Restaurant Bookkeeping: POS Sales, Tips and Delivery App Payouts#
A restaurant's bank deposit is a mixture. It holds food and beverage sales, sales tax, tips that belong to staff, and it arrives after the card processor and any delivery app have taken their charges. Booking deposits as sales gets the revenue wrong, hides the cost of delivery commissions and leaves tips sitting in income.
This article covers how restaurant money should be recorded in QuickBooks Online and which parts of the work can be handed to an offshore bookkeeping team.
Where the money comes from#
Most restaurants have three streams:
- In-house sales taken through the POS (Toast, Square or similar), paid by cash and card.
- Delivery app orders (third-party apps), paid out by the app in batches.
- Other receipts, such as catering deposits or gift card sales.
Each stream reaches the bank differently, on a different schedule and net of different charges. The POS daily report is the usual starting point for in-house sales. The delivery apps' payout statements are the starting point for delivery.
How in-house sales should be recorded#
The POS daily summary should be recorded as a sales entry, not the bank deposit. One entry per day, or per week if volume is low, with:
- Sales split by category (food, beverage, and so on)
- Sales tax collected, as a liability
- Tips collected on cards, as a liability to staff
- Cash and card totals, going to clearing accounts
- Discounts, comps and voids recorded in a way the owner can read
The card processor then deposits the card total less its fees, usually a day or more later. That deposit is matched against the card clearing account. Cash deposits are matched separately.
Illustrative example#
All figures are illustrative round numbers for one day of card sales.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Food and beverage sales (card) | 3,000 |
| Sales tax collected | 240 |
| Tips added on cards | 450 |
| Card total charged | 3,690 |
| Processor fees deducted | (90) |
| Deposit received | 3,600 |
Income is 3,000. Sales tax of 240 and tips of 450 are liabilities. The 90 is an expense. If tips are paid out to staff from the cash drawer or through payroll, the tips payable account is reduced when that happens and should return to zero. The bank deposit of 3,600 clears the card clearing account.
How tips are paid and reported is a payroll and tax matter. We record tips collected and paid out. Payroll processing is not something we do, and the reporting treatment should be confirmed with the client's preparer.
Delivery app payouts#
A delivery app payout is net. The app takes a commission and may deduct promotions, adjustments for refunds or missing items, and other charges before paying out.
Illustrative example#
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Order subtotal on the app | 1,000 |
| Commission | (250) |
| Promotions funded by the restaurant | (50) |
| Payout received | 700 |
Recording only the 700 hides 300 of cost. Gross delivery sales of 1,000 go to a delivery income account, and the commission and promotions go to expense accounts. That way the owner can see what each app really earns after its charges. Sales tax on delivery orders is handled differently depending on the app and the jurisdiction, so the treatment is confirmed with the preparer before it is applied.
Food and beverage costs#
Food and beverage costs come from supplier invoices and card spending. We code them to the agreed cost of goods accounts and, where the client keeps inventory counts, record the movement. Without counts, costs are reported as purchased. We note this in the summary so the owner knows how to read the margin.
Why this work is hard to staff#
Tips sit between sales and payroll, and the IRS has specific reporting rules for them. IRS Publication 531 (page reviewed April 2026) says employees report tips of $20 or more in a month to the employer by the 10th of the next month, and that Forms 4070 and 4070A were made historical, so a signed statement can be used. The IRS also describes Form 8846 (page updated 22 June 2026) as a credit for the employer's share of Social Security and Medicare taxes on employee tips at food and beverage establishments. Rules and thresholds change; confirm the current position with the client's preparer.
In the books, card tips, cash tips, pooled tips and delivery app tips must stay apart from sales, or the figures a payroll provider and preparer need become hard to rebuild. That is work for someone who has seen a POS tip report. Tip reporting, payroll and any credit claim stay with the owner and the client's preparer; the bookkeeping records the data they need.
What can be handed to an offshore team#
- Recording POS daily or weekly summaries in QuickBooks Online
- Reconciling POS sales to bank deposits
- Delivery app payouts and commissions, entered from the payout statements
- Tips collected and paid out
- Food and beverage cost coding
- Bank and credit card reconciliations
- Weekly or monthly reports and a written summary of adjustments
What stays with the firm or owner#
- Payroll, tip distribution to staff and payroll tax filings
- Sales tax returns and any questions on how tax applies to delivery orders
- Tax return preparation and sign-off
- Menu pricing, purchasing and staffing decisions
- Client communication and final review
Our work is reviewed by a Chartered Accountant before it is returned. The accounting firm's own review still applies.
What to send#
- QuickBooks Online access limited to the client file
- POS report access, or daily and weekly sales summaries
- Delivery app payout statements
- Bank and card statements or feeds
- Supplier invoices, or access to where they are stored
- Notes on how tips are shared and paid out
- The name of the preparer for tax questions
What comes back#
- POS sales reconciled to bank deposits
- Tips collected and paid out, reconciled
- Delivery app payouts and commissions reconciled
- Weekly or monthly profit and loss
- Sales by category
- Delivery platform reconciliation
- A written summary of adjustments
Month-end review checks#
- POS sales for each day agree to the entries in QuickBooks Online
- Card and cash clearing accounts are zero or explained
- Every delivery app payout is matched to a deposit
- Commissions and promotions appear as expenses, not netted in sales
- Tips payable agrees to what staff were owed less what was paid
- Sales tax liability agrees to POS tax reports
- Food and beverage cost percentage looks reasonable against prior months
- Open items are listed for the owner or preparer
Where to start#
Send one client file and we review it and send an estimate within 48 hours, with a capped number of hours. See our monthly bookkeeping and reconciliation service, the industries we work in and our page for accounting firms.
Frequently asked questions#
Do you process payroll or pay out tips? No. We record tips collected and paid out in the books. Payroll processing stays with the client or their payroll provider.
Why not record the bank deposit as sales? The deposit is net of processor fees and may include tax and tips. Revenue, liabilities and costs would all be misstated.
Can you reconcile more than one delivery app? Yes. Each app gets its own clearing account and income line, so the payout statements can be matched to deposits.
How often can reporting be done? Weekly or monthly, depending on what the client needs. This is agreed when the work is set up.
