Most cafés and restaurants run two VAT rates simultaneously — standard for in-house consumption, reduced for takeaway food. nouz handles this with per-product overrides: set each product's rate once and it just works at every close-out.
01 What is the two-rate rule?
In most European countries, hospitality runs two VAT bands: the standard rate (20% Austria, 19% Germany) for drinks consumed in-house, and a reduced rate (10% Austria, 7% Germany) for takeaway food. Mixed cafés need both. In nouz, the standard rate is your business default, set once on your profile, and the reduced rate is applied per-product to whichever items qualify. The formatter and P&L math handle the mix with no extra configuration.
The standard rate is your business default (set once on your profile). The reduced rate gets applied per-product to whichever items qualify. nouz's formatter and P&L math handle the mix without any extra configuration.
02 Can you show a two-rate example?
Take a Vienna café with a small food menu. The same drink can exist as two products — a cappuccino "in" at 20% VAT and a cappuccino "take" at 10% — alongside a takeaway sandwich at 10%. When the customer asks "in or out", staff pick the right product on the entry, so the VAT is correct by construction. At month-end, the P&L tax line sums the tax computed per entry, even though the rates vary. The table below lays it out.
Same drink, two products — one in-house, one takeaway — each with its own tax rate.
When the customer asks "in or out", the till staff pick the right product on the entry. The VAT is right by construction. At month-end, the P&L tax line shows the sum of tax computed correctly per entry — even though the rates vary.
03 How do manual entries handle multiple rates?
Manual entries (no product reference) always use the default rate from your profile. So if a single day mixes rates and you're entering manually, you have three options: split the day into two manual entries, one at each rate; live with a small averaged-rate inaccuracy; or move that day to product-based entries. For most owners with a meaningful split between standard and reduced revenue, setting up products for the reduced-rate items is the cleanest answer.
For most owners with a meaningful split between standard and reduced revenue, option (c) is the right answer — set up products for the reduced-rate items so the math is automatic.
04 What if I have more than two tax rates?
nouz handles three or more rates the same way it handles two. Some businesses carry standard VAT on most items, reduced VAT on takeaway food, and zero VAT on certain books or exports. Because each product's tax rate is simply a field on the product, there's no limit on how many distinct rates you use across your catalogue — set each product's rate once and the per-entry math stays correct at every close-out.
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