TV licence/tax payable

[Jacqui Too]

Last autumn we started to pay our first Taxe d'habitation and I now have received a letter requiring me to declare the TV status of the house.

I have read all the options and think that I should tick the last one saying we live in UK and our French house is a residence secondaire.

My question is: how much is the tax due and is it added to the annual taxe d'habitation bill or billed separately?

Thank you.

[EuroTrash]

Yes it is appears on your taxe d'hab bill and last year I think it was about 120 euros.

[Jacqui Too]

Thank you for your reply

Is that amount for second homes?

[EuroTrash]

[quote user="Jacqui Too "]Thank you for your reply

Is that amount for second homes?[/quote]

Makes no difference if you only have 1 house in France. I believe that if you own more than one house in France you only pay one lot of redevance audiovisuelle. But I could be wrong.

[Department71]

[quote user="Jacqui Too "]Thank you for your reply

Is that amount for second homes?[/quote]

Afraid so, think its meant for anyone who may have more then one holiday home in France, they may be able to offset the fee between properties.

 But don't quote me. Its something I also had a second look at once.

If you have a television  just chuck the letter in the bin, if no tele send it back duly ticked in the correct box.

It is listed separately on the form, but they take the full amount for both under the one heading.

Steve

[Jacqui Too]

Humm that sounds an awful lot to pay for a few weeks watching Sky freeview on 15" screen!

[EuroTrash]

Easy answer ... live without it!

And don't just leave it there and not watch it, because whereas in the UK the licensing team can only prosecute if they catch you in the act of watching TV without a licence, in France you can be prosecuted just for possessing a TV without a licence. Apparently they can invite themselves in and have a look around.

Technically, if there was a TV in the house on 1st Jan, you have to pay for the year. But who's to know.

[virginia.c]

I've had the same letter. Am i understanding it correctly that i can just bin the letter? (yes, i have a tv and pay taxe d'hab.

[Clarkkent]

Yes.

[Babbles]

The letter we have just got you do have to send back even if you haven't a TV, ticking the appropriate box, so the want of a stamp I'd send it back. The bit I'm confused about is our is a maison secondaire, run as a Chambre D'Hote , we have a TV and 3 for guests so how much we pay? as I believe it is how many TV'S not per household.

[AnOther]

I'm slightly confused.

AFAIK the TV licence is included in the taxe d'hab automatically so the only reason to be filling in forms would be to claim a rebate/discount because you don't have one [8-)]

[Loiseau]

In France they count not only your French TV, but ANY way you can receive TV - via UK satellite, via computer, etc, as well as straightforward French TV connection.

So if you look at any TV via these means, you have to 'fess up.

Usually the licence fee is added automatically to the Taxe d'Habitation bill - unless you return the form to say you have none of these possibilities in place. (Using the forum from France implies that you would have at least one of them as a usable option!)

For some reason, last year in the Vendee they did not collect the TV redevance as usual with the taxe d'habitation. I queried this, and they sent me a separate bill.

So basically, if you have ANY means of receiving TV at your French house - makes no difference if it's residence primaire or secondaire (unless your two properties are in France, perhaps; not sure about the rules then) - don't return the form, as you have to pay.

Angela

[Jacqui Too]

Another wrote:[AFAIK the TV licence is included in the taxe d'hab automatically so the only reason to be filling in forms would be to claim a rebate/discount because you don't have one ]

So do you think that I have already paid last years then? and my bill will not increase by aprox €120?

[AnOther]

If you have not specifically claimed that you do not have a TV and had your taxe d'hab reduced then no, you shouldn't have to pay more.

It should be itemised on your taxe d'hab devis, it is on ours.

[Hoddy]

I get one of these every year, presumably in case the situation has changed since last year.

The first question asks you to declare that none of your homes, whether principal or secondary, is equipped with a television or similar device.

We don't have a TV in France because it simply isn't worth it for a part of the year.

I'm not sure if there are separate rules for chambres d'hote. It doesn't mention them on the form I have.

Hoddy

[Jacqui Too]

["AnOther"]If you have not specifically claimed that you do not have a TV and had your taxe d'hab reduced then no, you shouldn't have to pay more.

It should be itemised on your taxe d'hab devis, it is on ours.

You are a gem :-)

I looked at my last bill and it was there! don't know how i missed that one!

But a big relief that I don't have to any more, phew.

Thank you all

[crossy67]

Would you still have to pay if you had a tv but no means of receiving any external broadcasts, like a stand alone dvd player for instance?

[Pickles]

[quote user="crossy67"]Would you still have to pay if you had a tv but no means of receiving any external broadcasts, like a stand alone dvd player for instance?

[/quote]

The TV has a tuner and is therefore designed to pick up external broadcasts. As was noted elsewhere, in France it is the possession of reception-capable equipment that leads to the requirement to have a licence.rather than the use of such equipment (as in the UK). The only way that you could avoid the licence requirement is if what you had was a tunerless monitor - eg like a computer screen.

Regards

Pickles

[crossy67]

I was thinking of my projector, if it were to be used to watch DVD's only[:)]

Not really bothered, we will be paying for any thing we use but if we decide we can manage to live without the TV it would be annoying to have to pay a licence to watch our own films the rights to do so we have already paid for.

As a bit of a side note.  TV detector vans, a reality or a con?  I always thought they were all a scaremongering con, any one else share my opinion, is it possible to detect a TV in a room in a  house etc?

[Pickles]

[quote user="crossy67"]I was thinking of my projector, if it were to be used to watch DVD's only[:)][/quote]

Ah. Well, presumably the projector doesn't have a tuner. In that case, you have no receiving equipment.

[quote user="crossy67"]As a bit of a side note.  TV detector vans, a reality or a con?  I always thought they were all a scaremongering con, any one else share my opinion, is it possible to detect a TV in a room in a  house etc?[/quote]

Tuned circuits re-transmit a small proportion of the signal that they receive, and other components of TVs will also radiate, some at characteristic frequencies. It is possible to detect a TV in use ... but in reality enforcement (at least in the UK) depends on targeting unlicenced properties from the licence database and bombarding them with "pay up or else" letters, followed up by visits by enforcement officers.

Regards

Pickles

[Stan Streason]

Thanks for everyones prior advice on this.  I knew what the form was and what it was trying to do but I couldnt work my way around the seemingly endless supply of double negatives.

I have a TV - I paid the tax - my waste bin is now not less-full by one sheet of paper..

[EuroTrash]

[quote user="crossy67"]As a bit of a side note.  TV detector vans, a reality or a con? [/quote]

In the UK they are a reality. We had a visit once - we had no TV but the licensing people can't understand this, they think everyone has a TV therefore anyone without a license must be a criminal waiting to be caught. We saw a van that said TV Licensing all over it parked in the lane outside many evenings before they gave up. We were thinking of asking them in for a cup of tea, they must have got very bored sitting there.

In France they do not exist because it is not watching TV that is the offence, it is having one in the house. So all they need to do is come and look. Which they do.

[Alex H]

[quote user="EuroTrash"]

In the UK they are a reality. [/quote]

Yes, Maybe, but have a read of this from Wikipedia;

TV detector vans have in the past featured heavily in TV Licensing publicity, implying that secret technology capable of detecting signals from operating TV sets is employed,^[51] and TV Licensing has claimed to have developed a hand-held detector.^[52] The BBC states that such technology used in conjunction with targeted advertising acts as a deterrent:

its use may make it easier for TV Licensing agents to establish that an

offence is likely to be taking place but they would still need to

secure further evidence for successful prosecution.^[53][54]

Furthermore, such technology is restricted in its use by the meaning of

"surveillance and covert human intelligence sources" in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000^[52] and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (British Broadcasting Corporation) Order 2001.^[55][56]

TV Licensing now states "We will only use detection equipment to

identify evaders when other, more cost effective, routes have been

exhausted",^[5] and the BBC has stated that "Detection technology is generally used to obtain search warrants".^[53]

No data from technology claimed to detect television signals has ever

been used as court evidence and the existence of such devices is

generally thought to be unlikely.

The critical method of detecting evaders is through the use of a database system known as LASSY,^[54] which contains 29.5 million^[52]

addresses in the UK. This database is routinely updated with licence

details and with details submitted by dealers in television receiving

equipment, all of whom are required by law to provide TV Licensing with

identifying information about everyone who buys or rents such equipment.^[57] TV Licensing maintains permanent contact with every address in the database that is recorded as not having a TV licence.^[58]

The initial contact with occupants of addresses for which there is no

current licence is by letter. During the year 2005-6, approximately

23.5 million "standard warning" letters were sent.^[59] The methods by which an occupant can reply are in writing, by telephone or by filling in an online form [3].

If a business or household is not obliged to have a TV licence then TV

Licensing will request written confirmation of this, even though no such

information is required to be given in law.^[15][60]

[woolybanana]

Yes, and what a load of jobsworthy nonsense it is too, so unnecessary. All that is needed is that the licence fee is paid with the rates ( a complete list of addresses there) and for those who wish to say they have no TV to make a claim, as in France, by ticking a box. Those can then be visited on a random basis. Local authorities stick their noses into peoples lives in so many ways so why not this way, working for a flat fee of say 2% or a bounty for successful prosecutions.

[EuroTrash]

The UK licensing authority certainly do maintain regular contract, we kept declaring that we had no TV and we continued to receive a neverending stream of threatening and offensive letters which more or less said that they did not believe us and the only way to escape prosecution was, buy a licence. They seem to think it is illegal not to have a TV.

The van said TV Licensing all over it and had aerials and stuff on the roof. It's entirely possible that there is no equipment inside and they were just trying to scare us into getting a licence.

Basically they are bullies.