Update 12/18/20: Offer is back again. There are a few variations of the offer, check to see what you have:
- Some have 10% back, up to $7.50. Can be done 3 times (need to separate an hour between each transaction).
- Others have the same 5% offer as last time.
- Others have 15% on one purchase.
- Others have 1%.
Contents
The Offer
- Make a single purchase of $1.50 or higher and get 5% back in Bitcoin. Max you can get back is $7.50. So if you make a single $150 purchase, you get $7.50 back.
You can do this deal three times during the offer period (offer ends in 2 days), but the purchases have to be made an hour apart. As an example, you buy $150 in gift cards at your local grocery store or fee-free from Giftcardmall and get $7.50 back in Bitcoin. Then, in an hour, buy another $150 in gift cards and get another $7.50 back in Bitcoin. Then, an hour later, buy another $150 in gift cards and get another $7.50 back in Bitcoin.
Our Verdict
I think this offer is available for everyone (?). If you have a card that earns high rewards on all purchases (e.g. the Amex 3x referral offer or the Chase Amazon 4% everywhere targeted offer), this offer might not be as appealing. See all Cash app boost offers in this dedicated post.
Hat tip to Casey k and ieatdogfood
Officially dead, no useful boosts for me this week, not even this one. I was loading my bluebird and serve with this card to earn the bitcoin boosts week after week, but the one last week was not giving me any bitcoin for my serve/bb loads. I was able to use serve and bb to unlock the $5 bonus that I used last week, I just made sure to space out my reloads to one per day so that my accounts wouldn’t get locked.
This is probably a dumb question, but I have a Bluebird card that I don’t use for anything and I’ve never used it. Could I load $150 onto my Bluebird card to get the bitcoin boost? How hard is it to get the money off the Bluebird? Would I get shutdown by Bluebird unless I started using it for organic spend?
Yes, that would work. Monthly limit for Bluebird debit card reload is $1000.
I added the offer and then bought $100 of bitcoin but I didn’t see any 5% cash back and their customer service is useless. Where are you seeing the cash back? is it like a normal cashback transaction where it reduces your purchase cost? Thanks
You do not not buy bitcoin, you purchase something with your cash app debit card and get 5% back in bitcoin.
But then my Bitcoin purchase should have qualified-right?
No. You didn’t use your debit card. You purchased with your cash app balance, not with your debit card.
You have to purchase something at a store with the prepaid debit card.
You get 5% of the value back in btc!
Glad I wasn’t the only one who read the post title like
Get 10% Back On Your
“Purchases In Bitcoin”
How long does it take Cash App to verify an account for bitcoin purchases/withdrawals? Its been a few days and nothing has happened after submitting my info. The app says it usually takes less than 24 hours
Looks like it takes about 3 days
Only 1% for 5 purchases this week. Used my 10% for 3 purchases early last week when boosts were reset. Prior to that, used my BTC boost near the end of the boost expiration. Still trying to figure out their targeting algorithm but I got the better results with using boosts closer to expiration when they weekly reset.
I have recieved the 5% three times, three times and I have used them all as soon as I could.
Mine since the inception: 5% back on 3, 1% back on 3, 15% back on 1 this week.
I think it’s also relevant to the age of the acct? My cash card is 2+ yrs old and never had any of the good boosts (e.g. anywhere $5 or restaurant $5) etc. This bitcoin boost is better than nothing for me (certainly not @1%).
Sumbuddy wanna close and reopen to be the DP? 🙄😁
You can just make a new account with a new number. No limits on account/SSN AFAIK
Making a new account is not the same as getting a debit card.
You can make a new account with a new number and get a new debit card with the same SSN. Keep the old account and get all the boosts twice.
Is it better to use the boost when price is high or low? It is interesting how this thing keeps going up even during an worldwide crisis
I sell instantaneously so it would make no difference. The risk of making pennies vs. it plummeting isn’t worth it for me. I take my money and run so I can use it again. I may feel different if I had much more in BTC.
Don’t have much BTC either 🙁
Recieved the 5% three times again.
Any idea whether cash app would send tax forms for “earned” bitcoins?
You don’t get any tax forms until you sell. That goes for anything you sell.
Looking at their Bitcoin tab -> activity -> view all -> Bitcoin transections: the page provides a list of “earned” coins with applicable date. At the top of page it says purchased =$0.00 i.e. the BTC held in account was not purchased. This makes me wonder;
1. Would the Bitcoins obtained via this deal be counted as earned income, especially because they are using the word “earned”? Or would cash app treat them as a cashback reward and, therefore no tax implications?
2. What if you hold BTC and sell it later at a profit (hopefully). I mean what would be the cost basis since according to cash app these BTC were never purchased.
You will have tax implications. Cost basis would be zero.
Now the magic question would be is what is their threshold for issuing one. I suspect they will issue one even if it’s for pennies.
Interesting that you think cost basis would be zero.
What about tax implications for regular cash back we get in form of dollars (not BTC) from grocery and USPS boosts? I am not a lawyer but I read somewhere that such cashbacks are not taxable since they are considered as “rebates and discounts”. If that’s true, then same logic could be applied to cashback rewards earned in the form of Bitcoins meaning that cast basis should be $7.5 instead of zero.
The way I look at this, is the same as getting free stock from other stock related platforms. Cost basis is always zero.
Cash back is tax free because it is considered a rebate, however like the name implies, it is in cash. However, we are getting stock so it’s a different story. Cash App comes out ahead in this particular boost promotion.
For free stock, have you received any 1099-B forms that show the cost basis as $0? Robinhood says they do something different for free stock: “You win a $10 stock and later sell it for $15 … The $10 stock gift will be reported as “Other Income” on a 1099-MISC form, if required. The $5 gain will be reported as capital gains.”
This would be my first year with free stock so I don’t know from personal experience. All information I got is from DPs. More specifically the Tastyworks thread (https://www.doctorofcredit.com/tastyworks-brokerage-bonus-fund-a-new-account-with-2000-receive-100-shares-worth-1-6-each/) which I haven’t sold yet. Since this is the first time Cash App has done a boost “cash back” BTC, it’s all speculation.
“Do I qualify for a Form 1099-B?
If you have sold Bitcoin during the reporting tax year, Cash App will provide you with a 1099-B form by February 15th of the following year of your Bitcoin Sale.
How is the proceeds amount calculated on the form?
The proceeds box amount on the Form 1099-B shows the net cash proceeds from your Bitcoin sales.
How do I figure out my gains or losses and cost basis?
Please refer to your account activity history in Cash App to help compute your gains and losses over a given period.”
That sounds like Cash App won’t report a cost basis at all (for bitcoin), so it’s up to the user to figure it out (like it used to be for stocks, before the IRS required brokerages to report cost basis for stocks).
That’s dumb. Wouldn’t cost basis be higher because it’s a rebate?
I’m not going to add fuel to the fire anymore since we don’t truly know the answer until within the next month when tax documents are issued.
15% off of 1 purchase. $7.50 cashback max.
Used the three 5% last week. This week it is 3% for me. Just used all three, sold the bitcoin, and got $21.86
Received 15% for one purchase
Another 15% for one purchase.