Eat Out to Help Out Scheme – Summary

The Eat Out to Help Out Scheme was recently announced by the government. The scheme has been designed to incentivise customers to eat out in restaurants and other eating establishments by giving them a discount that businesses can reclaim from the government. Some key points are listed below:

• The scheme is optional. If your business is eligible you can choose to register. If you do not want to use the scheme, you don’t need to do anything
• The scheme will run on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 3^rd August to 31^st August
•  If registered for the scheme, businesses can offer 50% discount, capped at £10 per head, on food and non-alcoholic drinks for immediate consumption on the premises
•  Alcoholic drinks, service charges, and any food or drink sold for consumption off the business premises, or sold as part of a private party, or function occurring within the   premises, do not qualify for the discount
• If you opt into the scheme the full discount amount must be passed onto the customer
• For each day the scheme is in operation a business must keep records of the number of people who have used the scheme, the total value of transactions, and the total amount of discounts given
• For VAT registered businesses VAT must be accounted for on the full sale price to the customer at the point of sale, before the discount is applied
• To be eligible to register for the scheme you must have submitted an application to operate as a food business to the relevant local authority on or before 7^th July 2020
• Only business premises that register successfully for the scheme will be able to submit claims for the discounts. To register for the scheme please follow this link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-your-establishment-for-the-eat-out-to-help-out-scheme
• You will need to make claims via the scheme to recover the discounts from HMRC. These can be made weekly. The service through which claims can be made will be available on 7^th August. Please note that we cannot make these claims on behalf of any clients who register for the scheme
• The service to claim for the discounts will close on 30^th September

More information about this scheme can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-more-information-about-the-eat-out-to-help-out-scheme/get-more-information-about-the-eat-out-to-help-out-scheme#offering-the-discount, which includes some examples of how the scheme will work.

If you register for the scheme it is important to ensure that you fully understand what you can claim discounts for, and on what dates. If you offer discounts on non-qualifying food and drink, or on dates that do not qualify you would not be able to claim these monies back from the government.

Please feel free to share this information as widely as possible and encourage people, who might benefit from these updates, to register at www.asquithand.co.uk for future updates.

This information is provided free of charge and in good faith, without acceptance of any future liability arising from any action or in-action by any recipient or reader.

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