Verus Tax Service › Restaurants
Restaurant bookkeeping that survives an audit
Restaurants have more moving parts than almost any small business I keep books for. Cash and card sales, tips, food cost, payroll across shifting schedules, and sales tax due every month whether or not the month was good.
What I watch for
Tips and payroll
Reported tips flow through payroll and affect your FICA obligation. Handled wrong, it becomes a payroll tax problem that compounds quietly for years. There is also a federal credit available to food and beverage employers on the employer share of FICA paid on tips — one many restaurants never claim.
Sales tax that never stops
Illinois expects an ST-1 on schedule regardless of how business went. Falling behind on sales tax is the single fastest way for a restaurant to end up with a state lien, because the state treats it as money you collected on its behalf.
POS reconciliation
Your point-of-sale totals, your merchant deposits and your bank statement will not match on their own. Fees, chargebacks, tip payouts and batch timing all get in the way. Reconciling these monthly is how you catch theft and processor errors while they are still small.
Food and beverage cost
Inventory movement is the difference between a restaurant that knows its margin and one that guesses. Clean books make food cost visible as a percentage every month, not a mystery you solve at year end.
Equipment and build-out
A walk-in, a hood system or a full build-out gets treated very differently from a repair. Getting the split right between repairs and capital improvements changes your tax bill materially in both directions.
If you are behind on sales tax or your books have not been reconciled in months, that is a normal starting point here. We sort out where you actually stand first.
“Hugo & his team are very professional, caring & very detailed in their work.”Google review
Let's talk about your books
A 30-minute call. No charge if you decide not to move forward. English or Spanish.
Book a 30-minute consultation