Tomorrow a temporary reduced rate of VAT for hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions becomes available in the UK. We’re pleased to say that we’ve added the product capabilities to apply these changes in Redbox – read on to find out more about the VAT changes coming through and how to apply these in Redbox.

The key change announced is a temporary VAT cut for food and non-alcoholic drinks from 15 July 2020 to 12 January 2021 to support businesses and jobs in the hospitality sector. The 5% rate of VAT will apply to supplies of food and non-alcoholic drinks from restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés and similar premises across the UK.

As this reduced rate includes food and drink, we have added a new feature to Redbox so that outlets can specify if an item on their menu should remain at 20%, or should be subject to the new reduced rate of 5%.

There have been a few questions about how restaurants would handle deals where the rate will vary if items are bundled together, for example a ‘pie and a pint’ deal would need a 5% VAT on the pie, but 20% rate on the beer. Our new VAT rates feature handles this complicated scenario, as you can also specify a VAT rate against your menu options, so building meal deals with mixed rates of VAT is easy.

If you are a Redbox outlet or marketplace you can read about how to set your VAT rates on this new guide.

We have made it easy to specify the rate on VAT registered outlets, with a simple drop down menu next to your price on the menu editor. The system also calculates the net price for you, so you can double check your prices.

If you would like any advice on updating your VAT settings, or need any help, please drop us an email to support@redbox.systems

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