By: Money Navigator Research Team
Last Reviewed: 03/02/2026
FACT CHECKED
Quick Summary
Tide uses “cashback” to describe more than one thing. The main one is Tide Max cashback: 0.5% cashback on eligible card purchases, calculated monthly and paid into the Tide account on a set timetable, with clear exclusions such as withdrawals, fees, and certain non-purchase payment types.
Tide also runs Tide Rewards (retailer offers) and occasional time-limited cashback promotions, which can introduce different eligibility rules and caps.
This article is educational and not financial advice.
What “Tide cashback” can mean in practice
In Tide’s ecosystem, “cashback” commonly appears in three ways:
Plan-based cashback (Tide Max) – a fixed rate on eligible card purchases, calculated monthly. Tide describes this in its help centre as “Earn 0.5% cashback” for Max members, with monthly calculation and payout timing explained in Earn cashback with Tide Max.
Retailer offer cashback (Tide Rewards) – cashback offers from participating brands accessed in-app. Tide describes the “discover offers > spend > cashback credited” flow on Tide Rewards and announced broader retailer coverage in its post Tide Rewards launches to help small businesses save more on everyday spending.
Promotional cashback campaigns – limited-time promotions with their own eligibility criteria and caps. An example is set out in EARNTWICE cashback campaign terms and conditions, which is separate from ongoing Max cashback.
Understanding which of these applies matters because calculation timing, exclusions, and caps can differ.
How Tide Max cashback is calculated
The rate and what it applies to
Tide states that Max members “Earn 0.5% cashback” on eligible card purchases in Earn cashback with Tide Max. Conceptually, the calculation is:
Eligible cleared card spend × 0.5% = cashback earned for the month
Tide frames eligibility as “genuine card purchases and payments for goods and services” when the Max plan is active, and ties cashback to “card transactions” that count under the programme rules in the same help-centre article.
“Cleared” purchases: why timing can shift the month
Tide also makes “cleared card purchases” the key condition in How do I earn cashback?. This matters because card payments often have two stages:
Authorisation (when the payment is approved)
Clearing/settlement (when it finalises)
Tide’s support wording means a transaction made near month-end can be counted in a different month if it clears later. That can change when cashback appears and which monthly calculation it lands in.
Payout timing and attribution month
Tide describes a monthly cycle in Earn cashback with Tide Max: cashback is calculated at month-end and deposited into the Tide account before the 21st day of the relevant payout month, with examples showing “eligible August payments” being paid in September.
Operationally, that creates a predictable pattern:
Spending happens in month A
Cashback is calculated after month A closes
Cashback arrives during month B (before the 21st), subject to the programme rules and any clearing edge-cases Tide describes
Exclusions: what doesn’t count (and why this often surprises people)
Tide is explicit that not all card-related activity is a “purchase” for cashback purposes. For example, Tide states ATM withdrawals don’t count, and it distinguishes eligible purchases from excluded categories in multiple places, including Are there any purchases excluded from cashback? and Earn cashback with Tide Max.
You’ll typically see exclusions for items that are not a genuine purchase of goods/services (or where the payment is reversed), such as:
cash withdrawals
fees
transfers/top-ups
tax payments
subscriptions in Tide’s exclusion list
cancelled transactions and refunds/returns
This is one reason “I used my card” is not always the same as “I made an eligible purchase”. It can also overlap with situations where card usage triggers other charges; see how those scenarios differ in Tide card fees: when card use triggers charges.
Summary Table
| Scenario | Outcome | Practical impact |
|---|---|---|
| Max card purchase clears in the same month | Counts towards that month’s cashback total | Cashback aligns cleanly with that month’s spend |
| Card purchase made late month but clears next month | May be counted in the month it clears | Cashback may arrive later than expected for month-end spending |
| ATM cash withdrawal using the Tide card | Excluded from cashback | Withdrawal costs/fees may apply separately; cashback won’t offset them |
| Tide fees charged (plan/usage-related) | Excluded from cashback | Fees reduce net benefit; cashback is not calculated on fees |
| Tax payment made by card | Excluded under Tide’s Max exclusion list | Large “spend” items may not earn cashback even if paid by card |
| Refund/return/chargeback after cashback was paid | Tide may reclaim/deduct incorrect cashback | Net cashback can reduce later if transactions reverse |
| Tide Rewards offer with a participating retailer | Cashback depends on the specific offer rules | Offer-specific rates/terms can differ from Max’s fixed 0.5% |
| Time-limited promotion cashback | Promotion terms may apply caps/eligibility | Caps can limit maximum cashback even if spend is high |
Where caps do (and don’t) apply
Tide Max: “no cap”, but practical limits still exist
Tide states there isn’t a cashback cap, but spending limits exist, in Is there a cap on cashback?. Separately, the Max help-centre page also says “Cashback has no cap” while noting account spending limits in Earn cashback with Tide Max.
So the concept is:
Programme cap: none stated for Max cashback
Practical constraint: your account/card spending limits may still constrain how much eligible spend occurs
Promotions: caps can be explicit
Promotional cashback can be capped even when Max cashback is not. For example, Tide’s EARNTWICE cashback campaign terms and conditions describes a 1% cashback reward in that specific promotion, applies it to a maximum aggregate eligible spend, and states a maximum total cashback payable for that campaign.
The key point is that promotions are separate rulebooks: the cap and eligibility criteria are defined in that promotion’s terms, not in the everyday Max cashback description.
Tide Rewards: caps and exclusions can vary by offer
Tide positions Rewards as offer-led cashback with participating brands in Tide Rewards. Because offers are retailer- and campaign-specific, the “cap question” usually becomes: what does this specific offer’s terms say?
Tide’s launch post describes the programme scope and retailer participation in Tide Rewards launches to help small businesses save more on everyday spending, but individual offer rules can differ from the fixed-rate Max mechanism.
Scenario Table
| Scenario-level | Process-level | Outcome-level |
|---|---|---|
| Business spends on day-to-day card purchases | Transaction authorises, then clears; Tide counts eligible cleared purchases | Cashback accrues at 0.5% for Max-eligible purchases |
| Spend happens near month-end | Clearing can occur in the next calendar month | Cashback attribution/payout month can shift |
| Business uses card for “cash-like” activity | Cash withdrawal / transfer / top-up is treated differently from a purchase | Excluded from cashback; may also incur separate fees |
| Transaction is reversed later | Refund/return/chargeback changes the net position | Cashback may be adjusted later; Tide reserves the right to reclaim incorrect cashback |
| Cashback is earned under Max | Month closes; Tide calculates totals | Cashback is paid into the Tide account on Tide’s timetable (before the 21st) |
| Cashback is earned under Rewards | Member activates/uses an offer; retailer and tracking rules apply | Cashback depends on the specific offer; rates/caps can vary |
| Cashback comes from a promotion | Eligibility criteria and promo-period rules apply | Cashback may be capped and time-limited, per the promotion terms |
Tide Business Bank Account
Tide account features can bundle together card usage, plan benefits, and rewards-style offers, which can make it easy to conflate “cashback” with other fee/benefit mechanics.
For a wider, neutral overview of Tide’s business account positioning (including how app-based business accounts are structured and what features sit alongside the account), see our hub page on the Tide business account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not necessarily. Tide describes Max cashback as a fixed 0.5% cashback on eligible card purchases for Max members in Earn cashback with Tide Max. That’s a plan-linked mechanism with a monthly calculation and payout cycle.
Tide describes Tide Rewards as offer-led cashback from participating brands inside the app in Tide Rewards. The launch announcement also frames it as cashback across a wide range of retailers in Tide Rewards launches to help small businesses save more on everyday spending. Offer-led cashback typically depends on the offer terms rather than a single fixed rate.
Tide states Max members “Earn 0.5% cashback” on eligible card purchases in Earn cashback with Tide Max. In plain terms, Tide applies the rate to eligible spend, and the result is the cashback value for that month.
However, Tide also makes “cleared card purchases” the eligibility trigger in How do I earn cashback?. That means the practical calculation base is not “everything attempted”, but what clears and is eligible under the programme rules for the month being counted.
Tide describes a monthly cycle and says cashback is deposited into the account before the 21st day after month-end calculation in Earn cashback with Tide Max. It also provides an example mapping “eligible August payments” to a September payout.
Edge cases happen around month-end. Tide explains that eligibility is based on cleared purchases in How do I earn cashback?. So a transaction made late in one month that clears in the next may be attributed differently than expected, and some timing mismatches can occur.
Tide’s Max help-centre page lists categories that do not earn cashback, including non-purchase types like transfers and ATM withdrawals, as well as items such as fees, tax payments, subscriptions, top-ups, cancellations, and refunds/returns, in Earn cashback with Tide Max.
Tide also summarises eligibility more bluntly: “Only genuine card purchases count” and “ATM withdrawals don’t count” in Are there any purchases excluded from cashback?. This is often where confusion arises, because “paid by card” does not always mean “a purchase” in cashback terms.
Tide notes that returns and refunds are excluded in the Max exclusion list shown in Earn cashback with Tide Max. That means reversals can affect the final eligible spend base used for cashback.
Tide also reserves the right to reclaim or deduct cashback that was deposited or calculated incorrectly, including in relation to returns, exchanges, or chargebacks, as described in How do I earn cashback?. In practice, that can mean the “headline cashback earned” for a period may reduce later if underlying transactions reverse.
For Max cashback, Tide states that there is no cap, while noting that accounts can have spending limits, in Is there a cap on cashback? and similarly in Earn cashback with Tide Max.
Caps can still exist elsewhere in “cashback land”. Tide’s promotional terms may set explicit maxima for a given campaign, as illustrated by the cap language in EARNTWICE cashback campaign terms and conditions. That’s why it’s important to separate ongoing plan cashback from time-limited promotional cashback.
One reason is settlement timing. Tide only pays cashback on cleared card purchases in How do I earn cashback?. If a purchase is pending, reversed, or fails to clear, it won’t qualify under Tide’s described rules.
Another reason is transaction type. Tide says “Only genuine card purchases count” and adds that “Repeat purchases might not qualify” in Are there any purchases excluded from cashback?. Even where a transaction looks like a purchase in everyday language, Tide’s cashback rules can treat certain patterns or categories differently.
No, Tide explicitly excludes both in its Max programme materials. ATM withdrawals are excluded in Are there any purchases excluded from cashback? and are also listed among excluded categories in Earn cashback with Tide Max.
Tax payments are also shown in the Max exclusion list in Earn cashback with Tide Max. Where cash withdrawals are involved, it can be helpful to separate “cashback rules” from “withdrawal fee rules”; our guide Tide ATM cash withdrawal fees explained focuses on the fee side rather than cashback eligibility.
Tide states that, once upgraded to Max, eligible transactions “start counting” toward monthly cashback in Earn cashback with Tide Max. It also links eligibility to the Max plan being active (“If your Tide Max plan is active…”), which implies that plan status is part of the eligibility condition.
Plan changes can also create practical timing questions (for example, what happens around a billing boundary, and how quickly benefits/features apply).
For plan-change mechanics in general, see Upgrading your Tide plan: when new pricing starts and what’s pro-rated and Downgrading a Tide plan: what changes immediately vs at renewal. Cashback eligibility ultimately depends on Tide’s programme rules and how they are applied to transactions around the change window.
Tide describes cashback being visible via the in-app Rewards area and notes that members receive an in-app notification once cashback is paid, including an invoice, in Earn cashback with Tide Max. That means there is usually a record to reconcile against transaction history.
Where cashback is missing or seems incorrect, Tide’s support wording also matters because it highlights “cleared purchases only” and the possibility of reclaim/deduction for incorrect cashback in How do I earn cashback?.
In operational terms, the most common reconciliation checkpoints are: the cleared-date timing, whether the spend category is excluded, and whether reversals occurred after payout.
Cashback is best understood as a rule-driven rebate: the underlying transaction type and its lifecycle (authorise > clear > potentially reverse) determine whether cashback is earned, when it is counted, and whether it can be adjusted later.
That’s why the same “card spend” can produce different outcomes depending on whether it’s a genuine purchase, a cash-like transaction (withdrawal/top-up/transfer), or something that later reverses (refund/chargeback).
It also helps to separate product marketing language (“cashback”, “rewards”) from scheme mechanics (eligibility categories, settlement timing, and promotion terms).
Where firms and permissions are relevant – especially for understanding who is providing what – public registers can be used for verification; the FCA explains how the Financial Services Register works in Financial Services Register.
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