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Tronc scheme setup, VAT on food vs. takeaway vs. alcohol, employee tax on tips and service charges, multi-site consolidated accounts. Built for restaurants, cafés, bars and pubs — not accountants who've never worked with one.
Tell us about your business — we'll explain how we can help and what it would cost.
Hospitality tax is unusually complex for its revenue size. These are the four we get right for every client.
A properly-run tronc can eliminate employer's NIC on service charges and tips. We set up the scheme, register it, run the payroll, and keep it compliant with the Tipping Act 2023.
Hot food 20%, cold takeaway 0%, alcohol 20% — and where does the line sit? We audit your menu, set till codes correctly, and defend classifications when HMRC asks.
Per-site gross margin, consolidated group accounts, inter-site cost allocations, central kitchen / HQ cost recovery. Monthly. Not when you ask for it. Not at year-end.
Most hospitality leases have rent-free periods and premiums. We spread these correctly (SSAP21/IFRS16), keep your profit clean, and advise on the timing of fit-out capex vs. deductible repairs.
Margins are tight in hospitality. Any of these can turn a profitable year into a struggle.
If tips run through the business bank and then to staff as wages, employers pay NIC on them. A properly-run tronc eliminates this. A £400k service charge pool = ~£55k of unnecessary NIC.
A bistro sells hot food in, cold sandwiches out, wine and craft beer. Generalists often lump this under a flat 20% or miss the zero-rating entirely on cold takeaway. Both cost you.
Three sites, three sets of books, no group view. You can't see which site is subsidising the others until the one with the worst lease closes. We build the consolidated view from day one.
Major fit-outs hit the P&L as one huge cost when they should be capitalised and spread. Or vice versa — legitimate repairs are capitalised and written off over years. Either way, the tax bill is wrong.
"AudTax set up a proper tronc across all four restaurants. £24k a year in employer NIC we no longer pay, and staff get a bit more. We now get a group P&L on the 5th of every month — not April of the following year."
It's a separate pool administered by an independent "troncmaster" that distributes service charges and tips to staff free of employer NIC. We set the scheme up, register it with HMRC, run the payroll monthly, and keep it compliant with the Tipping Act 2023.
Alcohol is always 20%. Hot food consumed on-premises is 20%. Hot takeaway food is 20%. Cold takeaway food (meal deals, sandwiches, ready-to-eat) is generally 0%. We configure your till/POS to handle the boundaries correctly and keep an audit trail.
Yes — and we'll give you per-site and group-level P&L monthly. Inter-site transfers, central office allocations, group cashflow, consolidated VAT — all handled properly. Most groups pay off our fees on the multi-site view alone.
We spread rent-free periods over the lease term (SSAP21 / IFRS16) so your profit doesn't spike artificially. Lease premiums get amortised. We also advise on whether fit-out costs are capital (depreciable) or revenue (immediately deductible) — the line matters for your tax bill.
Fixed monthly fees from £280+VAT for single-site independent restaurants, £480+VAT for 2–3 site groups, £780+VAT+ for larger multi-site operators with payroll and tronc. All include Xero, quarterly VAT and HMRC enquiry defence to £5,000.
From cashflow to business growth, we'll make it feel easy. If you're ready to take the next step and get your business on the path to growth, get in touch today so we can learn about your plans.