French TV licence for my second home?

If you have a television in the property, you need to pay the contri­bution à l’audiovisuel public (€139 in 2019) along with your taxe d’habitation local property tax.

This holds even if you do not watch French TV and use the TV only for videos.

You pay once no matter how many TVs you have at the home.

If not, there is a box to cross on the front of your French income tax form to state you do not have a TV and should not therefore be charged for a licence.

If you do not declare for French income tax, you will need to contact your tax office directly to inform them.

Checking involves information sharing relating to TV purchases, subscriptions to paid-for channels or internet packages with television. Home visits do also happen.