VAT & bookkeeping
Several VAT rates on one receipt: how to split the expense
Key takeaways
- A restaurant receipt commonly mixes 10% (food) and 20% (alcohol).
- Splitting by rate is mandatory: an average rate is a filing error.
- The VAT summary at the foot of the receipt already holds the exact split.
- Always check that net bases plus VAT equal the gross total.
A business lunch with a glass of wine and one receipt suddenly carries two VAT rates. Here is how to split the expense correctly, with a worked example, the mistakes that cost the most, and how automatic extraction handles the split for you.
What you will learn
- Which rate applies to what in catering and mixed retail.
- How to split a multi-rate receipt, with a full worked example.
- The data-entry mistakes that come up most often.
- How automatic extraction creates one line per rate.
Why a single receipt carries several rates
French VAT is not one rate but a grid: 20% standard, 10% for catering and certain services, 5.5% for basic food products, 2.1% for a few special cases. A merchant selling goods from different categories therefore applies several rates within a single sale.
The most common case in expense reports is the restaurant: the dish and the coffee sit at 10%, the glass of wine or beer at 20%. But the situation repeats everywhere: a service station selling fuel and a sandwich, a supermarket mixing office supplies and groceries, a caterer combining lunch trays and bottles.
Which rate applies to what
- 20% — standard rate: alcoholic drinks, office supplies, fuel, equipment, ordinary services.
- 10% — reduced rate: eat-in catering, takeaway food for immediate consumption, accommodation, some transport.
- 5.5% — reduced rate: unprocessed food intended to be kept, sealed non-alcoholic drinks, books.
- 2.1% — special rate: reimbursable medicines and press publications, rarely seen in business expenses.
The line between 10% and 5.5% depends not on the product but on its destination: a bottle of water drunk on site follows catering, the same sealed bottle taken away follows groceries.
Worked example: a business lunch at EUR 68.40
Take a standard business lunch: two set menus at EUR 24, two coffees at EUR 2.20 and two glasses of wine at EUR 8. The gross total is EUR 68.40. The foot of the receipt shows the breakdown below, and that is what counts.
What the receipt summary says
The check is immediate: 47.45 + 4.75 + 13.50 + 2.70 = 68.40. If that control fails, a line has been misread or a service charge was added afterwards.
- VAT 10%: net base EUR 47.45 — VAT EUR 4.75 — total EUR 52.20 (dishes and coffees).
- VAT 20%: net base EUR 13.50 — VAT EUR 2.70 — total EUR 16.20 (the two glasses of wine).
- Gross total: EUR 68.40 — total deductible VAT: EUR 7.45.
The matching bookkeeping entry
In the accounts, the expense becomes two charge lines and two deductible-VAT lines for a single payment. You keep one supporting document — the receipt — but it feeds two separate VAT bases in the return.
- 'Meals' charge EUR 47.45 net with deductible VAT EUR 4.75 at 10%.
- 'Meals' charge EUR 13.50 net with deductible VAT EUR 2.70 at 20%.
- Credit to the bank or cash account for EUR 68.40 gross.
The classic mistake: the average rate
When entering data quickly, the temptation is to apply one rate to the whole receipt. In our example, deducting 20% across the board would give EUR 11.40 of VAT instead of EUR 7.45: nearly EUR 4 wrongly reclaimed on a single lunch. Repeated twice a week, that exceeds EUR 400 a year, with late-payment interest on top.
The opposite error exists too: putting everything at 10% loses recoverable VAT and distorts the declared bases. Either way, the return stops matching the documents, which is exactly what an audit looks for.
An average rate does not exist in a VAT return: each box corresponds to one legal rate. A base attached to the wrong rate is a visible anomaly, even before the documents are examined.
Other splitting pitfalls
- Tips: outside the scope of VAT when freely given, they must never be folded into a net base.
- Global discounts: a reduction applied to the total must be spread proportionally across rates, not charged to one.
- Delivery charges: they follow the rate of the main goods delivered, which sometimes means two delivery lines at two rates.
- Receipts with no summary: with no printed breakdown by rate, the VAT is not recoverable — do not rebuild it yourself.
How ScanCompta splits the rates automatically
The foot of the receipt already holds the accounting truth, and that is exactly the zone the extraction targets first. ScanCompta identifies the summary block, reads each line, and rebuilds the rate / net base / VAT amount structure rather than a single total.
The result appears as a split table, one row per rate, with the consistency check already done. If the bases and VAT do not add up to the gross total read, the expense is marked 'to check' instead of being saved silently with a gap.
On export, each rate gets its own column in the CSV sent to the accountant, with the receipt image attached. Nobody has to reopen the paper to find the split again.
- Targeted reading of the VAT summary block, not just the total.
- One line per rate, with net base and VAT amount separated.
- Automatic check that bases + VAT equal the gross total, with an alert on any gap.
- Multi-rate CSV export ready to use by the accounting firm.
In short
A multi-rate receipt is not an exotic case, it is the everyday reality of business meals and mixed purchases. The rule is simple: never average, always take the printed summary, and check that bases and VAT land on the gross total. The rest is a tooling question: reading that block for you takes two seconds.
Questions & comments
A question about this guide? Ask below — I answer personally within one business day.
- J
Julien
August 12, 2026
If I lose a €9 toll receipt, can I still claim it with just a bank statement?
ScanComptaAuthorYes — for a small amount, a bank statement plus a signed statement is usually accepted. You cannot reclaim VAT without the original receipt though.
- S
Sonia
August 3, 2026
Do I need to keep the paper receipts after scanning them with your app?
ScanComptaAuthorNo. If the scan is a faithful and durable copy, the digital version is enough. We store everything for 10 years for you.
The stray-receipt challenge
Curious how the AI handles it? Take a photo of the receipt lying on your desk and test the extraction in 2 seconds, no account needed.
Try the scan live
No account needed. Nothing is stored.
No account needed. Nothing is stored.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a restaurant apply two VAT rates?
Eat-in catering and takeaway food consumed immediately fall under the reduced 10% rate, while alcoholic drinks fall under the standard 20% rate. A meal with a glass of wine therefore mechanically produces two separate VAT bases on the same receipt.
Can I record a multi-rate receipt using a single average rate?
No. A VAT return requires a split by rate: an average rate distorts both the taxable base of each line and the amount deducted. In an audit it is easy to spot, because it matches no legal rate.
Is VAT on alcohol recoverable?
Yes. VAT on alcoholic drinks consumed during a business meal is deductible in the same way as the meal, as long as the expense serves the business and the guests are identified. The exclusion rule targets expenses of a personal nature, not the type of drink.
How does ScanCompta split the rates automatically?
The extraction reads the VAT summary at the foot of the receipt, where each rate appears with its net base and VAT amount. ScanCompta creates one line per rate, checks that the bases plus VAT match the gross total, and flags the difference when the control fails.
Spending too much time on your expense receipts?
Try ScanCompta for free — 5 scans a month, no card required.