UK Hospitality Chart of Accounts for QuickBooks with VAT Codes (Free)

A hospitality business turns over a high volume of small supplier invoices: produce, drink, packaging, cleaning, repairs. QuickBooks Online can hold all of it, but only if the chart of accounts respects how UK VAT treats food, drink, and entertaining separately. This is a UK hospitality chart of accounts for QuickBooks Online, using QuickBooks’ own VAT code names. It comes as a readable CSV that maps each account to its code, plus an import CSV for the structure.

Structure first, VAT codes second

QuickBooks Online’s chart-of-accounts import carries four columns only: Account Number, Account Name, Type, and Detail Type. There is no tax field. So the workflow is two steps. First, import the account structure from the CSV, which creates each account with the right Type and Detail Type. Second, bulk-assign the default VAT codes using the mapping in the readable CSV, which QuickBooks lets you do across the chart of accounts in one pass. For a kitchen the second step matters most on the food and drink accounts, where the codes diverge.

The food and drink divide

The mapping splits purchases into food stock and ingredients and drinks and alcohol stock, and they get different codes. Most raw and cold food is zero-rated when bought, so food stock maps to 0.0% Z, with 20.0% S available for the standard-rated items such as confectionery, crisps, and hot food. Alcohol and soft drinks are standard-rated throughout, so drinks stock maps to 20.0% S. Putting both in one purchases account would average out the recoverable VAT and misstate the return in both directions, which is the error this split exists to prevent.

On sales, the chart adds food and beverage sales coded to 20.0% S. Food eaten in or sold hot to take away is standard-rated even when the same item would be zero-rated on a shop shelf, and giving that its own coded account keeps the output VAT honest.

Two kinds of entertaining, two codes

Hospitality entertains as part of the job, and QuickBooks needs to tell two cases apart. Client entertainment maps to No VAT: the input VAT on entertaining non-employees is blocked and the spend is not deductible. Staff welfare and events maps to 20.0% S, because VAT on staff parties and team outings is recoverable. They are deliberately separate accounts so the blocked and the reclaimable do not pool into a single “entertaining” total.

Kitchen equipment is capital

A commercial oven, fridge, or full fit-out is a capital purchase, so the chart sends it to a kitchen and bar equipment fixed-asset account rather than an expense line. Most of this kit qualifies for the Annual Investment Allowance at the year end, and keeping it in fixed assets is what makes that relief straightforward to claim.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV and adapt the account names to the venue, noting the VAT code mapped to each.
2. In QuickBooks Online go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts, and upload the CSV for the structure.
3. On the import wizard confirm the Type and Detail Type for each account.
4. After import, bulk-assign the default VAT codes from the CSV, putting 0.0% Z on food and 20.0% S on drinks.

Keeping the daily invoices coded right afterwards is the recurring job:

• Dext extracts the VAT and supplier from photographed delivery notes.
• ExpenseFlow reads each receipt and supplier invoice, applies the correct QuickBooks VAT code including the entertaining cases, and posts it into QuickBooks Online against the right account, so a busy service does not leave a coding backlog.
• Hubdoc pulls recurring wholesaler bills in with their VAT itemised.

For the entertaining block, the staff-party threshold, and food VAT in full, see the UK hospitality expenses guide. On Xero instead? See the UK hospitality chart of accounts for Xero, where the import sets the codes directly. For the codes, see the UK VAT codes in QuickBooks reference.