Accounting for Uber Eats, Deliveroo & Just Eat: commissions, VAT, reconciliation

A restaurant selling through Uber Eats, Deliveroo or Just Eat records as revenue the total price paid by the customer, at the applicable VAT rate, not the net transfer received from the platform. The platform commission is booked separately as an expense, then the net payout is reconciled in the bank, ideally every week.

Delivery platforms have changed restaurant economics — and complicated its accounting. Between gross revenue, 25–35% commissions, reverse-charge VAT, customer refunds and payout delays, a restaurant can easily report wrong revenue and lose sight of its true margin. Here is the method to account for and reconcile Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat in 2026.

The most common and costly mistake is to book the net transfer received from the platform as revenue. That is wrong. The restaurant sells to the end customer (the invoicing-mandate scheme used by Uber Eats, Deliveroo and most platforms), so it must record the full price paid by the customer as revenue, at the applicable VAT rate. The platform commission is, separately, an expense.

Booking the net amount means:

• understating revenue (and therefore distorting every ratio: food cost, margin, prime cost);
• understating output VAT (reassessment risk);
• losing the commission as a deductible expense, together with the related deductible VAT.

The rule: gross revenue credited, commission as an expense debited, net payout reconciled in the bank.

For a delivered order of €30 incl. VAT (food at 10%, no alcohol), with a platform commission of 30%, i.e. €9 excl. VAT plus VAT:

The "platform" third-party account (467) tracks, between the order and the payout, what the platform owes the restaurant, net of commissions and refunds.

On the sales side, delivery of prepared meals is treated as a sale for immediate consumption: 10% on food, 20% on alcoholic drinks ordered at the same time. (For the detail of the rates, see our restaurant VAT article.)

On the commission side, it is a supply of services at 20%. A major technical point: when the platform invoices from another EU member state, VAT is reverse-charged by the restaurant, which collects and deducts the VAT on the commission at the same time. The exact scheme depends on the terms and conditions and on the invoicing entity, so you need to read the commission invoices, not just the payout statements.

Platform statements contain far more than sales: customer refunds (cancelled order, missing item, dispute), adjustments, service fees, co-funded promotions. Each has its own treatment:

• customer refunds reduce revenue and the related output VAT;
• co-funded promotions (a discount partly borne by the platform) must be split correctly;
• ancillary fees (in-app advertising, equipment fees) are expenses distinct from the commission.

Without reconciliation, these items create gaps between theoretical revenue and bank payouts, gaps that, in delivery-led restaurants, commonly reach 3 to 5% of delivery revenue.

Best practice is a weekly reconciliation: for each platform, check that gross revenue − commissions − refunds = net amount received in the bank. Any gap is investigated immediately, while the data is available. This is what lets you file the right VAT and measure the real margin of the delivery channel. We build it into every delivery-led restaurant engagement.

Beyond accounting, delivery raises a management question. With a 25 to 35% commission, a dish with a 30% food cost leaves, after commission and packaging, a far thinner margin than in the dining room. Delivery is only worthwhile if:

• it absorbs fixed costs already committed (rent, staff on site) rather than generating additional variable costs;
• it brings incremental volume and does not cannibalise higher-margin dine-in sales;
• the delivery menu is designed for margin (dishes with a good ratio, controlled packaging).

That is exactly what a margin-by-channel view (dine-in / takeaway / delivery) reveals, which we build from platform data; see our article on restaurant profitability.

Not all platforms contract the same way, and the legal scheme changes the accounting. Under the invoicing mandate (most common — Uber Eats, Deliveroo), the restaurant sells to the end customer; the platform is an intermediary invoicing on the restaurant's behalf and taking a commission — the restaurant books gross customer revenue and the commission as an expense. Under buy-resell, the platform buys the dishes from the restaurant and resells them in its own name; the restaurant invoices only the platform, net, and never sees the final customer price — the commission is embedded in the gap between the price to the platform and the customer price.

The applicable scheme is in the signed terms, not in habit. Getting it wrong means getting revenue, the VAT base and margin wrong. We check each platform's contract terms before fixing the accounting setup.

Facing 25–35% commissions, many operators build a direct-order channel — click and collect or own-delivery via their own site or app. The benefit is twofold: the restaurant keeps the full customer price, with no platform commission, and crucially recovers the customer data platforms never share. Accounting-wise it is a direct sale: revenue collected via a payment provider (Stripe, PayPal) whose fees (around 1–2%) are far below a platform commission; VAT follows takeaway rules (10% food, 20% alcohol). The real issue is strategic, not accounting: a direct channel is built, not decreed — but as it scales it mechanically improves margin versus platforms. Tracking margin by channel (see our profitability article) measures this gain precisely.

A delivery-led restaurant booked only the platforms' net transfers as revenue. The result: revenue understated by about 28% (the commission amount), under-declared output VAT and an unreadable margin. Restating 12 months reinstated gross revenue, booked commissions as an expense with VAT, and revealed that the delivery channel was in fact barely profitable. The delivery menu was reviewed and some low-margin dishes removed. VAT compliance was restored through a correction, and margin steering finally became possible. The lesson is blunt: the net payout is never the revenue figure.

Platforms do not pay out in real time. Depending on the contract and options (weekly, daily or paid "instant pay"), there is a lag between the order collected from the customer and the transfer received. This has two consequences. On cash flow: the restaurant has produced and delivered but is still waiting for its payout; in fast delivery growth, this working-capital need widens and must be anticipated in the cash plan. On accounting: the account 467 "platform" captures, at any moment, the restaurant's receivable from the platform — gross revenue due, less commissions and refunds, pending payout. At year-end, the 467 balance must match delivered sales not yet paid out. A 467 that never clears signals a failing reconciliation or untreated gaps. Kept properly, it ties platform sales to bank receipts and secures both the VAT and the cash-flow picture.

A delivery-led restaurant often juggles several sources: the dine-in till, click and collect, and two or three platforms. The NF525 certified till must be able to record or integrate these flows; failing that, the operator centralises platform sales through a dedicated journal. The aim is that no sale escapes the system and that each channel stays identifiable. This centralisation underpins the reliability of declared revenue, the margin-by-channel calculation and the traceability required in an audit. The more channels there are, the more this integration discipline becomes a compliance topic in its own right, to frame with your restaurant accountant.

A simple routine keeps delivery accounting clean. Each week, per platform: download the payout statement and commission invoices; check that gross revenue − commissions − refunds equals the net bank transfer; confirm the VAT split (10% food, 20% alcohol) and the reverse charge on the commission; investigate any gap immediately while the data is available; and clear the 467 platform account against what remains owed. Ten minutes per platform per week prevents a year-end of unexplained gaps, a wrong VAT base and an unreadable delivery margin.

Three principles: book gross revenue (never net), treat the commission as an expense with the right VAT (often reverse-charged), and reconcile weekly. That is the condition for correct VAT and a readable delivery margin. For the full set-up, see our restaurant accounting support and our complete 2026 restaurant accounting guide.

Updated 14 April 2026. This article sets out general accounting schemes for delivery platforms; the exact VAT treatment depends on the terms and the invoicing entity. Sources: BOFiP, French Tax Code.