Do I have to deregister and register again when I move?
No – for a move within Germany, the Ummeldung is the correct and only procedure. You continue to have a home, so the obligation to pay contributions continues; only the address on the existing contribution account changes. Both alternatives create problems: anyone who deregisters and does not register the new home leaves a gap that is later closed ex officio and retroactively – by a Festsetzungsbescheid (assessment notice) and, where applicable, with a late-payment penalty. Anyone who registers afresh has two contribution accounts and receives demands for the old home, which only stop once the matter is resolved. So always state your contribution number, so that the address is changed on the existing account.
Does the Beitragsservice not find out about my move automatically from the registration office?
Yes, it does – but not immediately, and that makes the difference. § 11 Abs. 5 RBStV provides that every registration authority automatically transmits data on a nationwide uniform reference date, “every four years starting from the year 2022”, including the “current and most recent address of principal and secondary residences” and the “day of moving into the home”. The comparison can even be omitted if the KEF finds that the data is sufficiently up to date. Two conclusions follow: first, it does not replace your duty to notify under § 8 RBStV. Second – and this is the more important one in practice – an unreported move does not go undetected, but is only detected later: then with accumulated arrears instead of a clean account.
Do I pay twice in the month I move?
No, provided that both addresses belong to the same contribution account. § 7 RBStV calculates in whole months: the obligation begins on the first day of the month in which you first have the home, and ends with the end of the month in which having the home ends. In the case of a move, both events often fall within the same month – you still pay only the one contribution of €18.36, because you continuously have a home and the Ummeldung only updates the address. It only becomes a double payment in two situations: if you keep the old home (then § 4a RBStV applies, but only on application) or if a second account was accidentally set up.
I am moving in with my partner — is that an Ummeldung?
No, that is moving in together, and the correct procedure is the deregistration of your own contribution account. Since, under § 2 Abs. 1 RBStV, only one contribution is due per home, the home is already covered by your partner's existing account. The crucial detail, on which most procedures fail, is this: you must state the contribution number of the person who continues to pay, otherwise it cannot be checked that the home is recorded, and your contribution keeps running. Also bear § 2 Abs. 3 RBStV in mind: several occupants are liable as joint and several debtors – so if you separate, the registration situation should be sorted out just as carefully.
I am keeping my old home — what applies then?
Then you have two homes, and since the contribution is due per home, this generally gives rise to a second contribution of €18.36 a month, that is €220.32 a year. This can only be avoided with the application for exemption for secondary residences under § 4a RBStV, which the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfG) prompted with its decision of 18 July 2018. It is not examined ex officio, and timing matters: if it is filed within three months of the conditions being met, the exemption takes effect from that month; otherwise only from the month of application. Register both homes and file the application in the same step.
How quickly must I report my move?
§ 8 RBStV requires the notification “without delay in writing” – with no fixed deadline and no grace period whose expiry you could wait for. In practice, this means: without culpable delay, as soon as you are able to do so. Unlike the Abmeldung, where under § 7 Abs. 2 RBStV the entire obligation to pay contributions depends on the time of notification and every month of delay costs €18.36, a delay in a pure Ummeldung is usually of no financial consequence – you keep paying regardless. It is risky nonetheless: post sent to the old address no longer reaches you, and a notice you do not read becomes final after one month.
What happens if I do not report the move at all?
At first, little – and that is exactly the trap. The contribution keeps running under the old address, but the post no longer reaches you. As a result, you learn neither of a contribution increase nor of a Festsetzungsbescheid, and the one-month deadline for an objection (Widerspruch) against it runs regardless. At the latest with the Meldedatenabgleich under § 11 Abs. 5, the discrepancy becomes visible, and the situation is then resolved retroactively: with arrears, where applicable a late-payment penalty of 1% (at least €8.00), and in the worst case already within administrative enforcement proceedings under § 10 Abs. 6 RBStV. An Ummeldung takes a few minutes and is the only way of ensuring this chain never even begins.
Who do I address the Ummeldung to?
Formally, to the competent Landesrundfunkanstalt – § 8 RBStV names it expressly – but in practice the Beitragsservice accepts the notification on its behalf, online, by form or in writing. This matters if you move across a federal state border: the competent broadcaster then becomes the one for your new place of residence, for example the NDR instead of the WDR. For you, this changes neither the amount nor the contribution number, but it does change the body against which a later objection is directed – and the contact details on future notices. Choose a method that gives you a dated confirmation, and keep it.
