Italy cancels the 'cashback' scheme

The scheme was introduced in late 2020 as part of the previous government’s ‘Cashless Italy’ strategy, intended to encourage people to swap cash for card to make payments easier to trace – and tax evasion more difficult. Under the plan, shoppers are reimbursed up to EUR 150 every six months if they have made at least 50 electronic payments in that period after signing up for cashback using the government’s IO admin app.

The cashback scheme includes EUR 1,500 prizes for the first 100,000 people who rack up the highest number of digital payments every six months.

The new administration hopes to save up to EUR 1.75 billion by ending the ‘cashback’ scheme early. The European Central Bank itself has criticised the scheme from the beginning, describing the plan as ineffective and saying the system can be easily abused.