5 Restaurant Billing Hacks You Need to Know About


BENAGLURU: Have you ever given yourself a thought of whether you have been given with the appropriate bills at the restaurants, or is it that you were made to pay the hiked bill amount, probably yes! The bills generated at the restaurants are based on the price of the food that you have consumed; anyhow, most of the restaurants weigh up the billing amount by adding unnecessary taxes and the service charges. Hence, here goes the list of such restaurant billing hacks that you need know about.

Service Charge:

Most of us have the tendency of tipping the server at the hotels, but it isn’t mandatory and is left to the customer‘s choice. But, are you aware that you have been paying tip that is being charged in a much organized way?

It is the service charge that you can be usually found on the hotel bills now a days and is nothing but the amount that is charged for the service that the hotel is providing, which is just another way of demanding the compulsory tip. Normally, restaurants charge four percent to twenty percent of the total bill, as a service charge, which are not mentioned under the government’s guidelines.   

Service Tax:

Service tax sounds similar as the service charge, but it has lot more differences to know about. Service tax is the actually imposed on the guidelines of the provision of taxable services in India, which clearly states that any hotel, restaurant or related service providers can charge the service tax of 12.5 percent and to be paid on 40 percent of your total bill.

This is mandatory only if the respective service place features air condition or a central heating system. Hence the overall calculation indicates that no more than 4.94 percent of service tax can be imposed on the overall bill at the restaurant that is air conditioned.  

Value Added Tax (VAT):

VAT is form of a consumption tax and the imposing of the levy is subject to interest of the state government, hence rate of tax may differ from state to state. Similarly, under the hotel industry, VAT is imposed on the food products that are sold and preferably, Vat should be imposed on the purchase of the individual products.

 However, restaurants gauge VAT on the overall billed amount, which might prove costlier compared to VAT on the bill of the individual products. Most importantly, VAT applies only on the foods that are prepared at the restaurant and not on the packed food and beverages that are sold at the respective place,  

Home Delivery:

Home delivery is trending in the food industry in the urban areas and practically, most of the hotels and food joints charge service tax for the home delivered food. But the matter of fact is that the home delivery itself isn’t a subject of service; hence, it is not applicable for the service taxation.  

Charity:

Some of the pizza centers, restaurant and hotels, add on specific amount (usually 5 to 10) on every billing in the name of charity. On the other hand, the majority of the customers don’t bother paying it but some feel annoyed of it, since the restaurants are charging it without bringing it to the knowledge of the customer.         

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