Square’s Cash App is allowing U.S. citizens and residents who don’t usually file a tax return to direct forthcoming government stimulus payments to the mobile payments application.
The move comes after the company failed to convince the United States Treasury to let it distribute the stimulus funds to segments of the U.S. population.
Cash App users can request stimulus payments to app
Within hours of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) green-lighting the distribution of stimulus funds to citizens who don’t file tax returns on April 10, Square users can accept payments issued under Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act directly into their Cash App balance.
Get your $1,200 even if you didn’t file a tax return in 2019 https://t.co/sM5VWkev5b
— jack (@jack) April 10, 2020
A post on Square’s website explains that the app will provide “routing and account numbers that you can use to deposit your stimulus payment directly to your Cash App balance.”
On the same day, Square launched an online portal to make it easy for non-tax paying users to request payments to their Cash App account from the IRS. A similar portal will be rolled out on April 17 to also allow taxpayers to request that the payment is made to their Cash App balance.
At the end of March, executives representing Cash App and fellow digital payments platform, Venmo, engaged the U.S. Treasury to discuss how they can assist in disbursing the stimulus package.
Cash App reports increased Bitcoin engagement during March
Amid the global economic downturn, Square noticed an increase in engagement with Bitcoin (BTC) on its Cash App.
During an investor call on March 21, Square CFO Amrita Ahuja stated that “adoption and engagement of fractional equity investing in Bitcoin have accelerated in recent weeks” citing “recent market interest and volatility.”
BTC is increasingly becoming a cornerstone of Square’s revenues, with a shareholder letter published in late February announcing that half of the firm’s Q4 2019 revenue came from Cash App’s Bitcoin services.
