The abolition of the TV license fee will create a “new tax”. The tax office will collect the fee itself

The announced abolition of the RTV license fee made many Poles happy, but this joy may turn out to be premature. The new audiovisual fee is to be automatically collected by the Tax Office when settling income tax – as reported by Dziennik.pl. The first estimates range from PLN 8 to PLN 9 per month.

Currently, RTV subscription rates are PLN 9.50 per month for a radio and PLN 30.50 for a television set (or both television and radio).

The end of the “archaic creation”

From January 1, 2027, this system will become history. Minister of Culture Marta Cienkowska described the current model as an “archaic and very poorly recoverable creation” that does not guarantee stable financing for public media.

To solve this problem, the government plans to replace the current voluntary system with an automatic system, which will be operated by the tax office.

Who will not pay the new audiovisual fee?

Despite the widespread nature of the new fee, the list of exempt persons will remain similar to the current regulations. The following people will not have to pay the audiovisual fee:

• seniors who are over 75 years of age;
• pupils and students (up to 26 years of age);
• people with low incomes;
• people with disabilities;
• the unemployed.

Poczta Polska will not forgive debtors

The introduction of new regulations does not mean amnesty for people who are in arrears with their current payments. Poczta Polska will retain the right to collect overdue RTV license fees until December 31, 2028.

The changes affect not only TV users. Due to the fact that more and more people are giving up traditional receivers in favor of mobile devices, the so-called reprography fee (often called the “smartphone tax”). From January this year, theoretically, producers, and in practice probably customers, will pay it in the price of the equipment. The additional cost of the reprography fee ranges from 1 to 4 percent. values devices.

ed. aw

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