Combined with the receipt lottery that is going to begin in January 2021, these actions are part of the cashless strategy that the government is implementing to encourage people to pay with plastic.

The “Christmas Cashback” system is meant to refund 10 per cent of all payments made by card, up to €1500 before the end of 2020.

But there are some rules: the maximum cashback for every transaction is €15, even if the single payments are worth more than €150.

In total, by the end of the year even those who will have made purchases for more than €1500 will still be refunded a maximum of €150.

Moreover, in order to be entitled to the cashback, customers will need to make at least 10 transactions by the end of 2020. 

The cashback system applies to all kinds of card payments, as long as they are made in physical stores.

The programme excludes internet shopping, where users have no option but to pay by card.

“The pandemic has been a time in which most of us have increased online purchases,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.

“Now, we need to favour the local shopkeepers.”

Payments can range from as little as an espresso to any bigger amount, keeping in mind the abovementioned rules.

The objective is to incentivise card payments especially for small purchases, those where the use of cash is more common and therefore more likely not to be assigned a tax receipt. 

The requirements to be eligible for the cashback are: to be a resident in Italy, over 18, and own an electronic identity (known as SPID) or an electronic ID card endowed with a microchip and a PIN.

In order to receive the refund, customers need to download the IO app for public services, where they can insert their IBAN code and card details.

The reimbursements will start in February 2021.

It is still common for shoppers in Italy to run into refusals when they ask to pay with plastic.

But data show that the country is gradually coming around to the idea.

In a sign of the idea’s popularity, the systems behind IO were overwhelmed when 7.6 million people downloaded it by the day of the scheme’s launch on Tuesday.

There were technical glitches on Christmas Cashback launch day on Tuesday, with many people complaining they could not activate the IO app.

Blaming the “huge volume of requests” to use the system, the operators admitted some “inefficiencies” but said they were being addressed.