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Level 2
June 3, 2019
Solved

Where do I report cash back incentives on a business credit card as income?

  • June 3, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 230 views
I own a small business and claim expenses purchased on a credit card.  The credit card give me cash back incentives on the total monthly amount spent.  Do I claim that as income for the business, and where do I report it?
Best answer by

Credit card cash back rewards are not taxable income.  The IRS views these as discounts rather than income.  

For more information, please see TurboTax's guide to Cash Back Rewards.

3 replies

Answer
June 3, 2019

Credit card cash back rewards are not taxable income.  The IRS views these as discounts rather than income.  

For more information, please see TurboTax's guide to Cash Back Rewards.

MB86Author
Level 2
June 3, 2019
I heard that if it's on a business credit card where you have charges expenses, that you have to lower the value of your expense based on the cash back.  Since it's a monthly cash back amount, I wasn't sure if I needed to deduct the cash back item by item which would be an accounting nightmare.  Do I need to deduct it from the total expenses?
Level 2
August 14, 2020

yes, see more recent replies below 

Carl
Level 11
Level 11
August 13, 2020

Assuming all purchases are made with a business credit card, and all cash back gets credited to the business income. There's three ways to do this, and one way is no better of worse than the other. You just pick what works best for you.

#1 - Reduce your expense by the amount of cash back received. This can be an accounting nightmare if you have a large number of purchases that qualify for the cash back incentive during the month.

#2 - Report the cash back as general business income.

Now others are screaming about #2 as "but wait! That makes it taxable income!" Yes, it absolutely does make it taxable income. The same exact amount of taxable income if you use #1 above.

#3 - List your credit card issuer (who you pay the bill to) as a vendor in your accounting software. When/if you pay the bill each month, it's recorded as paid to that vendor, including any interest for that month. If you need to separate out the interest payment on the credit card, that can be a sub-category for that vendor in your accounting software.  If you get cash back, it's a refund from that vendor and is recorded as a refund in your accounting software.

For #3, if you're using Quickbooks 2018 or newer I can talk you through setting this up in QB if you need help with that. Just make a backup of your current QB data file before we/you go changing things.

 

Critter-3
Level 15
August 13, 2020

Agreed ... all 3 options can be OK to use as long as they are used consistently with your bookkeeping records to track the entries properly.  

August 14, 2020

yes it's income since it reduces the amount you paid for deductible expenses.  for TT just pick up on line 5 of schedule C input form ( on the actual schedule C it will show up on line 6).  or if there are CC fees reduce them.