How much does a restaurant accountant cost in the UK? An honest pricing guide.

UK restaurant accountant fees typically range from £50 to £2,000+ per month depending on business size and complexity. A sole trader cafe without employees or VAT registration usually pays £50 to £150/month for basic compliance. A single-site VAT-registered restaurant with staff sits in the £200 to £500/month range. Full-service plans including tronc administration and proactive tax planning typically run £500 to £800/month. Multi-site operations pay £800 to £2,000+. LOYALS offers fixed-fee plans starting from £150/month plus VAT that include WhatsApp support and Mon to Sat availability.

Basic packages (£50 to £150/month) typically cover annual accounts and a tax return. Standard packages (£200 to £500/month) add quarterly VAT returns, payroll and management accounts. Premium packages (£500 to £800+/month) include tronc scheme management, delivery platform reconciliation, proactive tax planning and extended availability. Always check whether HMRC correspondence, ad-hoc advice calls and year-end work are included or charged separately. The biggest source of bill shock is when a low-headline fee turns into a high effective fee through extras.

Yes. Common hidden charges include per-call fees (£30 to £75 each time you ring), separate fees for HMRC correspondence and enquiry letters, year-end accounts as a chargeable extra on top of the monthly fee, payroll as a bolt-on at £5 to £15 per employee per month, and ad-hoc advice surcharges of £100+ for what feel like quick questions. These extras can add 30% to 50% to a quoted monthly fee. Fixed-fee arrangements where the monthly price is genuinely all-inclusive eliminate these surprises.

For most restaurants, yes. A specialist restaurant accountant typically identifies several thousand pounds per year in opportunities that generalist accountants miss: properly structured tronc schemes (saving 15% Employer NIC on tip distributions), capital allowance claims on kitchen equipment and fit-out, eat-in vs takeaway VAT split optimisation, delivery platform reconciliation that captures all commission VAT, and pre-trading expense claims for new operations. Across all opportunities combined, a specialist's fee is typically recovered several times over within the first 12 months. See our restaurant specialist page →

Standalone restaurant payroll typically costs £5 to £15 per employee per month, or £50 to £200/month as an add-on to your accounting package. Some accountants include payroll in their standard package while others charge separately. Restaurant payroll is materially more complex than most industries due to tips and tronc, variable hours across multiple roles, split shifts and different pay rates for weekends or holidays. Make sure your accountant genuinely understands hospitality payroll and the post-April-2025 Employer NIC at 15% above £5,000 secondary threshold.

If your restaurant turnover exceeds £90,000 (the VAT registration threshold since 1 April 2024), you must register for VAT. Restaurant VAT is particularly complex because you deal with different VAT rates: hot takeaway food (standard rated), cold takeaway food (often zero-rated), eat-in food (standard rated), alcohol (standard rated) and service charges (treatment depends on the mechanism). Choosing between flat rate, standard and cash accounting can save or cost thousands per year. Specialist guidance pays for itself.

Yes. You can switch accountants at any time. Your previous accountant is required by professional ethics to provide a professional clearance letter and hand over your records. The cleanest time to switch is at your financial year end, but mid-year transfers are perfectly normal. A good new accountant will handle the entire transition for you, including contacting your previous firm, requesting clearance, transferring digital records and bringing accounting software access across without you having to manage the back-and-forth.

Online-only providers offer restaurant bookkeeping from as little as £25/month, but these typically cover only basic data entry with no proactive advice, no tax planning, no human support and no industry-specific knowledge. For most restaurant operators this false economy costs more in missed savings than the fee difference. A mid-range specialist at £150 to £300/month who actively saves you money on Employer NIC through tronc, on Corporation Tax through capital allowances, and on penalty avoidance through proper VAT and MTD compliance will almost always deliver better value than the cheapest option.

The savings depend entirely on your specific situation, but a specialist hospitality accountant typically identifies opportunities across four main areas. Tronc Scheme NIC: a properly structured tronc saves 15% Employer NIC on every pound of tips distributed (£5,000 to £15,000/year for restaurants distributing £33K to £100K in annual tips). Capital allowances on kitchen equipment and fit-out routinely add £2,000 to £10,000 in unclaimed deductions for operators who have done refurbishments. VAT scheme optimisation between flat rate and standard typically delivers £1,000 to £5,000/year. Penalty avoidance through proper MTD and VAT compliance prevents £1,000 to £5,000+ in HMRC penalties and interest. Across all four combined, the typical range is £9,000 to £35,000+ per year, which is several times the cost of a specialist accountant.