GST on restaurant and takeaway food in Australia

In Australia, food eaten at your venue is taxable, and so is hot food sold to take away. Cold "basic" food sold to take away, such as plain bread, fresh fruit, bottled still water or 100% juice, is usually GST-free. Prepared items such as sandwiches, pies, cakes, sushi and salads like Caesar or Greek are taxable even when they're cold. GST is 10%, so the GST inside a GST-inclusive price is 1/11 of that price. Menuthere names the tax line GST for Australian stores, lets each dish carry its own rate (10% or 0%) and prints one line per rate on the bill.

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The two rules that make food taxable

The ATO starts from the position that most food for people to eat is GST-free, then lists exceptions. For a café, restaurant or takeaway, two exceptions do most of the work:

1. Food for consumption on the premises it's supplied from. "Premises" includes your dining room, your footpath tables, a food court where tables are provided, and venues with clear boundaries such as sports grounds, cinemas and zoos. Public thoroughfares don't count unless an area is set aside for your outlet.
2. Hot food for consumption away from the premises. The ATO defines hot food as food heated above the surrounding air temperature. A hot and a cold part sold as one item, like a sausage in bread, is taxable as a whole. Food that is only still warm because it was just baked, such as a fresh loaf, stays GST-free.

On top of that, some foods are taxable wherever they're eaten, because the GST Act lists them by type: prepared meals, sandwiches and similar, pies and pastries, cakes and slices, confectionery, ice cream, chips and crisps, soft drinks and platters.

Dine-in or takeaway: how the ATO says to tell them apart

If you sell the same item to people who stay and people who leave, the ATO's determination GSTD 2000/5 says your business needs a way to tell the two apart. It accepts any of these:

• Separate ordering or serving. Table service or a table number for dine-in, counter pick-up for takeaway.
• Different packaging. Water or juice in a glass for the table, sealed bottle or disposable cup to go.
• Different menus or product lines for each.

If you can't tell them apart, a GST-free item stays GST-free only when it's handed over in its original or takeaway form (an unopened bottle of water, a whole apple) and not served at a table. In the ATO's food-court example, a snack bar that asks every customer "eat in or take away?" must charge GST on the bottled water and whole fruit eaten in, and not on the same items taken away.

An online ordering page already separates them: every order is marked as takeaway, delivery or dine-in at checkout.

Common café and takeaway items

Status for food sold to take away (anything eaten at your tables is taxable). Taken from the ATO's detailed food list, as of October 2026.

Marketing matters: the ATO says the way you name, label, package and display an item can change its classification. Check unusual items in the ATO's searchable food list.

Worked example: one takeaway order, two answers

A customer at a Brisbane café orders on your ordering page. All prices include GST (prices as of October 2026).

How the GST figures are worked out: the taxable takeaway items add up to A$17.50, and A$17.50 ÷ 11 = A$1.59. If the customer sits down with the water and juice, the taxable part is A$29.00, and A$29.00 ÷ 11 = A$2.64. The loaf is GST-free either way because it leaves the café. The customer pays A$38.00 in both cases: with GST-inclusive prices, only your GST share changes.

The ATO's rounding rule for a bill with several taxable items lets you total first and then round to the nearest cent (half a cent rounds up), which is what the table does.

Prices on the menu must include GST

The ACCC requires a single total price that includes GST and any fee that applies every day. Prices shown only to other businesses may leave GST out, but a menu for the public can't. So in practice:

• Set menu prices that already include GST.
• Don't add GST on top at checkout for public customers.
• Card surcharges on Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos cards have been banned since 1 October 2026, so build card costs into your prices too. The card-surcharge menu price calculator works out the new prices.

Tax invoices and registration

• Registration. You must register for GST when your GST turnover reaches A$75,000, or you expect it to in your first year. You have 21 days. Below that, registering is optional, and once registered you generally stay registered for at least 12 months.
• Tax invoices. If a customer asks for one, you must give it within 28 days, except for sales of A$82.50 or less including GST. For sales under A$1,000 it needs seven details, including your ABN and which items are taxable. If GST is exactly 1/11 of the total, the words "Total price includes GST" can replace a GST amount, but a mixed bill must show which lines are taxable.
• Mixed GST-free and taxable stock. The ATO offers simplified accounting methods for food retailers that sell both kinds. They help with your BAS, not with setting prices.

This page is general information as of October 2026, not tax advice. Check items you're unsure about with the ATO or your accountant.

How Menuthere handles GST in Australia

Tax works on every plan, including Free:

1. Switch it on. Settings → Payments & tax → Tax Settings → turn on Charge tax on orders, enter Tax percentage 10 and your ABN as the Tax number. For an Australian store the line is named GST automatically.
2. Keep prices GST-inclusive. Switch on Tax Inclusive ("Price already includes GST/VAT") on each dish. The price isn't increased, and checkout shows a GST (included) row for information. See tax-inclusive prices.
3. Mark GST-free dishes. In the dish editor switch on Own tax rate and enter 0 for bottled water, 100% juice, bread loaves and similar. Dishes without their own rate use the store's 10%.
4. Read the bill. When an order mixes rates, the bill shows one line per rate, for example GST 10% and GST 0%. Past orders keep the rate they were charged at, even if you edit a dish later.

Two things to know:

• A dish's own rate applies to every order type. Menuthere doesn't switch a dish from 0% to 10% when it's ordered for a table. If you sell bottled water both at the table and to take away, you can add a separate item such as "Bottled water (dine-in)" at 10%, or ask your accountant how to handle it.
• One tax name per store. Every tax line on a bill is called GST (or the word you type in Tax name on bills).

Full steps: Tax: GST and VAT. To take card payments online, connect your own Stripe account on Lite (US$17 a month) through connect Stripe. Menuthere takes 0% commission. Delivery apps charge GST on their commission too: see Uber Eats vs DoorDash for Australian restaurants. Allergen rules for the same menu are in allergen labelling for restaurants. For a full setup, see the online ordering system for Australia or the QR code menu for Australia, and work out margins with the menu price calculator.

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