Times, limits and methods for obtaining the extra Christmas cashback bonus: all the latest information available, while waiting for the official measure
From a hypothesis leaked in the newspapers to a real plan to be implemented from the beginning of December: the new extra Christmas cashback for purchases made with electronic payment begins to take shape and, above all, more information begins to circulate on how to obtain it. The technical basis is the same as the Cashless Italy Plan, i.e. the cashback of 150 euros per semester (therefore 300 per year), designed by the Government to encourage electronic payments in purchases made in physical stores.
The same rules of this plan will also apply to the Christmas cashback, which in practice will be a test for the real plan that will be launched in January 2021. The only difference is in the timing: while with the "normal" cashback you have six months to make the necessary transactions to get the 150 euro refund, with the "extra" cashback you will only have the month of December. But December is the month of gifts, so it should not be difficult to reach the minimum number of transactions. Also because, and this is the novelty, not only purchases for gifts will be counted but all transactions with electronic forms of payment. Here is all the information on how to get the Christmas cashback, based on what is already known from last week and the latest leaked news.
Christmas Extra Cashback: how it works
To get the 150 euros of extra cashback we will have to make at least 10 purchases, for a maximum value of 150 euros each. The cashback will be equal to 10% of the total spent in a single transaction: if we spend 800 euros in December (making 10 purchases) we will get 80 euros of cashback.
But, beware: the maximum refund for each purchase is limited to 15 euros (10% of 150 euros). This means that if the 800 euros will be spent in 9 purchases of 50 euros (450 euros in total) and a purchase of 350 euros we will get 60 euros of cashback: 45+15. If, on the other hand, we make 10 purchases of 80 euros each, we will get 80 euros of cashback.
In both cases we will never get 150 euros, because we have not reached the threshold of 1,500 euros of purchases. To get the maximum refund, therefore, we will never have to spend more than 150 euros in a single purchase: each additional euro will be "wasted" for the purposes of Christmas cashback.
To this end there will be a special prohibition of splitting purchases: the payment of 350 euros mentioned above can not be divided into two transactions of 150 and one of 50 euros. They would not be counted (only one would be counted, the first one of 150 euros)
Christmas cashback: which purchases will be counted
To be counted among the 10 for cashback purposes a purchase must have been made with a credit card, debit card or payment app (Satispay, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and similar). It must also have been made at a physical store, not online, and payments made by bank transfer will not be counted.
According to the latest rumors, there will be no limitations on product categories: even groceries made at the supermarket will be counted, if paid by card or app. Even the payment of services (plumber, electrician, dentist, etc. etc.) will be counted.
Christmas cashback: the deadlines
But there is a time limit, which has not yet been made official, before which purchases will not be counted: in practice, the government has yet to tell us "when the cashback starts" and it is not excluded that the final measure is retroactive. Probably all purchases in December will be counted, even if the cashback will be made official and regulated when the month has already started.
Christmas cashback: you need the IO app
Finally, there is a very important technical requirement to get Christmas cashback (but also future normal cashbacks): use the IO app by PagoPa Spa. You'll need to download the app, register and then associate your payment cards to your profile. Only in this way the payments will be counted.
To use the IO ap, however, you need to have the SPID or the CIE, the Electronic Identity Card. In other words: no SPID (or no CIE), no cashback. The digitization of the country also goes through here.