Every service is built around how hospitality finance actually works: tronc and tips compliance, food and drink VAT, payroll for variable-hours teams and the specific requirements of each sector.
Start with annual compliance, add tronc and management accounts as you grow, move to specialist advisory when you are expanding or planning a sale.
Independent operators and small venues that need the annual numbers filed correctly and their payroll and VAT obligations handled without fuss.
Expanding venues and small groups that need numbers built around the trade: tronc compliance, wet and dry margins, and a plan for the quiet months before they arrive.
Multi-site operators, lease assignments and venue sales needing advisory depth: licence and duty compliance, MTD for Income Tax, and exit planning.
A tronc is a separate pay arrangement run by an independent troncmaster to distribute tips and service charges to staff. Where the troncmaster genuinely controls allocation without any employer involvement, both employer and employee National Insurance contributions are eliminated on those distributions. Getting the independence condition right matters: any employer involvement in deciding who receives what destroys the NIC saving and exposes the business to historic NIC liabilities and HMRC enquiry. Income tax via PAYE still applies on every tronc payment.
Learn moreHospitality payroll is harder than most sectors. Variable hours, zero-hours and casual contracts, tronc distributions sitting alongside basic pay, high staff turnover, and the April 2026 cost rises (NLW up to £12.71 and employer NIC at 15% above a £5,000 threshold) all create payroll risks that generic providers routinely miss. Errors result in underpayments, worker complaints, HMRC penalties and, for minimum-wage breaches, public naming. Operators who run <a href="/services/tronc-scheme-setup">a tronc scheme</a> need both services joined up.
Learn moreHospitality VAT sits on a web of edge cases that generic accountants miss and that HMRC knows operators get wrong. The £90,000 rolling registration threshold must be monitored monthly, not at year-end. The hot/cold and eat-in/takeaway distinction governs whether you charge 0% or 20% on the same product. And the Flat Rate Scheme category that determines your flat rate is set by your trade description in law, not by what you call yourself: a pub applying the catering rate instead of the licensed-premises rate overpays; a takeaway on the wrong category underpays and faces a correction bill. Getting these right from the start avoids interest, penalties and embarrassing retrospective adjustments.
Learn moreThe Tour Operators Margin Scheme is not just for dedicated tour operators. HMRC's guidance confirms it applies to any business that buys in accommodation, transport or other travel services from third parties and sells them as a package to travellers, even where travel is not the operator's main activity. Hotels and guest houses that bundle third-party transfers, tours or experiences with a room stay can fall inside TOMS without realising it. Under TOMS, VAT is charged only on the margin (the difference between the price charged to the customer and the cost of the bought-in elements), and input VAT on those bought-in services cannot be recovered. Both outcomes are mandatory where the scheme applies: there is no opt-out.
Learn moreFrom 1 April 2026, Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief is no longer available for new claims. Hospitality operators now calculate their business rates bill using revised rate multipliers set specifically for RHL-category properties. For operators who have been relying on an annual relief application, the 2026-27 bill will look different and must be checked against the correct multiplier for your rateable value. Separately, Small Business Rate Relief continues and many small cafes, takeaways and pubs qualify for 100% relief but have never claimed it.
Learn moreTell us about your hospitality business and we will tell you what is required and how we can help.