Caterers: VAT on services, rented equipment and margins 2026

Quick answer. A catering job does not carry a single VAT rate. Catering served or delivered with service is taxed at 10% (French Tax Code art. 279 m), take-away products for deferred consumption at 5.5% (art. 278-0 bis), alcoholic drinks and equipment rental at 20%. A composite invoice must be split line by line.

A catering quote adds up different tax realities: a served buffet, cold delivered platters, champagne, rented tables and linen. Applying a single rate to the whole is the most common error we see in the sector, and the one the tax authority corrects most easily. A poorly split invoice weakens margin and exposes the business to a VAT reassessment.

This article details the 2026 rate split, the treatment of equipment rental and margin tracking per event. It complements our accounting support dedicated to caterers, focused here on VAT and margin operations.

The French Tax Code states the principle: the rate follows the nature of the operation, not the trade. A single caterer can invoice three rates on one order.

Catering, meaning the supply of prepared food for immediate consumption, is taxed at 10% under article 279 m of the Tax Code. A hot meal installed or served on site falls into this category. Conversely, cold, packaged food products meant for later consumption by the client fall under the 5.5% rate of article 278-0 bis.

The boundary between 5.5% and 10% rests on whether consumption is immediate or deferred. That criterion, not the label of the service, is what the tax authority examines.

The specific case of alcoholic drinks#

Alcoholic drinks are expressly excluded from the reduced rate. They are taxed at the standard 20% rate, whether served on site or sold to take away. A served dinner can therefore combine 10% on the food and 20% on wine and champagne. This distinction must appear on the invoice.

Our reading: the 5.5% and 10% rates are stable, but their application to a concrete case depends on the exact delivery and consumption arrangements. We recommend cross-checking each recurring formula against the official BOFiP doctrine before locking an internal price grid.

Here is the method we apply on catering files to secure each invoice.

1. Classify the nature of each service. On the quote, separate served catering, take-away products for deferred consumption, immediate-consumption products, alcoholic drinks and equipment rental.
2. Apply the matching rate. Use 10% for catering and immediate-consumption products, 5.5% for products for deferred consumption, 20% for alcohol.
3. Handle equipment rental at 20%. Isolate furniture, tableware, tents and staff supplied without food at the standard rate.
4. Split the composite invoice. For a job mixing several natures, detail each component at its own rate.
5. Track food cost per event. Allocate consumed purchases to each job to compute gross margin.
6. Record deposits and balance. Book the deposit with its VAT, then the balance on delivery.
7. Manage margin by formula. Compare the gross margin of each recurring formula and adjust prices.

This logic of VAT splitting between services and equipment appears in other trades that combine service and the supply of goods.

The rental of furniture, tableware, tents, fountains or cooking equipment is a non-food service. It is taxed at the standard 20% rate. The same applies to waiters or cooks supplied without any food.

The underestimated risk: bundling rental into a global package invoiced at 10% for the sake of simplicity. This turns a portion taxable at 20% into a base declared at 10%. During an audit, the equipment fraction is reclassified and the reassessment covers the rate difference, plus late interest. A clearly isolated rental line neutralises this risk.

A full catering job is a complex operation: food, service, alcohol and equipment. The principle for complex operations requires splitting each component at its own rate when the elements are separable and invoiced distinctly.

What the tax authority looks at: the consistency between the quote, the invoice and the reality of the service. Without a justified split, the audit service may apply the highest rate to the whole invoice. A catering-dominant job may then be reassessed at 20% instead of 10% on its food portion.

Recently, the owner of a catering SME approached us after receiving a proposed adjustment: the "all-inclusive cocktail package" invoices mixed food at 10%, champagne at 20% and standing-table rental at 20%, all declared at 10%. Reconstructing the bases by nature allowed us to quantify the exact exposure and set up correct invoicing going forward.

Catering often runs on deposits: part of the price is collected at the order, the balance on delivery. VAT on a service deposit is in principle due on collection. The deposit must therefore be invoiced with the VAT matching the nature of the ordered services.

When an event straddles the year-end date, the revenue must be attached to the period of performance. A deposit collected in December for a January wedding is deferred income, recorded in account 487 of the French chart of accounts. This logic of accounting treatment of prepaid deposits is key to avoid artificially inflating one year's turnover.

A caterer's margin is not read in the annual aggregate margin. It is built job by job, because food cost, staff cost and rental vary widely from one formula to another.

The gross margin of an event is calculated simply: net sales minus food cost consumed. By isolating purchases per event, you identify the under-margined formulas that the average hides. This discipline of managing margin under multiple-rate constraints is shared by sectors where the selling price is partly capped.

An invoicing and analytical tracking tool helps maintain this granularity. We frequently set up this kind of tracking to manage multi-rate invoicing in Pennylane, with purchases allocated by event.

The electronic invoicing reform makes the receipt of electronic invoices mandatory for all businesses from 1 September 2026, with issuance phased over a calendar. A caterer receiving supplier invoices must be able to process them by that date. The multi-rate split must appear cleanly in the structured format of issued invoices.

Our firm, registered with the Order of Chartered Accountants of Île-de-France, supports this transition within the accounting engagement. An internal price grid by nature of service, aligned with the rates above, remains the best operational safeguard.

To go further, our securing of your VAT and bookkeeping and accounts review cover these points within a compilation engagement.