Restaurant Accounting — NYC
What We Handle
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Tip Reporting & Compliance — Proper allocation and reporting of tips under IRS rules, including the 8% threshold test, Form 8027 for large establishments, and tip credit calculations for minimum wage compliance.
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Food Cost Tracking — We track your cost of goods sold against revenue weekly, not just at year-end. If your food cost percentage is creeping above 30-32%, you’ll know about it before the quarter ends.
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NYC Sales Tax — Prepared food in NYC is taxable at 8.875%. The rules about what counts as “prepared” are less straightforward than you’d think, and getting this wrong draws audit attention fast.
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Commercial Rent Tax — If your restaurant is in Manhattan south of 96th Street and your annual rent exceeds $250,000, you owe the NYC Commercial Rent Tax. We calculate and file it so you don’t get surprised.
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Payroll Processing — Kitchen staff, servers, bussers, managers — each with different pay structures, tip credits, overtime rules, and the NYC sick leave requirements. We run payroll that’s actually compliant.
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Multi-Location Reporting — If you’re running more than one location, we consolidate P&Ls, track each unit’s performance separately, and handle the entity structuring that protects one location from the liabilities of another.
Restaurant Finance in New York City
NYC restaurant margins typically run between 3% and 9%. At those numbers, a bookkeeping mistake or a missed tax deadline isn’t a rounding error — it’s the difference between staying open and closing. The operators who survive long-term are the ones who know their numbers weekly, not quarterly.
One thing that catches newer operators off guard is the interaction between tip income and payroll tax. Tips are taxable wages, and the employer’s share of FICA on those tips adds up. But there’s also the FICA tip credit under Section 45B, which gives you a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on the employer FICA you pay on tips above the federal minimum wage. Most general accountants don’t claim this. We do.
Ready to Get Started?
We’ll take a look at your books, your food costs, and your tax filings — and tell you exactly where the money is going.