Serafe

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Serafe AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 2016
Seat Fehraltorf , SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland 
management Werner Krauer (CEO)
Number of employees 25 (2018)
Branch Debt collection
Website www.serafe.ch

The Serafe AG ( Swiss collection agency for radio and television output , french organs suisse de perception de la redevance de radio-télévision , Italian Organo di riscossione svizzero per il canone radiotelevisivo ) is a subsidiary of Swiss Secon AG , responsible for the elevation of the Radio - and television reception fees is responsible. It has been collecting broadcasting fees since January 1, 2019 and in this role replaced Billag AG . The art name consists of S chweizerische E rhebungsstelle for Ra dio- and Fe rnsehabgabe together.

History of reception fees

Until 1998, reception fees were paid automatically with Swisscom's monthly telephone bill . After the partial privatization of Swisscom, it was obliged to continue the collection until 2002 at the latest. Swisscom then founded the subsidiary Billag AG, which began collecting fees in early 1998. In a public invitation to tender in 1999, Billag AG was awarded the contract to continue to raise the fees. Even after that, Billag was able to defend its mandate.

On June 14, 2015, the Swiss electorate adopted the amendment to the Federal Act on Radio and Television (RTVG) in a referendum vote . The reception fee has thus been adapted to technological developments and the annual fee for households has been reduced. With an internet connection , radio and television can also be received without a classic radio or television set. The revised RTVA replaces the previous device-dependent reception fee with a general fee.

On March 10, 2017, the Federal Office for Communication of Bakom announced that Billag AG would lose its mandate to collect radio and television fees after 18 years. In a public tender, Serafe AG, a subsidiary of Secon AG founded in 1979 , won the bid thanks to a better price-performance ratio . Serafe AG ​​took over this task on January 1st, 2019. The mandate runs until 2025.

On March 4, 2018, the Swiss people voted with a clear rejection (71.6% against) of the federal popular initiative “Yes to the abolition of radio and television fees (abolition of Billag fees)” in favor of maintaining radio and television reception fees out. The households and companies will thus continue to participate in the financing of local, regional and national radio and television stations.

Companies

The company employs around 25 people. The collection volume is around 1.3 billion Swiss francs. In order to guarantee a regular flow of money, the total of approx. 3.6 million invoices to be sent are sent at random evenly distributed over each month.

Fee obligation and fee amount

After the system change from the device-dependent reception fee to the device-independent household fee , all private households in Switzerland are generally liable to pay the fee. Regardless of the number of people living in a private household, they only have to pay one fee. Car radios, PCs and cell phones are included. The price set by the Federal Council has been 365 Swiss francs per year since 2019. Non-owners of receivers can be exempted from the broadcasting fee for a 5-year transition period. Recipients of supplementary AHV / IV benefits under federal law can be exempted from the fees upon request. Until 2018 you paid 451 francs if you had registered radio and television.

Collective households , i.e. retirement homes, youth homes and homes for the disabled, pay a total of 730 Swiss francs per year.

Companies that are subject to VAT in Switzerland (with their registered office, domicile or permanent establishment in Switzerland) and with a worldwide turnover of over 500,000 Swiss francs are automatically subject to the radio and television tax. The amount of the fee depends on the company's turnover and is levied by the Federal Tax Administration (FTA). The Radio and Television Ordinance divides the annual fee into six levels, with a subdivision depending on the level of sales. For companies with a turnover of less than one million francs, the tax is 365 francs, the highest level requires an annual tax of 35,590 francs for companies with a turnover of one billion francs or more.

In December 2019, the Federal Administrative Court ruled in a case of a Bernese company that the classification of sales levels was “too undifferentiated” and that the constitutional principle of equality had been violated.

Use of radio and television fees

Serafe AG ​​forwards the fee income it receives to OFCOM ( Federal Office of Communication ). Most of the revenue, 1.2 billion Swiss francs, goes to SRG SSR , the Swiss radio and television company, to offer its radio and television programs throughout Switzerland and in all national languages. Local radio stations and private television stations with a service contract receive six percent of the total income, i.e. H. 81 million Swiss francs since 2019. It also finances the administrative expenses of OFCOM (frequency monitoring) and the expenses of Serafe AG ​​and the tax administration. Serafe will be compensated with CHF 20.2 million in 2019, the tax administration with CHF 5.1 million.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This is how the new fee collector ticks In: Blick online from October 15, 2018
  2. ↑ OFCOM: Yes to the revision of the RTVA
  3. ↑ Billag loses order and fears for existence . In: 20 minutes . March 10, 2017
  4. ↑ OFCOM: Rejection of the initiative to abolish radio and television reception fees
  5. ↑ FM1: Post from Serafe - invoices for new radio and TV levy in January of October 23, 2018
  6. ↑ OFCOM: Fee for radio and television
  7. ↑ Federal Council: Art. 67b Amount of the fee. In: Radio and Television Ordinance (RTVV). Federal Chancellery, October 1, 2018, accessed on December 13, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Tobias Bruggmann: Federal Councilor must review Serafe fees for companies. December 13, 2019, accessed December 13, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Federal Administrative Court: Judgment A-1378/2019 of December 5, 2019 . St. Gallen December 5, 2019.
  10. ↑ Serafe AG: Distribution of taxes
  11. ^ Federal Statistical Office: Use of reception fees