Serafe Fee Switzerland: Cost, Who Pays & Exemption

Every household in Switzerland gets a Serafe bill, and almost everyone has the same questions: what is it, why do I have to pay it even without a television, and can I get out of it? Serafe is the company that collects the Swiss household media fee, the charge that funds public radio and television. It is one of the small fixed costs that quietly sit in every budget, and it confuses newcomers because it works differently from the old device-based licence most countries still use. This guide explains exactly what Serafe is, how much you pay, who must pay, the narrow exemption that exists, and how to handle moving, all in plain language.

It is a small line item, but it is a fixed and unavoidable one for most people, so it belongs in your planning rather than as an annual surprise. If you are mapping your fixed costs, add it alongside rent and insurance in our budget calculator so nothing catches you out.

What Serafe actually is

Serafe AG has collected the Swiss household media fee since 2019, when it took over from the former Billag system. The important change came with it: the fee is now charged per household and is completely independent of devices. It does not matter whether you own a television, a radio, both or neither, the charge is the same. The money funds the public broadcaster SRG SSR and a number of regional and private stations, which is why it is a public levy rather than a subscription you can simply decline. Understanding that single shift, from a device licence to a household levy, answers most of the confusion around it.

How much you pay

The household fee is CHF 335 per year in 2026, billed by Serafe to every private household. It is a single amount for the whole household, not per person, and the federal government has decided to lower it in the coming years, so the figure is set to fall, always check serafe.ch for the current amount. You receive an annual invoice and can choose to pay it in one go or request payment in instalments across the year, which spreads the cost. Companies are charged separately through a turnover-based corporate fee, and most small businesses fall below the threshold and pay nothing.

Who has to pay it

In short, almost every private household does. If at least one adult is registered as resident at an address, that household owes the fee, and it is charged exactly once no matter how many people live there. This is where the most common misconception bites: "I do not own a TV, so I do not have to pay" was true under the old Billag system but is no longer the case. Since the switch to a household levy, ownership of any device is irrelevant. A shared flat counts as one household and pays one fee, which flatmates usually split between them.

Who can be exempted

There is one meaningful exemption, and it is narrow. Households where a resident receives annual supplementary benefits (Ergänzungsleistungen, EL) to their AHV or IV pension can apply to Serafe to be exempted from the fee, and the exemption is free to request with proof of the EL entitlement. Certain people who are deafblind living in the household are also covered. Collective households such as care homes and student residences fall under separate rules. Outside these specific cases, there is no general opt-out, so the practical question for most people is not how to avoid the fee but how to budget for it.

Moving, new households and registration

You usually do not have to register with Serafe yourself, because it draws household data from the cantonal and communal residents’ registers. When you move, the act of registering your new address with the commune is what updates your Serafe record, so keeping your residence registration correct is what matters. If you set up a genuinely new, separate household, make sure it is registered so the fee lands with the right party. When you move in with others into an existing household, you do not create a second fee, the household already pays one. The key is simply to keep your official residence details accurate.

How to pay and avoid problems

Serafe sends an invoice once a year, which you can settle in full or, on request, in quarterly instalments. Paying by eBill or standing order means you never miss it. If no invoice arrives but you know you owe one, do not treat the silence as a reprieve, contact Serafe, because the obligation stands regardless and unpaid fees are pursued. Keep your address current so bills reach you. None of this is large money, but ignoring it creates reminders and hassle out of proportion to the amount, so the easy path is to treat it as a routine fixed cost and automate the payment.

Where it fits in your budget

On its own the Serafe fee is minor, but it belongs to a cluster of small, fixed Swiss living costs, alongside things like utilities, phone and insurance, that together shape your monthly outgoings. The useful move is not to obsess over CHF 335 a year but to make sure every fixed cost is captured somewhere so your budget reflects reality. See how the fixed costs add up across a Swiss household in our cost of living guide, and use the saving guide to keep the larger lines, rent, insurance and tax, under control where the real money is.

What your fee actually funds

The household fee pays for public service broadcasting across Switzerland’s four language regions, mainly the public broadcaster SRG SSR, plus a share that supports regional and private radio and television stations. The justification is that a small, multilingual country needs broadcasting in German, French, Italian and Romansh that the advertising market alone would not sustain, so the cost is shared across all households rather than carried by viewers of any one channel. Switzerland has debated this model directly: in 2018 voters clearly rejected an initiative to abolish the fee, choosing to keep public broadcasting funded this way. Since then the focus has shifted to lowering the amount, and the government has decided to reduce the household fee in stages over the coming years.

Businesses pay differently

The household fee covers private homes, but companies are treated under a separate corporate media fee, and the rules confuse people who run a small business from home. Your private household fee already covers you as a resident; your business does not pay a second household fee for the same reason. Instead, businesses above an annual turnover threshold (CHF 500,000) pay a staggered corporate fee scaled to their size, while smaller companies and the self-employed below that threshold pay nothing extra for the business. So a freelancer working from their flat owes only the ordinary household fee, not a separate business charge, unless the business is large enough to cross the corporate threshold.

Mistakes that cost people money or hassle

A few avoidable errors turn a routine fee into a problem. The biggest is ignoring the invoice: the obligation does not lapse, and unpaid fees lead to reminders and eventually debt-collection costs that dwarf the fee itself. The second is not applying for the exemption when genuinely eligible through supplementary benefits, leaving free relief unclaimed. The third is assuming that more residents or more devices mean more to pay, when the household is charged exactly once regardless. And the fourth is forgetting to update your address after moving, which can misroute bills and create confusion about who owes what. Keep your residence registration current, pay or apply on time, and the fee stays the non-event it should be.

The bottom line

Serafe is a small, fixed household fee that almost everyone in Switzerland pays, regardless of whether they own a television, with one narrow exemption for households on supplementary benefits. Treat it as a routine cost, keep your residence details current, and automate the payment. Capture it among your fixed costs in the budget calculator, and focus your saving energy on the big lines covered in our guide to saving money in Switzerland.