Swedish Restaurant and Café Accounting

The hard part is the till, not the ledger. One basket can carry three VAT rates, and the boundary between serving and take-away moves with how the food is sold rather than what it is.

Account numbers follow BAS 2026. Domestic sales sit on 3000 with 3001–3004 by rate, unchanged from earlier BAS years.

How to use this skill

File	When to read
references/moms-och-forsaljning.md	The sales side: the 6/12/25 split and its dates, servering vs avhämtning, packaging and delivery, catering and platforms, alcohol, personalmåltider, vouchers and lunch cards, discounts across rates, a worked day
references/drift-och-personal.md	Running the place: serveringstillstånd and its records, kassaregister and personalliggare, kontrollbesök, svinn and inventering, OB and minderåriga, dricks, industry costs and assets, key ratios

The rate, right now

Sale	Rate	Until
Serving on the premises	12 %	unchanged
Food sold for avhämtning	6 %	2027-12-31, then 12 % again
Alcohol, served or to take away	25 %	unchanged
Bottled water	6 %	with the food reduction
Tap water sold separately	25 %	unchanged

The reduction is temporary. Anything written for a period starting 2028 should use 12 % for food again.

Never guess these

Situation	Why	What to do
A café with seating and a take-away counter	Both rates apply in the same day, and the till must split them	Ask how the till is configured before trusting a Z-report total
Delivery through a platform	Who sells to the guest, and what the commission and payout mean, differ by platform	Ask for the platform's settlement report
Staff meals	They trigger uttagsbeskattning and a benefit value	Ask how many meals and whether staff pay anything
A gift card	Single- and multi-purpose vouchers are taxed at different moments	Ask what the card can be used for
Tips	Whether they are the company's income and whether they are salary depends on how they reach the staff	Ask who distributes them

Related skills

Question	Skill
The till, Z-reports, växelkassa, kassadifferens	swedish-cash-register
VAT rules and the food boundary in depth	swedish-vat
Stock of food and drink, shrinkage, inventering	swedish-inventory
OB, overtime, benefits and payroll on tips	swedish-payroll
Kitchen equipment, leasing, depreciation	swedish-asset-accounting
Everyday kontering, card payouts, supplier invoices	swedish-daily-bookkeeping