What Your Berlin Address Owes in Rundfunkbeitrag
The broadcasting contribution is charged on the flat and not on the person, so one Berlin address owes 18.36 euro a month however many people live behind the door. Give the tool the month your living situation started and say what is actually registered, and it draws every month since then as what the flat owes against what is being charged.
The contribution figure, the reduced rate for holders of the RF mark, the one-per-flat rule, the treatment of rooms in halls of residence and the second-home exemption all come from the Beitragsservice of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio. The 18.36 euro a month has applied since August 2021, after the Bundesverfassungsgericht ordered it into force on 20 July 2021. The 6.12 euro reduced rate applies to people granted the RF mark. The independent commission KEF recommended 18.64 euro from 1 January 2027 in its 25th report of 20 February 2026, which the federal states have still to confirm; the tool deliberately keeps arithmetic at the figure in force. Checked on 14 September 2026. This is a plain arithmetic check, not legal advice.
Start with the month your current living situation began, because that is the point from which any duplicate has been running. Then pick what is actually registered: one account, two accounts behind the same flat door, an old flat you never deregistered, a second home, or a hall room off a shared corridor. The chart draws each month as what the flat owes in dark green and anything charged on top in yellow, and the panel underneath turns the gap into a figure and names the one thing to do about it.
The flat is the unit, not the person
One Wohnung owes one contribution of 18.36 euro a month, and how many people live in it makes no difference. Nor do devices: there is no television, radio or aerial anywhere in the rule since the old device licence was replaced in 2013. Only one adult per flat needs to be registered, and the flat decides between themselves who that is.
Where Berliners quietly pay twice
Four situations account for almost all of it. Somebody moves in and keeps the account from their old address, so one flat door is billed twice. An old flat is never deregistered after a move and keeps producing a bill. A second home is never applied for. Or a hall room that genuinely is its own Wohnung is paid for on top of a shared-flat account that already covers somebody else.
Exemption is by benefit and never automatic
Grundsicherungsgeld, Hilfe zum Lebensunterhalt, Grundsicherung im Alter und bei Erwerbsminderung, benefits under the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz, and BAfoeG or Berufsausbildungsbeihilfe when you do not live with your parents all qualify, on application and with evidence. Arbeitslosengeld I, Wohngeld and Uebergangsgeld do not. Holders of the RF mark pay a third, 6.12 euro a month.
A second home has to be applied for
Since 1 June 2020 anyone who can show they already pay for their main home can be released from the contribution on a second home, and spouses or registered partners can apply on the same basis. It starts from the month the application arrives, or up to three months earlier if the conditions were already met, so the delay is the expensive part.
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Rundfunkbeitrag in Berlin: One Flat, One Fee, and Four Ways to Pay Twice
The contribution is charged on the flat and not on the person, so one Berlin address owes 18.36 euro a month however many people live there. Who owes it, the four situations where Berliners pay twice, and what an unanswered letter turns into.