Unpaid TV and radio licence fee – when can you apply for its cancellation?

When can one apply for its remission?

In exceptional situations, if there are special social reasons or cases of force majeure, the National Broadcasting Council (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji, KRRiT) may remit or allow payment in instalments of arrears in subscription fees, fees for using an unregistered radio or television receiver, and interest for late payment of these fees.

The above grounds, in the form of special social reasons or cases of force majeure, are very general formulations, making it difficult to determine what exactly they entail. To clarify these, the KRRiT adopted Resolution No. 279/2018 of 22 November 2018, indicating specific grounds justifying remission.

Firstly, one ground for remitting the aforementioned arrears is, for example, having an income per person in the household not exceeding:

1. 55.5% of the gross minimum wage – in a multi-person household,
2. 74% of the gross minimum wage – in a single-person household.

The minimum wage in 2022 is 3010 PLN, which means the income per person in a multi-person household cannot exceed 1720.5 PLN, and in a single-person household 2294 PLN.
Secondly, remission may be granted in cases where a person exempt from the subscription fee fails to fulfil the requirements conditioning eligibility for the exemption. A common mistake, also stemming from a lack of widespread public awareness campaigns, is the belief that the exemption works automatically, i.e. that a person exempt from the fee no longer needs to complete any formalities. Unfortunately, this is not the case, because merely acquiring the right to exemption is not sufficient grounds to stop paying fees for the use of radio and TV receivers. The subscription fee may be waived only after submitting a declaration of meeting the conditions for the exemption along with documents confirming entitlement. The declaration and accompanying documents must be submitted at a Polish Post office. During epidemic threats, such declaration together with digital copies of documents confirming entitlement may be submitted to the Polish Post via a dedicated email address. The exemption applies from the first day of the month following the month in which the declaration was submitted.

Persons exempt from paying the subscription fee who have nevertheless failed to fulfil the above formalities may count on remission of the fee by KRRiT. These persons primarily include:

1. those classified in the first group of disabled persons or deemed completely unable to work or with a significant degree of disability;
2. those permanently or temporarily completely unable to work in an agricultural household,
3. those receiving a care allowance, special care allowance, or social pension;
4. the deaf, diagnosed with total deafness or bilateral hearing impairment (measured at 2000 Hz frequency with intensity from 80 dB);
5. the blind, whose visual acuity does not exceed 15%;
6. those who are over 60 years old and have an established right to a pension not exceeding 50% of the average monthly wage in the national economy in the previous year (in 2021 this wage was 5662.53 PLN);
7. those entitled to monetary benefits under social assistance.

Also exempt from subscription fees are persons over 75 years of age. However, in their case, the exemption applies automatically in the month following reaching this age criterion. Before 9 October 2015, these persons also had to fulfil the above formalities, so failure to do so is also an argument supporting remission of the fees by KRRiT.
Applications for remission may also be made by persons from areas declared to be in a state of natural disaster or by persons who have declared bankruptcy.

Remission may also be sought by persons over 60 years old who have an established right to a survivor’s pension, which – importantly – is their sole source of personal income and whose amount does not exceed 50% of the average monthly wage in the national economy.

If none of the above grounds for remission apply, the basis for remission may still be a serious and long-term illness.