

[Paul_Gyn]

[quote]We have had our house in Normandy for over 3 years and earlier this year received a letter from the licensing peeps in St Lo saying it had been noted that we had paid tax habitation for the last 3 yea...[/quote]

"... We replied to say we were taking over a UK TV for video and DVD use only as we have no receiving device, aerial or sat dish ...."

Sally B.  - where you argument falls down is in the definition of a 'receiving device'. I'm afraid a television IS a receiving device.  I can't imagine the law (or more precisely those interpreting and implementing the law) is specific enough to differentiate between the transmission standards of the various EU countries. So the argument that if you did plug your set into an aerial it would only receive wiggly b&w lines is unlikely to cut much ice!

If you really intend to only watch (sorry, split infinitive!) videos and DVDs then what you need is a monitor; like a computer-type flat screen for instance (saw a brilliant one in a Dutch caravan recently; so much easier to pack and took up so little valuable table space), with a video input, built-in speakers, but NO tuner.

But make sure your video is a 'player-only' or the authorities could legitimately claim that monitor+tuner (in the VCR) = TV.

The bottom line - as I see it - is: if it does not contain the electronics to receive off-air signals, then it's NOT a television and doesn't require a licence.

 

[CeeJay]

Paul Gyn

Thank you for that very reasoned and dispassionate reply, really does make a change from some of the sanctimonious prattlings of others!

[Miki]

 Received a demand for licence fee recently which should be paid by the end of November, however my French set is broken and I took over, in the summer, an English PAL set with Sky box.I have now sent the facture back to the local TV Office in Toulouse explaining that I can only  receive English television...........I await their reply with great interest............Ceejay

Or of course the rambling of someone who simply wants to get out of paying for a TV licence, pay up and look big for goodness sake, instead of taking pops at people who are only trying to explain that if you have a TV, you pay like everyone else is obliged to.

This Sky TV and no French system aproach to not buying a TV licence has been going on for donkeys years and every year we get the same thing, "I can't get French TV why should I pay for a licence" it is those people prattling on that p----s  me right off.

Can someone explain why anyone should feel that they shouldn't pay a licence for receiving television pictures but still be able to watch TV in France ? I for one, am glad to see it is going on taxe hab and wonder what people will come up with now, because they now have to try and prove they have NO Televison at all.

Sanctimonious ? not really but there's nothing better than a level playing field to get people really annoyed