From 8 December Italy enters the wonderful world of cashback. Thanks to this measure, millions of consumers will see part of the purchases made in physical stores reimbursed by the state by credit card, debit card, prepaid card or any payment app (such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Satispay or PayPal). The measure aims to encourage the use of traceable tools even for the smallest daily expenses - including coffee at the bar - in order to reduce the gigantic VAT evasion that is still recorded in our country. For this reason, e-commerce is excluded from the new mechanism, which already prevents the evasion of the consumption tax.
But be careful: there is not just one cashback. The government has even produced three variations on the same theme: Christmas cashback, ordinary cashback from 2021 and supercachback. Let's start with the first.
CHRISTMAS CASHBACK FROM 150
The Christmas cashback, valid from 8 to 31 December 2020, aims to support festive consumption, which for many businesses represents an important slice of the annual turnover. In this case, the reimbursement will be equal to 10%, to be calculated on a spending ceiling of 1.500 euros. The maximum amount that you can get back from the State, therefore, amounts to 150 euros. But be careful: only those who make at least 10 electronic payments during the month will be able to benefit from the measure and only on condition that each single transaction does not exceed 150 euros.
THE CASHBACK OF 2021
A new form of caschback will take effect from 2021 January 30, which will remain in force (at least) until 2022 June 10. The refund rate is still 1.500%, but will be paid to taxpayers in two six-monthly installments, each for a maximum amount of 3 euros (50 thousand a year). But on one condition: to be entitled to cashback, you must make at least 100 electronic payments over the six months (50 in a year). In this case it is a minimum threshold and the value of the payments does not count, but only their number. It will therefore be enough to pay at least XNUMX coffees with the ATM.
THE SUPERCASHBACK
Finally, the supercashback: a sort of contest that will award 3 euros each to the 100 Italians who, again over the course of 6 months, will make the largest number of card payments. To have any hope of re-entering the small circle of winners, of course, one will have to use electronic transactions very often, even for the most insignificant expenses. Obviously, also in this case it is not the value of the transactions that counts, only their number.
HOW DO I RECEIVE THE CASHBACK?
In general, to obtain any form of cashback you must be at least 18 years old, be resident in Italy and register on the public administration's "Io" app (already used this year to obtain the holiday bonus) or on any other systems made available by operators affiliated with PagoPa (provided they receive the go-ahead from the Privacy Guarantor). To register you will need an electronic identity card or Spid digital identity. With the registration it will be necessary to provide the tax code, the details of one or more payment cards and the Iban, because the refunds will be credited by the State to the current account. As for timing, the money for December will arrive by February 2021, while those for the following semesters will be credited in July 2021 and January 2022. Companies and VAT numbers are excluded from the cashbak.
