DR Media license – what is it?
Have you received bills marked with DR on them? So has every other person living in Denmark and for a newcomer, this can be extremely confusing and at first, raise some rage.
DR is a Danish public broadcaster and the media license is a tax that covers the founding of DR Media. They offer free radio, tv and online services to the public. The yearly fee of the license is 2492 kr in 2017. This license has raised multiple discussions and debate amongst public and social media, but we won’t be covering that in this post. It must be mentioned that Denmark is not the only country where such service exists, the same license has to be paid in the UK and probably other countries.
Who pays for the license?
Generally, the license has to be paid per household, meaning if you are married or in a relationship where all household members are registered on the same address, the bill will be sent to only one household member.
If your household owns a smartphone, a tablet, a TV and has internet connection, you are automatically obligated to pay the license.
In cases where multiple people live in a shared accommodation, each person has to pay his own license, but in the past it has proven that this system doesn’t work as well as it is hard to prove whether the relationship exists or not.
What happens if I don’t pay?
A bill that is not paid will keep appearing in your mailbox and sometimes a fee of 100kr will be added every time it isn’t paid. I would recommend 2 options: pay the bill when you receive it or sign up for a monthly or semi-annual payment on DR website. From experience speaking, if the bills are ignored, at the annual tax calculation, the overpaid taxes, that you should receive back from SKAT, will be used to cover the debt of unpaid media license.
Can i unsubscribe from the license?
Yes, yes you can, but only if you can prove that you don’t own devices mentioned above. Unfortunately, no other options exist.
If you are moving in with a person who already pays the license, then you can sign up for cancellation here.
More information can be found on dr.dk