Australian Hospitality Chart of Accounts for QuickBooks (GST on Food + FBT)

Running a kitchen on QuickBooks Online means coding three kinds of food and drink that the tax system treats very differently: what you sell to customers, what you cook with, and what you put in front of staff and clients. This is an Australian hospitality chart of accounts built for QuickBooks Online, mapped to the right GST codes for each. It comes as a readable reference (CSV) and a QuickBooks import CSV.

How QuickBooks splits the work

QuickBooks Online imports the account structure but carries no tax column, so you import first and assign GST codes second, in bulk, from the mapping. QuickBooks Australia also keeps separate sales and purchase code lists, which matters here because the same word, “food”, lands on both sides of the ledger with different codes.

Selling food is a taxable supply

A restaurant is selling prepared food and a dining experience, not groceries. Dine-in and hot takeaway food is taxable, so the food and beverage sales account maps to the sales code GST, even though the same item could be GST-free on a shop shelf. GST free is listed as the alternative only for basic packaged lines a venue resells unchanged. Charging GST on the meal is the operator’s job; the chart just makes the default correct.

Buying ingredients runs the other way

Basic unprocessed food bought to cook with is GST-free, so it maps to the purchase code GST-free non-capital, while packaged, prepared, and alcoholic supplies carry GST and use GST on non-capital. The food and beverage purchases account defaults to the GST-bearing code with the GST-free code as the per-line alternative, so a single account absorbs the whole produce and beverage ledger while each line is coded honestly.

Entertainment versus staff meals

The deductibility split is the one to get right. Client entertainment maps to Out of Scope, because the GST credit is blocked and the cost is generally not deductible. Staff meals and functions get their own account, because employee food and drink that amounts to entertainment can be subject to fringe benefits tax, and FBT unlocks both the deduction and the credit. Two accounts, so the FBT review has something to look at rather than one blurred meals line.

Equipment and the write-off

Commercial ovens, fridges, and fit-out are capital and map to GST on capital. A business under A$10 million turnover can immediately deduct an eligible asset under A$20,000 for 2025-26, per asset, with larger assets pooled, so the equipment account carries a note on the threshold and a reminder to confirm the current figure.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV: each account is mapped to its QuickBooks GST code, with alternatives and a note.
2. In QuickBooks Online, go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts, and upload the CSV for the structure.
3. After import, use Batch actions, then Set default GST code, to apply the mapping.
4. Brief the point-of-sale setup that dine-in food is taxable, and keep staff meals in their own account for the FBT review.

Capture handles the volume of supplier invoices behind the kitchen:

• Dext photographs and extracts wholesaler bills.
• ExpenseFlow reads each supplier invoice and receipt, applies the correct GST code, attaches the source, and posts it into QuickBooks Online, while flagging a basic-food line that still carries GST and keeping staff entertainment apart from client entertainment.
• Hubdoc pulls recurring produce and beverage invoices in.

Deciding whether a particular meal is FBT-bearing employee entertainment is a call for you or your accountant; the chart gives it the right account. For the detail, see the Australian hospitality expenses guide. On Xero instead? See the Australian hospitality chart of accounts for Xero.