Within hours of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) green-lighting the distribution of stimulus funds to citizens who don’t file tax returns on 10 April, Square Cash App users can accept payments issued under Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act directly into their balance.
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.
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 the 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 17 April to also allow taxpayers to request that the payment is made to their Cash App balance.
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”.
