Government measures to stimulate the use of electronic payments worked: in December 5.8 million Italian citizens enrolled in the state cashback program, who in less than three weeks completed 64 millions of transactions in physical stores (including restaurants and gas stations). The total of the refunds provided is 222, 6 million euros , which will be divided between the 3. 230. 906 people who have managed to perform at least 10 transactions, the threshold required to obtain refunds.

December Cashback: Most subscribers will have a refund between 50 and 99 EUR

Thanks to the lockdown, which kept many activities closed and limited travel and, consequently, purchases, not everyone was able to obtain the maximum refund of 150 euro, which will be due only to 3.1% of the participants (100. 387 people, specifically). Most (49 %, 1. 602. 297 people) has accrued a cashback of between 50 and i 99 euro, while a significant portion (32, 8%, 1. 059. 399 of people) will get a refund of less than 50 EUR. The remaining 14, 5% (468. 822 people) will instead be credited with a figure that varies between 100 and i 149 EUR.

Refunds will be credited by 1st March to the current account corresponding to the indicated IBAN on the IO App.

The December one can be considered as an experimental phase and the real program just started on January 1st 2021.

State cashback: what changes starting from January 1st 2021

The Government has advanced the state cashback measure by a few weeks to push the use of credit cards in shops during the holiday period, in an attempt to give a boost to the country’s economy put to the test by the health emergency due to Covid – 19, but the “official” program starts in January, with slightly different rules, which in many ways are in favor of citizens.

If in December they were necessary 10 transactions to obtain the refund, from 2021 they will be 50 those requested, but you will have 6 months of time. The bonus is in fact calculated every six months, always with the threshold of 100 euro: Italian citizens, in short, can potentially obtain a maximum of 300 euro annual cashback, to which are added 1. 500 euro of Super Cashback which will be allocated to the 100. 000 participants who will have carried out more transactions. The amount does not count, only the number, and microtransactions, such as coffee at the bar, will also be counted. Subscribers will be able to check their position through a ranking that will soon be integrated into the IO app.

Support for apps like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay is coming

As we have been able to explain on Edge9, cashback December started with some problems, still not resolved, such as the fact that when using contactless purchases were not always recognized as valid for reimbursement. A problem due to the fact that not all payment circuits and instruments are supported, including apps such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay, to name the most popular in Italy. An issue that should be resolved in the coming weeks, allowing program participants to register these payment methods as well.

Receipt Lottery postponed: here are the new rules, which do not provide for cash payments

It should have started in January also another state initiative aimed at stimulating purchases, the Receipt Lottery, which, however, has been postponed to a date to be defined due to the fact that too many merchants were still unable to adapt to the new electronic cash registers. Compared to what we had indicated in the past, however, some changes have been made. The main novelty is that cash payments will not entitle you to (virtual) lottery “tickets”: to participate you have to pay with traceable tools, such as credit cards, debit cards and apps.

The prizes have also been changed and are now foreseen 15 weekly awards from 25. 000 euro (5. 000 for merchants), 10 monthly awards from 100. 000 EUR (20. 000 for those who sell) and an annual premium of 5 million euros (1 million for merchants).