MoseyClaim your businessGet the app

VAT help

VAT help for Irish restaurants and cafés: your sales by rate

Every dish carries its VAT rate, the till shows it on the receipt and the dashboard groups your sales by rate for the period. Download it for your accountant. Mosey helps you see the numbers and does not file anything.

Claim your business freeSee how it works

Free to claim

Every tool is optional.

How do I get my VAT figures without a spreadsheet at the end of every period?

A table with a coffee, a sandwich eaten in, a sandwich to take away and a bottle of wine can have more than one VAT rate in it. A till that gets the rate wrong on one popular dish gets every return wrong, and nobody notices until the accountant asks.

At the end of a period the cash takings, the card totals and the online orders sit in different reports. Adding them up by rate by hand is slow, and a refund in the wrong month makes it worse.

Mosey keeps the rate on the dish, applies it on every sale and groups the result for you, from the till and from online orders in one view. You still file the return. You just start from a clean summary instead of a pile of receipts.

How does VAT help work on Mosey?

  1. Put the rate on the dish

    In Menu Builder, set the VAT rate on a dish or on a whole section, and give a dish its own takeaway rate if it differs. Extras follow the rate of the dish they belong to. Menu prices are what guests pay, with VAT inside.

  2. Sell as normal

    The till and online orders use those rates. The receipt shows the VAT, and the shift reports on the till show VAT by rate along with sales by tender, tips, refunds, voids and comps.

  3. Read the summary and download it

    In Analytics, the VAT summary groups your sales by rate, showing gross, VAT and net over your local days, from the till and from online orders, with refunds netted. Download it as a file or a PDF for your accountant.

What do my customers and my accountant see?

Customers see a normal receipt

A customer sees the price they pay, and the receipt shows the VAT included. Tips are kept apart from sales, because they are not part of the sale.

Your accountant sees clean numbers

The summary shows the figure for VAT on sales. It cannot show VAT on your purchases, because Mosey cannot see what you buy, and every format says it is a helper, not a return.

Honest gaps, labelled

Payments with no rate split, such as Mosey Pay payments, vouchers, tickets and catering, are listed as not itemised rather than guessed. A sale with no rate stays in a no rate set row and is never given one.

Mosey does not file your VAT return and does not replace your bookkeeping. Check the summary against a real return with your accountant before you rely on it.

How do I set up VAT correctly on my menu?

  1. Claim your business free and open Menu Builder. You need the Manage menu permission.
  2. Ask your accountant, or check on Revenue's website, which rate applies to each type of sale you make: eating in, hot takeaway, cold takeaway, soft drinks and alcohol.
  3. Set the rate on each dish or section, and a separate takeaway rate where the dish has one. Do not carry one rate in your head and apply it to everything.
  4. Once a month, open the VAT summary and ask whether the split looks right. If drinks suddenly look like most of your sales, something is mis-set.
  5. When a rate is due to change, Mosey reminds you and applies the change only after you confirm it. Update your printed menu, website and any other menus on the same day.
  6. Keep the downloaded summary with the return, because it is the first thing you will want if Revenue asks a question.

What does VAT help cost on Mosey?

Nothing extra. The VAT summary, the receipts and the shift reports are part of your dashboard. Mosey's own fee carries VAT, which is shown on your monthly invoice and is separate from the VAT on your sales. Tips carry no Mosey fee and are not part of a sale.

Tips
0% Mosey fee, paid to the venue in full
See pricingCommission is quoted before VAT. Irish VAT of 23% is added to our fee, not to your food.

How is this different from doing VAT by hand or with accounting software?

Doing it by hand means adding receipts. The summary does the grouping, nets the refunds and uses the same rates the till used at the time, so the figures match what customers were charged.

Accounting software handles your purchases and files the return, and Mosey does not try to. It cannot see what you buy, so it shows only VAT on sales. Think of it as the sales half of the return, ready to hand over.

When a rate changes, you choose whether to keep the shelf price and earn less per sale, or change the price and keep what you earn. Neither is wrong, but you decide on purpose. A dish with its own rate is left alone.

Who is VAT help right for: café, restaurant, bar or food truck?

Any VAT-registered food business that sells through the till or online. A café with eat-in and takeaway sales, a restaurant with food and alcohol and a bar with a food menu all have more than one rate. A food truck taking only takeaway has one rate to get right. A business under the registration threshold can ignore the summary until it needs it.

Start your next return from a clean summary

Claim your business free, set the rate on each dish and see your sales by VAT rate.

Claim your business free

VAT questions from owners

  • Does Mosey file my VAT return?

    No. Mosey produces a summary of sales by VAT rate for your own use. It does not file, and it cannot see your purchases, so you still need your bookkeeping and accountant.

  • Which VAT rate applies to my food?

    It depends on what you sell and how, and the rates have changed more than once. Check the current rate on Revenue's website and confirm it with your accountant before you set your prices.

  • What if the VAT rate changes?

    Mosey reminds you and applies a change only after you confirm it. You choose whether to keep the shelf price or keep what the business earns, and a dish with its own rate is left alone.

  • Are refunds included?

    Yes. A refund on an online order is netted in the period of the order. A refund made at the till is netted in the period you made it, and the summary says which is which.

  • Why are some sales listed as not itemised?

    Mosey Pay payments, vouchers, tickets and catering have no per-dish rate split, so they are shown as not itemised rather than guessed.

  • Is VAT charged on Mosey's fees?

    Yes. Mosey's commission is quoted before VAT, and Irish VAT is added to the fee, not to your food. It is shown on your monthly invoice.

  • What about sales tax outside Ireland?

    Mosey is live in Ireland, and this page describes Irish VAT. Sales tax for other countries is not switched on for businesses yet.

Where to go next with VAT

More ways to fill your business

See every feature