Eat-in vs takeaway VAT. Delivery apps reconciled. Tips done right. Specialist accounting for UK restaurants, bistros and takeaways. Eat-in & Takeaway VAT Delivery-App Reconciliation Tronc & Tips Prime-Cost Tracking Shift Payroll & NMW Fixed Monthly Fees
Most restaurateurs come to AccTek — specialist restaurant accountants — wrestling with one or more of these.
The same dish can be treated differently for VAT depending on how it’s sold — and it’s easy to get wrong.
Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat pay net of commission — so the payout never matches the order or the till.
No tronc, or one run by the owner — so tips are costing you National Insurance you didn’t need to pay.
Food and labour are your biggest costs, but you can’t see prime cost as a live percentage of sales.
Constant starters and leavers, shift patterns and NMW rules — a top HMRC audit area for restaurants.
Your current accountant treats a restaurant like any other company.
A restaurant lives or dies on prime cost, VAT classification and getting tips right. AccTek is built for that — an ACA-qualified team that understands how a kitchen, a till and a delivery app actually connect.
A dedicated, ACA-qualified accountant who lives in eat-in/takeaway VAT, delivery apps, tronc and prime cost.
Each sale classified correctly through your EPOS, with a Flat Rate Scheme review where it helps.
Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat tied back to real sales, commissions and VAT.
A compliant, independent tronc so tips are free of NI and meet the 2024 Tips Act. See our guide.
Food and labour as a live percentage of sales, so you protect margin week to week.
High-turnover payroll run cleanly, with minimum-wage compliance kept watertight.
Nella is the AI assistant inside the AccTek Finance Lab. Message her like you'd text a colleague and she answers from your real, reconciled Xero numbers — in seconds, any time. She understands UK limited company tax, director remuneration, and SME financial management, and she knows exactly where her job ends and your accountant's begins.
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Real questions directors ask — answered from your own live numbers.
Illustrative examples · Nella answers; your chartered accountant signs off.
“Our VAT was a mess between eat-in, takeaway and delivery. AccTek sorted the classifications and the returns are clean now.”
Owner — Independent restaurant
“They reconcile all three delivery apps and the till every month. I finally trust my sales figures.”
Director — Takeaway & delivery
“Seeing prime cost weekly changed how we buy and roster. Margins are up and the tips are set up properly.”
Co-owner — Bistro
The same dish can carry a different VAT treatment depending on how it’s sold. Eat-in meals are standard-rated at 20%, and so is hot takeaway food; most cold takeaway food is zero-rated, with the usual exceptions that stay standard-rated even when cold — confectionery, crisps and savoury snacks, ice cream, and soft and alcoholic drinks. We make sure your EPOS records each sale under the right liability, reconcile that to your returns, and review whether the Flat Rate Scheme (currently 12.5% for restaurants and takeaways) works in your favour. We confirm the correct treatment for your menu before filing.
Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat each pay you net of commission, refunds and adjustments, so a payout never equals the order value — and your EPOS shows a third figure again. We reconcile every platform statement and your till data into Xero so revenue, commission costs and VAT all land correctly, month after month.
If tips are allocated by an independent troncmaster rather than the restaurant, they are not earnings for National Insurance, so they carry income tax only — removing the employer’s 15% and the employee’s 8% NICs (2026/27) on those tips. Income tax still applies, and the tronc must meet the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, in force since 1 October 2024. We set up and run it; our tronc and tips guide covers the detail.
We track prime cost — food and drink cost plus labour as a percentage of sales — so you can act before a bad week becomes a bad quarter, and run your shift-based payroll within National Minimum Wage rules (tips can’t be used to reach the minimum). For 2026/27, director profit extraction usually means a salary around the £12,570 personal allowance topped up with dividends (£500 allowance; rates 10.75% / 35.75% / 39.35%), with company profits taxed at 19% up to £50,000 and tapering to 25% over £250,000.
We work across restaurant formats and structure your accounts around how you trade:
Part of our wider hospitality accounting service — see also pub accountants and hotel accountants.
An ACA-qualified accountant who understands VAT, delivery apps, tronc and prime cost.
Delivery-platform and till reconciliation, with prime cost tracked into Xero.
Eat-in/takeaway VAT, shift payroll and NMW, a compliant tronc and MTD filing.
A restaurant has tax issues a generalist rarely handles well: eat-in versus takeaway VAT, reconciling Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, setting up a tronc so tips are free of National Insurance, shift-based payroll and minimum-wage compliance, and controlling prime cost. A specialist captures the savings and keeps you compliant.
The same dish can carry a different VAT treatment depending on whether it is eaten in, taken away hot or taken away cold, and drinks and alcohol are treated differently again. Getting each sale classified correctly through your EPOS, and reviewing whether the Flat Rate Scheme suits you, is central to a clean restaurant VAT return. We confirm the correct treatment for your menu before filing.
Yes. Each platform pays you net of commission, refunds and adjustments, so the payout never matches the order value, and your EPOS shows a different figure again. We reconcile each platform's statements and your till data into your accounts so revenue, commissions and VAT are right.
If tips are allocated by an independent troncmaster rather than the restaurant, they are not earnings for National Insurance, so they carry income tax only — removing the employer’s 15% and the employee’s 8% NICs (2026/27) on those tips. Income tax still applies, and the tronc must meet the 2024 Tips Act. Our tronc and tips guide explains it in full.
Prime cost is food and drink cost plus labour, as a percentage of sales — the two numbers that decide whether a restaurant makes money. We track them into Xero from your EPOS and payroll so you can see them week to week and act before a bad month becomes a bad quarter.
A common 2026/27 structure is a salary around the £12,570 personal allowance topped up with dividends, mindful of the £500 dividend allowance and rates of 10.75% / 35.75% / 39.35%. Company profits are taxed at 19% up to £50,000, tapering to 25% over £250,000. We model the optimal split for you.
Fixed monthly fees • Dedicated ACA accountant • VAT, delivery apps & tronc • Live prime cost
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Godwin Pinto ACA is a chartered accountant and founder of AccTek with 20+ years of experience accounting and tax for contractors, startup and SME .
AccTek is a member firm of the Institute of Certified Practising Accountants (ICPA). Our accountants have a wide range of qualifications and accreditations from trusted professional bodies such as the AAT, ICPA, and ACCA.
