To get to know new business partners better or to welcome new customers, a business lunch is often the right occasion. Whether it's a long-planned business lunch in a fancy restaurant or a last-minute lunch in the bistro next door - such occasions can strengthen business relationships in the long term.

After the meal is before the payment and thus before the receipt. Self-employed persons and entrepreneurs like to receive the entertainment receipt after payment in order to be able to deduct the business meal from their taxes. This hospitality receipt is still printed out today and is longer than the conventional receipt due to important information. But with anybill, the entertainment receipt can now also be issued digitally. We explain how this works and when you actually need a hospitality receipt.

When do you need a hospitality receipt?

In order to be able to deduct the costs of a business lunch for tax purposes, a hospitality receipt must be filled out correctly. A distinction must be made between business and business entertainment expenses. Business entertainment costs include the entertainment of business partners and are 70% tax deductible. If only employees are entertained without external partners, this corresponds to the business entertainment costs, which can be deducted at 100%. However, a simple receipt is not sufficient to claim the restaurant bill for tax purposes, so a hospitality voucher must be issued, completed and signed.

Next Level: The digital hospitality receipt

Filling out the hospitality receipt is often not that easy: Sometimes a template can be found directly on the back of the receipt, sometimes it has to be requested from the restaurant staff. The digital meal receipt from anybill makes this process easier: it can be filled out with the anybill receipt app or completely without the app and directly after receipt. Restaurant employees simply select in the POS system that they would like to issue a hospitality receipt. As a customer, they scan the QR code on the customer display as usual and the digital meal receipt opens on their smartphone. This saves both waiters and guests having to fill out the receipt manually. The only requirement is that the restaurant has embedded anybill's technology in its existing POS system.

How to fill out a receipt - this is how it works!

Whether digital or on thermal paper, the hospitality receipt must be filled out correctly. In the digital option with the hospitality receipt from anybill, all fields are displayed one after the other, which means that you will never forget a field. It is particularly practical that the name and address of the restaurant, the date and time, as well as all information about food and drinks and the costs incurred are already stored in the receipt. In the end, all you have to do is fill it in yourself:

• Information about the invoice recipient
• Name of the host(s) and the persons served
• Occasion of the hospitality
• signature
   

If no digital receipt and therefore no digital hospitality voucher is offered yet, you have to fill in the same points as in the digital hospitality voucher. You should pay particular attention to ensuring that your hospitality receipt is complete:

• Address and name of the restaurant 
• Date on which the meal took place
• Details of all meals and drinks including their prices
• tip