See exactly how much cash back you'll earn on any purchase
💡 Why This Matters Knowing exactly how much cash back a purchase earns helps you compare cards, decide whether a bonus category is worth chasing, and see your real effective discount on everyday spending.
Cash back rewards trace back to Discover's original card launch in 1986 — it was one of the first cards to hand cash back to customers instead of airline miles or store points.
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Cash back is a straight percentage of your purchase: cash back = purchase amount × (cash back rate ÷ 100). A $100 purchase at a 2% rate returns $2 — no rounding tricks or hidden math, just the rate applied to what you spent.
Most cards offer 1-2% on general spending, with select bonus categories (groceries, gas, dining, streaming) running 3-6%, often capped at a certain spending amount per quarter or year. The dollar figure this calculator shows is what you'd actually see credited — compare it across cards to see which rewards structure fits your real spending habits.
This calculator assumes a flat rate with no spending cap. Many real cards cap bonus-category cash back (e.g., 5% on the first $1,500 quarterly, 1% after), and some require activation or have annual fees that offset the rewards — read your card's terms for the fine print this tool can't account for.
Use this to compare offers before choosing which card to use for a purchase, or to see whether a bonus category is worth shifting your spending toward. If you carry a balance and pay interest, remember that interest charges typically dwarf cash back earnings — this tool doesn't factor that tradeoff in.
Example: You spend $100 on a card offering 2% cash back. Cash back = $100 × (2 ÷ 100) = $2. Spend $500 at that same rate and you'd earn $10 — the reward scales linearly with how much you spend.
Cash back = purchase amount × (cash back percentage ÷ 100). A $100 purchase at a 2% cash back rate returns $2.
In most cases, no — the IRS generally treats credit card cash back as a rebate or discount on your purchase rather than taxable income, since you're effectively getting a small refund on your own spending.
Most cards offer 1% to 2% on general purchases, with some bonus categories (groceries, gas, dining) offering 3% to 6%, often with a spending cap on the bonus rate.