GST for NZ Hospitality: POS Basics for Cafés and Restaurants

A plain-English guide to 15% GST for NZ cafés and restaurants: how your POS should handle prices, receipts and reports, and what to ask your accountant.

GST is part of every sale a New Zealand café or restaurant makes, yet many owners only think about it when the return is due. Your POS can make GST far less painful – if it's set up properly from day one. This guide covers the basics of how 15% GST shows up in a hospitality POS, and the questions to take to your accountant or Inland Revenue (IRD).

This is general information, not tax advice. GST rules have details and exceptions, so always confirm your own situation with an accountant or IRD.

GST in one paragraph

New Zealand GST is 15%. If your business is registered for GST, you generally add it to what you charge and pass it on to IRD, while claiming back GST on eligible business purchases. In hospitality, menu prices shown to customers are typically GST-inclusive, so a NZ$23.00 brunch dish already contains the GST portion. Your accountant can confirm whether and when you need to register, your filing frequency and which purchases you can claim.

How your POS should handle GST

A good POS does the arithmetic so you don't have to. Here's what to check:

1. Inclusive or exclusive pricing

Decide whether you enter menu prices including GST (what the customer pays) or excluding GST (and let the POS add it). Most cafés find inclusive pricing easier because the menu board and the POS match. Whichever you pick, be consistent across every item.

2. The GST portion on a GST-inclusive price

To find the GST inside an inclusive price, divide by 23 and multiply by 3 (that's 3/23). For example, a NZ$23.00 dish contains NZ$3.00 GST and NZ$20.00 before GST. Your POS should show this split on reports so you don't have to calculate it yourself.

3. Receipts

Customers, especially business diners, may ask for a receipt showing GST. Make sure your receipt shows your business name, GST number and the GST amount or a statement that the total includes GST. Your accountant can confirm exactly what your receipts need to show.

4. Discounts

If you give 10% off for staff or a happy-hour deal, GST should be calculated on the discounted price, not the original. Check your POS applies discounts before working out GST on the receipt and report.

5. Rounding and cash

With no 1c, 2c or 5c coins in circulation, cash totals get rounded. Make sure your POS handles this consistently and that the rounding shows up clearly in reports.

Reports that make GST time easier

When your GST return is due, you or your accountant will want:

• Total sales including GST for the period
• GST collected on those sales
• Sales by payment type – card, cash, other – to reconcile against bank deposits
• Discounts and voids, so the numbers add up
• Item-level sales, helpful if your accountant needs to look closer at anything

Export these at the end of each period and store them with your bank statements. A tidy monthly habit is far easier than a scramble every couple of months.

A simple monthly routine

1. Check the daily sales report each night and investigate anything odd straight away.
2. At month end, pull GST and payment-type reports from the POS.
3. Match card totals against your terminal settlement and bank deposits.
4. Count cash and compare it with the POS cash total.
5. Send the reports to your accountant or upload them to your accounting software.
6. Keep supplier invoices together so GST on purchases is easy to claim.

Common GST mistakes in cafés

• Mixing inclusive and exclusive prices across the menu, which produces confusing totals.
• Deleting orders instead of voiding them, leaving gaps your accountant can't explain. Use role-based staff permissions so only managers can void.
• Forgetting staff meals and comps. Ask your accountant how these should be recorded.
• Not keeping records long enough. IRD expects business records to be kept for a set period – check the current requirement.

How KiwiTri POS fits

KiwiTri POS includes GST billing and a daily sales report on every plan, starting with Standard at NZ$100/month plus GST. The Pro plan adds item and GST reports, plus role-based staff so waiters can't change prices or void bills. Plus adds analytics such as best days, busy hours and top dishes. It runs in the browser, so reports are available on whichever device you have to hand.

Whatever system you use, the key is the same: set GST up correctly once, check it with your accountant, then let the POS do the maths every day.

Questions to ask your accountant

• Do I need to be GST-registered, and from when?
• How often should I file – monthly, two-monthly or six-monthly?
• Should I enter menu prices GST-inclusive or exclusive in my POS?
• How should staff meals, comps and vouchers be recorded?
• Which POS reports do you want each period, and in what format?
• How long must I keep sales records?

Bring a sample daily report and a sample receipt to that meeting. It's much easier for your accountant to give useful advice when they can see exactly what your system produces.

One more tip: when you change menu prices, update them in the POS on the same day you update the menu board. A gap of even a few days means receipts, reports and GST totals no longer match what customers were charged, which creates work at return time.

Get started

If you'd like to see how GST appears on receipts and reports before committing, start the 2-day free trial with your own menu – no card needed – or see the pricing page for NZ plans. Then take a sample report to your accountant and ask whether it gives them what they need.

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