Key takeaways
- Decide the voucher type first. A $50 dining voucher, a “dinner for two” set menu voucher and a stored value top-up are treated differently for GST.
- IRAS calls a voucher with a dollar value that can be spent on anything you sell a Multi-Redemption Voucher (MRV). If you can track redemption, GST is generally accounted for when it is redeemed, not when it is sold.
- A voucher for a specific dish, set menu or buffet is a product voucher. IRAS says GST is accounted for when that voucher is sold.
- Money from voucher sales is not yet earned. Most accountants record it as a liability until the guest redeems it. Ask yours how to treat it.
- Put the terms where the buyer sees them before paying, give every voucher a unique code, and only let managers issue or cancel vouchers.
This guide is general information, not tax, accounting or legal advice. GST rules depend on how your vouchers are designed and whether you are GST-registered. Check the current IRAS guidance and speak to your accountant before you launch.
Why restaurants sell gift vouchers
Gift vouchers solve a few problems at once. You receive the cash before you cook the meal, which helps in slow months. The person who buys the voucher is often a regular, and the person who uses it is often a new guest who might not have found you otherwise. Vouchers also make easy corporate gifts and festive presents, and they tend to be redeemed with friends or family, so a $100 voucher can bring in a bigger table.
There is a catch. Every voucher you sell is a promise to serve food later. If you spend the cash, lose track of what is outstanding, or let staff issue vouchers without controls, you end up with unhappy guests, surprise tax bills or leakage. The rest of this guide is about avoiding those problems.
Types of restaurant vouchers
Most restaurant vouchers fall into one of five types. The type decides the GST treatment, the accounting and the fraud risk, so choose deliberately.
| Type | Example | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed-value dining voucher | $50 voucher usable on any food and drink | Birthdays, corporate gifts, festive gifting | Rules for partial use and change |
| Experience or set menu voucher | “Omakase for two”, “Sunday brunch buffet for one” | Premium gifting, anniversaries | Menu and price changes before redemption |
| Stored value or e-wallet | Top up $200 and spend it over several visits | Regulars, office lunches | Balances must be visible to the guest |
| Discount voucher (sold) | Pay $5 for a voucher giving 20% off a meal | Deal campaigns | Margin erosion; GST on both sale and meal |
| Free promotional voucher | Complimentary dessert voucher for a complaint or a birthday | Service recovery, loyalty | Staff issuing them without approval |
ChaChaCha’s CRM and loyalty features include vouchers, e-wallet or stored value, points and stamps, and birthday rewards. Ask us to confirm in a demo how each voucher type above would be set up for your menu, including partial redemption and expiry.
How GST applies to restaurant vouchers
If you are not GST-registered, you do not charge GST on vouchers or meals. If you are, or expect to cross the threshold, read our guide to GST registration for F&B businesses first. For registered businesses, IRAS’s vouchers page (last updated 9 January 2026) says the treatment “depends on whether it is a Multi-Redemption Voucher (MRV) or a non Multi-Redemption Voucher (non-MRV)”.
Multi-Redemption Vouchers (dollar-value vouchers and stored value)
IRAS says a voucher is an MRV if it meets all of these conditions: it is sold for a consideration, it gives a right to goods and services up to the value stated on or recorded in the voucher, it must be presented or used to get those goods and services, and it does not refer to the value or description of any particular goods or services. IRAS lists a shopping voucher for a particular store and a stored value card as examples. A $50 dining voucher or a restaurant e-wallet top-up will usually fit this description.
Where you issue the voucher and also serve the food, IRAS says:
- On sale: if you can track redemption and sell the voucher at or below its specified value, no GST is accounted for at sale. If you sell above the specified value, GST is due only on the excess. If you cannot track redemption, you account for GST on what you received at the point of sale.
- On redemption: you account for GST on the specified value of the voucher (if not already accounted for at sale) and on any extra amount the guest pays on top.
- On expiry: you account for GST at 9/109 of the unredeemed amount, unless GST was already accounted for when the voucher was sold.
Bonus top-ups are common in restaurants, for example “pay $90, get $100 of credit”. Our guide to stored value and e-wallet top-ups covers how those balances work. The IRAS e-Tax Guide GST: Treatment of Vouchers (sixth edition, published 30 January 2026) works through this in its Annex 2: GST on redemption is based on the $100 specified value, but if you can track the consideration actually received, you may account for GST on the $90. This is exactly where good POS records matter.
Product vouchers (set menus, buffets, specific dishes)
A voucher for a specific item is a non-MRV. The e-Tax Guide’s own examples of product vouchers include “voucher for a buffet meal at a restaurant”. IRAS says the payment is treated as a non-refundable prepayment, so you account for GST when the voucher is sold, and no GST is chargeable when it is later redeemed.
Discount and free vouchers
If you sell a discount voucher, IRAS says you charge GST on the price of the voucher, and when it is used, GST is chargeable on the discounted price of the meal. Vouchers given away free attract no GST when given. When a free voucher is used and the guest pays the balance, you account for GST on what the guest pays. IRAS also sets out rules for free vouchers redeemed with no payment at all; ask your accountant how these apply to complimentary meals.
What about the dates?
The current MRV rules are not new. The e-Tax Guide refers to 1 January 2010 as the dividing line: a business that was accounting for GST at the point of MRV sale before then could opt to continue doing so. Later editions (2020, 2023, 2024 and 2026) include updates such as the GST rate rising to 9% from 1 January 2024. If an adviser mentions a specific date, ask them to point to the paragraph.
Accounting: treat voucher cash as a liability
When a guest buys a $100 voucher, you have the cash but you have not yet served anything. In most accounting setups this money sits in the balance sheet as a liability (often called deferred revenue or unearned income) and moves to sales only when the voucher is redeemed. Prepaid coffee passes and meal plans raise the same question; our restaurant subscription guide explains tracking redemptions. Unredeemed amounts on expired vouchers are then recognised as income at some point, and IRAS’s e-Tax Guide ties GST on expiry to the point that the unredeemed amount is recognised as income.
In practice this means:
- Do not count voucher sales as revenue in your daily sales figures. Keep them as a separate line so your KPIs and food cost percentage are not distorted.
- Keep a running total of outstanding voucher value. That figure is money you owe in meals, and it should shape your cash flow planning.
- Agree with your accountant when expired balances are released to income, and make sure GST follows the same timing.
ChaChaCha integrates with Xero. Ask us to confirm how voucher sales and redemptions post to your Xero accounts before you go live, and have your accountant check the mapping.
Expiry dates and fair terms
Expiry dates are normal, but they must be clear. CCCS’s Guidelines on Price Transparency apply to all suppliers and say time-limited offers must state the period clearly and accurately, and “free” claims must not be false or misleading. CASE’s Fair Trading & You booklet lists “using small prints to conceal a material fact” among the unfair practices under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act. So put the expiry date, blackout dates and any minimum spend on the voucher itself, not only on a web page the guest never sees.
Prepayments are also a live consumer issue. CASE’s February 2026 media release on the beauty industry reported that about two in five complaints in 2025 involved prepayment losses from sudden business closures. CASE’s CaseTrust prepayment protection page lists “vouchers” as a type of prepayment. Restaurants are not among the CaseTrust schemes that require prepayment protection, but the lesson carries over: do not sell vouchers you are not confident you can honour, and if you are planning to close or rebrand, stop selling vouchers well before and tell holders how to use their balances.
Sensible terms for most restaurants:
- A validity period long enough for the gift to be used, printed on the voucher.
- A clear statement of whether the voucher can be used in several visits, whether change is given and whether it can be combined with other promotions.
- For set menu vouchers, what happens if the menu changes, for example a substitute of equal value.
- Whether it applies at all outlets, and to dine-in, takeaway or delivery.
Preventing voucher fraud and leakage
Vouchers are cash substitutes, so they attract the same abuse as cash. Our guide to restaurant cash control covers the wider picture. For vouchers specifically:
- Unique codes. Every voucher should carry a unique code or QR code that is checked in the system at redemption. Printed vouchers with no code can be photocopied.
- Single use or tracked balance. A fixed-value voucher is marked used once redeemed. A stored value balance is reduced by each bill and visible on the receipt.
- Staff permissions. Only managers should be able to issue complimentary vouchers, extend expiry dates or cancel a voucher. ChaChaCha supports staff permissions, so each person logs in as themselves and sensitive actions can be limited to specific roles.
- Payment matched to issue. A sold voucher should be created in the same transaction as the payment for it, so every voucher value traces to money received.
- Lost vouchers. Decide your policy in advance. If a guest reports a voucher lost and you can identify it, cancel the code in the system before you reissue.
- Regular review. Check complimentary vouchers issued by staff member each week, and look for vouchers redeemed soon after being created.
Setting up and tracking vouchers in your POS
Paper voucher books and spreadsheets break down once you sell more than a handful. A POS that records vouchers gives you the numbers IRAS and your accountant will ask about: what was sold, for how much, what has been redeemed and what has expired. That tracking matters for GST, because IRAS’s treatment of MRVs depends on whether you can track redemption.
What to set up before launch:
- Voucher types, values and validity periods.
- Which staff roles can sell, issue free, extend and cancel vouchers.
- How voucher redemption appears on the receipt, including any remaining balance.
- A regular report of vouchers sold, redeemed, outstanding and expired, broken down by outlet.
- How the figures flow into your accounting.
ChaChaCha’s reports are where you review this, alongside payments such as PayNow, NETS and cards. Ask us to confirm which voucher report fields are available as standard and how redemption is shown across outlets.
Promoting your gift vouchers
Vouchers sell best around gifting occasions. Plan around the calendar in our festive season guide: Chinese New Year, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Mid-Autumn, Christmas and year-end corporate gifting. Other ideas:
- Display a voucher card at the cashier and mention it on the bill folder in December.
- Send your loyalty members a WhatsApp message before Mother’s Day. ChaChaCha includes WhatsApp marketing; check your PDPA consent first.
- Offer corporate packs of vouchers to nearby offices, with a clear invoice.
- Pair a birthday reward with an option to buy a voucher for a friend. See our loyalty programme ideas.
If you give vouchers away as prizes in a lucky draw, check the GRA’s trade promotion FAQ first. Our restaurant promotion ideas post covers the CCCS and GRA points in more detail, and our CRM and loyalty system comparison covers software options.
Example gift voucher terms and conditions
Example only. This template is a starting point for discussion with your lawyer and accountant. It is not legal advice and may not suit your business. Replace the bracketed items and remove anything that does not apply.
- This voucher is valid for [12 months] from the date of purchase. The expiry date is printed on the voucher. Expired vouchers will not be accepted or refunded.
- This voucher may be used at [outlet names] for [dine-in only / dine-in and takeaway].
- [Fixed-value voucher] The voucher value may be used over [one visit / several visits]. Any unused balance [remains on the voucher until expiry / is forfeited]. No change will be given in cash.
- [Set menu voucher] This voucher entitles the holder to [menu name] for [number] persons. If a dish is unavailable, we will offer a substitute of equal or greater value.
- This voucher cannot be exchanged for cash, [cannot be combined with other promotions or discounts], and [is / is not] transferable.
- [Reservations are required / not required.] [Blackout dates: list dates, for example Christmas Eve.]
- The voucher code must be presented at payment. Each code can only be redeemed [once / up to its balance].
- Lost or stolen vouchers [will not be replaced / may be replaced on proof of purchase if the voucher has not been used].
- Prices on the menu include GST and service charge as stated on the menu.
- [Business name] reserves the right to amend these terms, but not in a way that reduces the value of vouchers already sold.
Launch checklist
| Step | Owner | Done |
|---|---|---|
| Choose voucher types and values | Owner | ☐ |
| Confirm GST treatment with accountant (MRV or product voucher) | Owner, accountant | ☐ |
| Agree liability and expiry accounting | Accountant | ☐ |
| Write terms and print them on the voucher | Owner, lawyer | ☐ |
| Set up voucher codes, roles and permissions in the POS | Manager, POS vendor | ☐ |
| Train staff on selling and redeeming | Manager | ☐ |
| Schedule a monthly outstanding-voucher review | Manager | ☐ |
If you’d like to see vouchers, stored value and loyalty on your own menu, book a demo with us. ChaChaCha pricing is quote-based.
