Is cashback taxable in Germany?

It comes up often enough to deserve a straight answer. For most people using an app like this, cashback on their own purchases is not taxable income in Germany, but it is worth understanding why, because the reasoning is what tells you when it stops applying.

Why cashback is usually not income

Cashback on something you bought yourself is generally treated as a reduction of the purchase price rather than as earnings. You did not receive money for a service; you effectively paid less for goods. Something that lowers what you spent is not something you earned.

That framing is why the amount usually does not appear anywhere on a tax return for private individuals.

Where it gets less clear

• Rewards for activities rather than purchases, such as completing offers or answering surveys, are not a price reduction on anything. They are closer to compensation for effort.
• Doing this at a scale that looks commercial rather than private changes the picture entirely.
• Cashback on business purchases follows the tax treatment of the purchase itself.

In practice, the sums involved for a private user are small, and German tax law has allowances for occasional income of this kind. Small does not mean automatically irrelevant, though. It means the question is usually academic, not that the answer is always no.

What we do and do not report

We keep a complete record of every movement in your balance, because commercial and tax law require us to keep records of payments we have made. What you do with that on your own return is your call.