How to claim money back through Eat Out to Help Out scheme

The government has released guidance on how to claim money back through the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme.

Who can claim

If you have registered your establishment for the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme and offered scheme discounts to diners on Mondays to Wednesdays between 3 and 31 August, you can:

• claim back the discount given on food and non-alcoholic drinks
• submit weekly claims for August until 30 September

You must make the claim yourself, you cannot ask an agent to do it for you.

You must enter accurate details for all the establishments you’re claiming for before submitting your claim. If you need to amend information later your payment may be delayed.

When you can claim

You can make a claim after 7 days from the date of your registration. The earliest you can make a claim is 7 August. You can only claim for scheme discounts you offered on or after the date you registered.

What you’ll need

You’ll need the records you’ve kept for each day you’ve used the scheme, including the:

• total number of diners (covers) who have used the scheme, including children
• the total amount of discount you’ve given
• the period you’re claiming for

If you’re making a claim for more than one establishment, you will need to have the:

• records for each establishment
• the overall total value of the claim for all establishments ready before you claim

How to claim money back through Eat out to Help Out Scheme

You can make up to 5 claims before 30 September. You cannot claim after that.

When you sign into the service you must choose the periods that you claiming for, from:

• 3 to 5 August
• 10 to 12 August
• 17 to 19 August
• 24 to 26 August
• 31 August

You’ll also need to enter the total number of covers and claim value for each establishment that has offered the scheme discount.

You can read examples on how to work out the total amount of discounts.

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Records you must keep

You can keep records relating to the scheme in a way that suits your business.

To show the link between the number of diners who got the discount and the total value of scheme discount being claimed for in each claim period, for each day you must have a record of the:

• total number of diners who have used the scheme discount in your establishment
• the total value of all eat in food and non-alcoholic drink sold where the scheme discounts were given
• the total value of scheme discounts you’ve given and claimed for

If you are using the scheme for more than one establishment, you must keep these records for each.

What happens next

Once you’ve claimed, you’ll get a claim reference number. HMRC will then check your claim is correct and pay the claim amount by BACs into the bank account you gave when you registered, within 5 working days.

Paying tax

You’ll still need to pay VAT based on the full amount of your customer’s bill before the scheme discount is applied. This amount needs to be reflected in the correct VAT return for the period the transaction took place.

If your point of sale system does not allow you to account for VAT accurately under this scheme, you can manually adjust your VAT account after the sale.

If you cannot include the adjustment in the period the transaction took place, you should estimate the VAT and you must account for any difference in your next VAT return.

The payment you receive will be treated as taxable income.

If you need to make a correction

We’ll update this guidance with instructions on how to amend a claim before 7 August.

If you need to correct any information given during registration or amend your registration, you’ll need to contact HMRC.

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