Accountants for restaurants
Restaurants fail on cash flow and margins more than on food — and both live in the numbers: gross margin per dish family, labour percentage per shift pattern, VAT that differs between eat-in, takeaway hot, takeaway cold, and delivery platforms who bundle their own fee handling into the mess. Hospitality accounting is a specialism because the details are.
How we handle it
We run it end to end: bookkeeping that splits revenue streams properly (dine-in, delivery apps, events), payroll with the tronc and tips rules done legally — including the fair-allocation law now in force — VAT returns that respect hospitality's rate quirks, and monthly margin reporting that tells you which parts of the menu earn their space.
The fixed fees behind this service
| Service | Fixed fee |
|---|---|
| Small Business Accountants | from £65/mo |
| Payroll | from £25/mo |
| VAT Returns | from £35/mo |
| Bookkeeping | from £49/mo |
| Management Accounts | from £99/mo |
Small Business Accountants
Complete accounting for established small businesses — one plan, everything covered.
- Year-end accounts and all tax filings
- Monthly bookkeeping on cloud software
- VAT and payroll where you need them
| Core: accounts, tax, bookkeeping | £65/mo |
| Complete: core + VAT + payroll (up to 5) | £125/mo |
| Premium: complete + quarterly management accounts | £185/mo |
Small Business Accountants — full details, packages and FAQs →
Payroll
Payslips, RTI submissions and pensions — run for you, on time, every time.
- Payslips produced every pay run — monthly or weekly
- RTI submissions to HMRC on or before every payday
- Auto-enrolment pension assessments and submissions
| Director-only payroll (1 person) | £25/mo |
| Up to 5 employees | £45/mo |
| Up to 10 employees | £69/mo |
VAT Returns
Quarterly VAT prepared and submitted under Making Tax Digital.
- Quarterly VAT returns prepared and filed under Making Tax Digital
- The right scheme for you — standard, flat rate or cash accounting
- VAT registration and deregistration handled when needed
| VAT returns only (your bookkeeping) | £35/mo |
| VAT + bookkeeping bundle | £119/mo |
| VAT registration (one-off) | £79 |
Bookkeeping
Your records kept clean and current, every month, on cloud software.
- Transactions categorised and reconciled every month
- Cloud software set up and maintained (Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent)
- Receipts captured digitally — photograph and forget
| Up to 50 transactions a month | £49/mo |
| Up to 150 transactions a month | £89/mo |
| Up to 300 transactions a month | £149/mo |
Management Accounts
Monthly or quarterly numbers that tell you what's actually happening.
- Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash summary each period
- Plain-English commentary — what changed and why it matters
- Margin and KPI tracking tailored to your business
| Quarterly pack: P&L, balance sheet, commentary | £99/quarter |
| Monthly pack | £99/mo |
| Monthly pack + KPI dashboard | £149/mo |
From first message to done
WhatsApp or the form — a few sentences is enough. A real person replies the same working day.
One price for the job, confirmed before anything starts. Complex case? We say so now, not on the invoice.
Photos of documents are fine. We chase whatever's missing — that's part of the job, not yours.
You review everything first; filings go to HMRC or Companies House electronically with same-day confirmation.
Deadlines that apply here
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| On or before each payday | RTI Full Payment Submission due to HMRC — every single pay run |
| 22nd of each month | PAYE and NI payment due to HMRC (19th if paying by post) |
| 31 May | P60s must be given to all employees |
| 6 Jul | P11D benefits-in-kind forms due |
| 1 month + 7 days after quarter end | VAT return filing and payment deadline for each quarter |
| £90,000 rolling turnover | Compulsory VAT registration threshold — measured over any rolling 12 months, not your accounting year |
Why choose Bohzo Accountants in the UK?
Your fee is agreed before any work starts and never changes mid-job. No hourly billing, ever.
Secure portal and WhatsApp — no office visits, no printing, no waiting rooms.
Bohzo Accountants is a trading name of IGI Security Services Ltd, Company No. 15881180.
We track every HMRC and Companies House date that applies to you, so you don't have to.
Terms you'll meet along the way
RTI
Real Time Information — the rule that HMRC must receive a payroll submission on or before every payday, not at year end.
Auto-enrolment
The legal duty to enrol eligible staff into a workplace pension and contribute. Applies from your first employee, with The Pensions Regulator watching.
P60 / P45
The annual summary each employee gets after 5 April (P60), and the leaving statement when someone departs (P45).
Making Tax Digital (MTD)
HMRC's regime requiring digital records and software-filed returns — long mandatory for VAT, arriving for Income Tax from April 2026.
Flat Rate Scheme
Pay HMRC a fixed percentage of turnover instead of tracking every input. Simpler, but the 16.5% limited-cost-trader rate killed the old easy win for many.
Input vs output VAT
Output VAT is what you charge customers; input VAT is what you pay suppliers. You hand HMRC the difference — which is why missed input claims are pure loss.
Penalty points
Each late VAT return earns a point; at your threshold (4 for quarterly filers) every late return costs £200. Points expire after sustained good behaviour.
Reconciliation
Matching your books to the bank, transaction by transaction — the discipline that makes every other number trustworthy.
Accountants for restaurants: your questions answered
How should tips and service charges be handled now?
Under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act, 100% of tips must pass to workers under a fair, written policy — no house cuts. An independent tronc arrangement keeps tips NI-free when run correctly, which saves real money for staff and employer alike. We set up compliant tronc schemes and run them through payroll properly.
Which VAT rates apply to what we sell?
Eat-in food and drink: standard-rated. Hot takeaway: standard. Cold takeaway: mostly zero-rated. Alcohol: always standard. Delivery platforms add their commission layer with VAT on fees. Mis-categorising cold takeaway alone quietly overpays VAT for years — till configuration is where we usually start.
What margins should a restaurant actually watch?
Gross profit on food (target 65–72% depending on style), the same on wet sales, labour as a percentage of revenue (the controllable one, shift by shift), and delivery-platform net margin after their 20–35% take. Our monthly reporting tracks these four — because annual accounts arrive far too late to save a bleeding quarter.
What's included in the monthly fee?
Everything listed in your package, with no metering: accounts, tax, bookkeeping, and VAT/payroll on the larger plans. Questions and calls are included too — we'd rather hear about a decision before you make it than fix it after.
We already have an accountant — is switching painful?
No. You tell them you're moving; we handle professional clearance and record transfer. Most switches complete inside two weeks, and the health-check fee is refunded when you join.
I'm the only employee of my company — do I need payroll?
If you pay yourself a salary, yes — you need a PAYE scheme and RTI submissions even for one person. Director-only payroll is our most popular package at £25/mo, and we set the salary at the most tax-efficient level for you.
What is auto-enrolment and does it apply to me?
Every employer must assess staff for a workplace pension and enrol eligible employees. Even if your only staff member is you as director, you have duties to declare. We handle assessments, letters and declarations as part of the service.
When do I have to register for VAT?
When your taxable turnover in any rolling 12-month period passes £90,000 — a rolling test, not your accounting year, and the most common way businesses get caught out. We monitor it for bookkeeping clients automatically.
Which VAT scheme is best for me?
It depends on your margins and customers. The flat-rate scheme suits some service businesses; cash accounting helps if customers pay slowly; standard suits most. We'll compare them for your numbers before registering you.
Which bookkeeping software do you use?
Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent — whichever suits your business (or whichever you already use). Software subscription can be included in your monthly fee, and we handle all the setup and migration.
What counts as a transaction?
Each line on your bank statement — a payment in or out. Most one-person businesses sit comfortably under 50 a month. If you drift over your band we'll tell you before the fee changes, never after.
What's the difference between management and statutory accounts?
Statutory accounts are the annual, backward-looking filing for Companies House. Management accounts are for you: frequent, current, and focused on decisions — margins by product, overhead trends, cash runway. Different job entirely.
Do I need bookkeeping in place first?
Yes — management accounts are only as good as the underlying records. If your books need work we'll bundle bookkeeping in, so the numbers are trustworthy from the first pack.
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