TV licence

 a year ago we bought a TV for watching DVDs on and we do not have a TV aerial. A large bill for a TV abonnement has arrived.... does anyone know if it has to be paid or as in UK can we opt out?

   [deleted - never meant to post - too early in the morning to think straight]

Sources close to Berlusconi himself have called for a boycott of the RAI licence fee.  See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/28/berlusconi-family-newspaper-television-licence.  So You could always join the boycott...

In the south of ITaly 87% of the population dont pay the RAI canone.  Its unlikely that they will single you out if you dont have one! 

RAI sends out the demands to everyone. I know someone who worked at the RAI call centre that dealt with licence equiries. They were often called up by people in a panic over these demands who did not own a TV. An interesting fact was the staff were told not to tell people if they were due a refund or if they could save money, unless they specifically asked about it. The best way to avoid paying is to not open the front door to anyone, thats how they got me.   Mark

The tone of this thread is very different to the one in July 09 on the same subject, to wit; We just received a demand for license payment which dates from the time we applied for residency, so we assumed the residency application triggered the bill. I seem to recall on the old forum the general feeling was to ignore it if you are non-resident, otherwise cough up.   Submitted by adriatica on 25 July 2009 - 1:02pm.  would advise against ignoring any bill here...well at least comune,tax or in this case TV... in fact anything billed through a government agency...  the peril ... not immedaiate is that the unpaid bill will be passed to one of the governments various collection agencies .. well thats a certainty... and it will eventually if remaining unpaid end up in an italian court and will then be assigned to whatever property the code fiscale indiates that person ons in Italy... eventually it will end up in an asta ... auction for the payment of said bill... this happens to Italins quite frequentley...often because the collection agencies seem to ignore settlements of bills...  it  seems to me and a lot of Italians that paying bills quickly when they arrive is best... the late payment triggers the collectrion agency option and once with thenm resolving things seems to be a nightmare...

  so I, in fact joined what seems to be the minority and paid up. I'd hate to buy into a lot of problems for the sake of a few quid.   Terry

We managed not to pay the first 5 years after we took residency here in Abruzzo. The bill came, but we just ignored it. Then, one autumn day, the man came around to check. That is, he didn't check anything, and didn't ask to come inside. He just said there was a campaign di "condono" so if we paid the 20 euros for the abbonement valid for the rest of that year, there would be no other fee or fine. I had to sign that I had been advised by him. If we didn't pay it would go to the incasso, so...then that was it, now we receive the bill every year and cannot avoid it. It's a tax, practically.