How much does the Italian TV licence fee cost?
The Italian TV licence fee for private use costs EUR 90 a year and is owed once per registered household. It is charged as ten instalments of EUR 9 on the electricity bill from January to October, or paid by F24 form by 31 January by anyone without a domestic electricity contract.
Verifiable answer
The Italian TV licence fee for private use costs EUR 90 a year and is owed once per registered household. It is charged as ten instalments of EUR 9 on the electricity bill from January to October, or paid by F24 form by 31 January by anyone without a domestic electricity contract.
- How much does the Italian TV licence fee cost?
- €90 / year
- €0 – €90
- Italy
- 24 July 2026
- Confidence: High
- Annual fee of EUR 90 per registered household; Cover for every television set in the same home; Automatic charging in ten instalments of EUR 9 on the electricity invoice; No extra commission for the charge appearing on the bill
- Streaming platform subscriptions, which are an entirely separate service; The special licence for sets held in commercial or public premises; The cost of the electricity itself, on which the fee simply travels as a separate line; Interest or penalties for late F24 payments
- Whether a television set exists in the home at all; Whether you hold a residential domestic electricity contract or pay by F24; Age and income, for the exemption available from 75; How many electricity supplies are held by members of the same registered household; Whether your pension falls within the threshold that allows deduction at source
- 3 sources
Official price versus real cost
Official price
€90
/ year
Difference+€0 (+0%)
Real cost
€90
€90
Here the official price and the real cost are the same: EUR 90 published, EUR 90 paid. That is rare in our catalogue and worth stating plainly, because the widespread feeling that the licence "costs more than they say" comes from something else entirely: not from hidden items, but from the fee travelling inside the electricity bill alongside system charges and excise duties, so it is never visible as a single figure. The only situations in which someone ends up paying more than EUR 90 are fixable mistakes — a duplicate charge across two supplies in one household, a missed F24 deadline — not a structural cost of the procedure.
Short answer
The Italian TV licence is one of the rare Italian costs where the official price and the real cost match to the cent. What confuses people is not the amount but the way it arrives: spread across ten electricity bills, never announced by name.
The TV licence is the mirror image of the passport: no hidden costs, no photographs, no journeys. Ninety euros a year, and that is the whole story. Yet it remains one of the items Italians most often get wrong, for two reasons. The first is that since 2016 the fee no longer arrives on its own payment slip but is charged on the electricity invoice, where it sits alongside system charges, excise duties and standing charges in a document almost nobody reads line by line. The second is that the amount changed: for 2024 alone it was cut to EUR 70, and a great many web pages still quote that figure as though it were current. It is not. There is also an older misunderstanding that survives every reform: the fee is not owed per television set, it is owed per registered household. A family with three sets pays ninety euros; a married couple living together pays ninety euros in total, not a hundred and eighty. This guide sets out the amount, the exact calendar on which it is charged, the two payment routes, and the cases in which nothing is owed at all.
What is included
- Annual fee of EUR 90 per registered household
- Cover for every television set in the same home
- Automatic charging in ten instalments of EUR 9 on the electricity invoice
- No extra commission for the charge appearing on the bill
What is not included
- Streaming platform subscriptions, which are an entirely separate service
- The special licence for sets held in commercial or public premises
- The cost of the electricity itself, on which the fee simply travels as a separate line
- Interest or penalties for late F24 payments
How the price breaks down
| Item | Type | Frequency | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|
| TV licence fee for private useAnnual amount owed once per registered household in which a television set is present, whatever the number of sets in the home. | Compulsory | per year | €90 |
| Monthly instalment on the electricity billThe fee does not arrive in one go: it is charged as ten instalments of nine euros on the electricity invoices issued from January to October. From November the bill gets lighter again. | Optional | per month | €9 |
| Payment by F24 formThe alternative route for anyone without a residential domestic electricity contract, or served by a non-interconnected grid: the same amount, but paid in a single instalment by 31 January of the year concerned. | Optional | per year | €90 |
What the price depends on
- Whether a television set exists in the home at all
- Whether you hold a residential domestic electricity contract or pay by F24
- Age and income, for the exemption available from 75
- How many electricity supplies are held by members of the same registered household
- Whether your pension falls within the threshold that allows deduction at source
Hidden costs
- A double charge when a household member puts a second electricity supply in their own name at the same address: the refund has to be claimed, it does not arrive by itself
- The full fee charged even to people who activate an electricity supply mid-year, because the remaining instalments are recalculated over the months left
- An exemption lost through forgetfulness: the declaration that no set is held has to be resubmitted each year within the published deadlines
- Penalties and interest for anyone paying by F24 after 31 January, a hard deadline with no instalment option
Three realistic scenarios
Economy scenario
€0
You turned 75 by 31 January, your income together with your spouse's stays below EUR 8,000, and no cohabitant has an income of their own. Once the declaration is filed, nothing is charged at all.
Typical scenario
€90
A household with a domestic electricity contract and at least one television set: ten instalments of nine euros from January to October, with nothing to do and no commission. This is where the great majority of Italian households sit.
Premium scenario
€90
A home without a residential domestic electricity contract, for instance one served by a non-interconnected grid: the same amount, but it has to be paid on your own initiative by F24 before 31 January, or penalties and interest follow.
How to spend less
- If two electricity supplies at your address are in the names of people in the same registered household, check both bills: the fee should be charged only once, and a duplicate charge is only recovered if you report it.
- If you turned 75 by 31 January and your income together with your spouse's stays under EUR 8,000, file the declaration: the exemption then covers the whole year, and it is never automatic.
- If you receive a pension of no more than EUR 18,000 you can ask for the fee to be deducted from the pension itself, but the request must be made by 15 November of the preceding year; outside that window you are back on the electricity bill.
- If you have no domestic electricity contract, do not wait for a notice that will never come: the F24 payment is due on 31 January and being late produces penalties on an otherwise small amount.
- Do not pay intermediaries offering to handle the exemption: the declaration is filed free of charge with the Revenue Agency and needs no professional help.
Frequently asked questions
Is the fee EUR 90 or EUR 70 today?
Ninety euros a year. The EUR 70 figure is real but applied only to 2024, when the amount was exceptionally reduced for that single year. From the following year the fee returned to EUR 90, which is the amount currently stated by the Italian Revenue Agency on its payment page. If you still find EUR 70 on a web page, that page has not been updated since 2024: it is probably the most widespread error in circulation about this levy.
Do I pay for every television set in the house?
No. The fee is owed once per registered household in which at least one television set is present, whatever the number of sets. A family with one set in the living room, one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom pays ninety euros, exactly like someone with a single set. The same applies to a married couple living together: they are one registered household and pay one fee. The case where you can end up paying twice has nothing to do with sets and everything to do with electricity supplies, when two people in the same household hold one each.
How is the fee charged on the bill?
As ten monthly instalments of nine euros each, charged on the invoices issued by electricity companies from January to October every year. It is therefore not a single deduction, and it is not spread over twelve months: the fee does not appear on the November and December bills at all. That explains why many people notice a lighter bill at the end of the year without connecting it to the licence. The charge carries no additional commission from the energy supplier.
How do people without an electricity contract pay?
By F24 form, in a single payment, by 31 January of the year concerned. This covers anyone without a residential domestic electricity supply contract and anyone served by electricity grids not interconnected to the national system. The amount is the same, EUR 90, but the logic changes: nothing arrives to be paid, it has to be sent on your own initiative. Anyone who forgets receives no second notice and is exposed to penalties and interest on an otherwise modest sum.
Who is exempt from paying?
The most common case is people aged 75 and over: anyone who has turned 75 and whose own income together with their spouse's does not exceed EUR 8,000 a year is exempt, provided no cohabitant has an income of their own, with the exception of domestic workers, housekeepers and carers. The exemption covers the whole year if the 75th birthday fell by 31 January, and only the second half of the year if it fell between 1 February and 31 July. In every case a declaration has to be filed: it never applies automatically.
If I own no television at all, do I still pay?
No, but it has to be declared. Anyone who holds no television set in any of the homes where they are the named holder of an electricity supply can file a declaration of non-possession with the Revenue Agency, which suspends the charge on the bill. It matters to know that the declaration has to be renewed according to the deadlines set each year: file it once and then forget about it, and the fee reappears on the bill, with an extra procedure needed to recover it.
Sources and methodology
How we worked it out
The amount comes from the Italian Revenue Agency's page on how the private-use TV licence is paid: this is the body that actually collects the levy, so it is the primary source rather than commentary on one. The same page provides the number of instalments, the months in which they are charged, and the 31 January deadline for those paying by F24. The exemption conditions for people aged 75 and over come from the Agency's dedicated page rather than being inferred: the EUR 8,000 threshold covers the applicant's income added to their spouse's, a rule that cannot be derived from any other page. No estimates of any kind were added, because the fee involves neither a chargeable procedure nor a journey. That is why official price and real cost are identical here, making this one of the few guides on the site where the distinction produces no gap at all.
Why this confidence level
High confidence: the amount, the instalments and the deadlines come straight from the Italian Revenue Agency's pages — the body that collects the fee — and were cross-checked across three separate pages of the same institutional portal. There are no market components to estimate, because the licence involves neither a chargeable procedure nor a physical journey. The only element that can move is the amount itself, which is set in law and can be revised in a budget: that already happened in 2024, when it was cut to EUR 70 for that year alone.
Annual amount of EUR 90, charged in ten monthly instalments from January to October on the electricity bill
Canone TV — Come si paga (cittadini) (opens in a new tab)
Agenzia delle Entrate · Public authority · Verified on 24 July 2026
Page of the body that actually collects the fee. It is the origin of the amount, the number of instalments, the 31 January deadline for the F24 route and the EUR 18,000 threshold for deduction from a pension. The note on 2024, when the amount was exceptionally cut to EUR 70, was checked here too.
Authority5/5
Exemption for people aged 75 or over whose own and spouse's income together does not exceed EUR 8,000
Canone TV — Cittadini ultrasettantacinquenni (opens in a new tab)
Agenzia delle Entrate · Public authority · Verified on 24 July 2026
Used for the exact income threshold, for the rule on cohabitants with an income of their own, and for the two timing windows: turning 75 by 31 January exempts the whole year, between 1 February and 31 July only the second half.
Authority5/5
Confirms the fee is due once per registered household, not per television set
Area tematica Canone TV (opens in a new tab)
Agenzia delle Entrate · Public authority · Verified on 24 July 2026
Used as a second check on the amount and for the underlying principle: the fee is owed once per registered household in which a set exists, not for each television owned.
Authority5/5
Revision history
First published on 24 July 2026. The EUR 90 amount, the ten-instalment calendar and the exemption conditions were verified against the Italian Revenue Agency's pages; the guide states explicitly that the EUR 70 figure applied to 2024 only.
- 24 July 2026
- 24 July 2026
- 15 January 2027