Restaurant & Brewery CPA Services

Common issues include POS tax settings for growlers/crowlers (and all items in general), bundled promos, and reconciling third-party platform reports to your sales tax filings. Most third party delivery sites handle the sales tax for you but make sure to confirm this on a regular basis. The best place to start is getting an expert involved anytime you are setting up a new POS to make sure you have the exact sales tax for your address and to help you keep up on new sales taxes that occasionally pop up.

In Minnesota, mandatory service charges (like an automatic 18 or 20% charge) are treated as wages, not tips. That matters because wages and tips can be taxed and reported differently, and service charges generally don’t qualify for tip-related credits the way true, voluntary tips can. Mandatory service charges are also sales taxable in Minnesota which many POS systems can’t handle.

If you’re a food or beverage employer with tipped employees, you may be eligible for the FICA Tip Credit, which is based on the employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes you pay on voluntarily reported employee tips. To support the credit, you need accurate tip reporting through payroll and clear separation between tips vs. service charges (service charges are treated as wages and are excluded from the tip credit)

Gift cards and many loyalty programs create accounting and tax complexity because you typically need to track unredeemed balances, determine when revenue is recognized, and understand potential unclaimed property exposure for unused cards (rules vary by state). These items also commonly surface in audits because they impact reported revenue, liabilities, and compliance. It is still worth pursuing for the cashflow benefits just make sure to walk in with eyes wide open.

Breweries and brewpubs are responsible for federal excise taxes and required operational reporting to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) along with MN Fermented Malt Beverage return. Your filing obligations depend on your situation, and TTB provides guidance, due dates, and reminders. Many compliance problems in brewery audits trace back to recordkeeping, production/inventory tracking, and tax/reporting accuracy so having clean, consistent records is key.