Hospitality Accountants for Restaurants, Pubs and Hotels
We keep the books, run the payroll and file the VAT for hospitality businesses across the UK: restaurants, pubs, cafés, hotels and takeaways. A firm regulated by the ACCA that knows the trade, with a fixed fee agreed before we start.
- Year-end accounts and the tax return, filed on time
- VAT handled, including the eat-in and takeaway split
- Payroll run weekly or monthly, for casual and salaried staff
Ask About Your Business
- Fixed fee up front
- No obligation
- Reply within 1 working day
Dates and Figures That Catch Venues Out
- VAT on catering and hot takeaway food
- Standard-rated, whether eaten in or taken away hot
- Cold takeaway food
- Zero-rated, unless it is eaten on the premises
- VAT registration
- Taxable turnover on a rolling 12 months, since 1 April 2024
- Tips, gratuities and service charges
- Must reach staff in full under the Tips Act
- The Tips Act and its statutory code
- In force, with a code on fair distribution
- National Living Wage, 21 and over
- The rate since 1 April 2025
- Making Tax Digital for sole traders
- Qualifying income over this from April 2026
Sources: GOV.UK, HMRC VAT Notice 709/1, legislation.gov.uk. Checked 27 July 2026. Nothing on this site is published without a primary source behind it.
Hospitality carries more tax admin than almost any other small business, on thinner margins than most. The VAT depends on whether food is hot or cold and eaten in or taken away, the payroll runs weekly with a churn of casual staff, tips now have their own law, and a fit-out throws up capital allowances that are easy to under-claim. Get any of them wrong and it shows up as a VAT assessment, a payroll penalty, or tax paid that did not need to be.
We do the whole of it for restaurants, pubs, cafés, hotels and takeaways. Hospitality accountants exist because that combination, high-volume VAT, heavy payroll and tight cash, is where a general accountant who does a bit of everything tends to come unstuck.
What We Do for Hospitality Businesses
The bookkeeping and the year-end accounts, the VAT returns with the eat-in and takeaway lines set correctly, the payroll for salaried and casual staff, and the Self Assessment or corporation tax return at the end of it. One site or a small group, it is run as a single position rather than as separate jobs that never quite reconcile.
We also set up the things hospitality needs that a general practice often skips: a tronc scheme that meets the new tips rules, a till and card feed that reconciles to the bank, and stock and margin figures you can actually manage the business on.
The VAT Line Most Venues Get Wrong
Catering and hot takeaway food are standard-rated at 20%. Cold food bought to take away is zero-rated, unless it is eaten in an area you set aside for customers, at which point it is standard-rated again. That single distinction decides a large part of a café or takeaway's VAT bill, and it is the line HMRC checks first.
We keep the till set up so hot, cold, eat-in and takeaway are separated at the point of sale, so the return is right and defensible rather than a quarterly guess. How the rules actually work is set out in our guide to <a href="/vat-for-restaurants-and-takeaways/" class="link-brand">VAT for restaurants and takeaways</a>.
Tips, Tronc and the New Rules
Since 1 October 2024 the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act requires all tips, gratuities and service charges to reach staff in full, with a statutory code on distributing them fairly. Handled through a proper tronc, tips carry PAYE but can be free of National Insurance where the employer does not decide who gets what.
We set the tronc up so it meets the Act and the National Insurance condition, and keep it running through the payroll. The detail is in our guide to <a href="/tipping-tronc-and-the-tips-act/" class="link-brand">tipping, tronc and the Tips Act</a>.
How We Quote
A fixed monthly figure, agreed in writing before anything starts, set by what you run and how many sites rather than by an hourly clock. VAT, payroll, the accounts and the return in one fee, with the busy months and the quiet ones evened out.
If you have opened a single small site and only need the books set up and a quarterly VAT return, we will quote for that rather than sell you a package you do not need yet.
What We Do Not Do
We do not sell tax-avoidance schemes. Tidy Money Ltd is regulated by the ACCA, and the job is to apply the rules correctly and claim the reliefs you are due, not to sell you a structure HMRC will later unpick.
We are also not a directory. Your enquiry does not go to a panel of firms, nobody pays us to be recommended, and there are no testimonials on this site, because we will not publish any we cannot evidence. We do not run an inbound phone room either, so you will not be cold-called.
Guides
VAT for Restaurants and Takeaways
This guide covers the hot-food tests, the eat-in and takeaway split, and where the VAT line falls.
Tipping, Tronc and the Tips Act
This guide covers the Tips Act, the 1 October 2024 duty, and how a tronc changes the tax on tips.
National Minimum Wage for Hospitality
This guide covers the 2025/26 rates, the accommodation offset, and where kitchen pay goes wrong.
Capital Allowances on a Fit-Out
This guide covers the Annual Investment Allowance, full expensing, and how a fit-out splits into pools.
Making Tax Digital for Hospitality
This guide covers the MTD for Income Tax thresholds and dates, and who is in and out of scope.
Choosing a Business Structure for a Restaurant
This guide covers sole trader, partnership and company, and the tax that separates them.
Common questions
How much does a hospitality accountant cost?
It depends on what you run, how many sites, and whether you need VAT, payroll and a tronc as well as the accounts. We quote a fixed monthly fee before starting rather than an hourly estimate, so you know the number before you commit. A single café is a different price from a group of restaurants with fifty staff on the payroll.
Do you handle the VAT on takeaway and eat-in food?
Yes, and it is one of the main reasons hospitality businesses come to us. Catering and hot takeaway food are standard-rated, cold takeaway food is zero-rated unless eaten on the premises, and getting that split right at the till is what keeps the return defensible. We set the till up so it is separated automatically.
Can you set up a tronc for our tips?
Yes. Since October 2024 the Tips Act requires tips to reach staff in full, and a properly run tronc lets you distribute them with PAYE but, in the right conditions, without National Insurance. We set the scheme up to meet the Act and run it through your payroll.
Do you do payroll for casual and seasonal staff?
Yes. Hospitality payroll is weekly as often as monthly, with starters and leavers every week and minimum-wage rates to keep to, including the accommodation offset where you house staff. We run it, file the Real Time Information, and keep you on the right side of the minimum wage rules.
Are we caught by Making Tax Digital?
If you trade as a sole trader or partnership and your qualifying income is over £50,000, you are inside Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from April 2026, dropping to £30,000 in 2027 and £20,000 in 2028. Companies are not in this regime. We tell you which applies and set the software up so the quarters are not new deadlines you carry yourself.
Tell Us About Your Venue and We Will Quote
Tell us what you run, how many sites, and what is outstanding: a VAT return, the payroll, a tronc scheme, or a year end. We come back with a fixed fee for the work and the date it has to be done by. If you are a new venue and only need the books set up, we will say so rather than sell you a full package.
Get a fixed quote