Do Texas restaurants need separate reports for mixed beverage sales and gross receipts tax?
Yes, Texas requires two separate monthly reports for establishments selling mixed beverages. The mixed beverage sales tax and the mixed beverage gross receipts tax are distinct obligations with their own forms filed with the Texas Comptroller.
The mixed beverage sales tax is 6.25% on the sales price of mixed beverages. This works like other sales taxes. You collect it from customers and remit it to the state. When someone buys a cocktail, the tax gets added to their bill and you hold that money until you file.
The mixed beverage gross receipts tax is different. This is a 6.7% tax on your gross receipts from mixed beverage sales, paid by the business rather than collected from customers. Most restaurants and bars factor this cost into drink pricing, but it doesn’t appear as a separate line on customer receipts the way sales tax does.
Both reports are due monthly by the 20th of the month following the reporting period. January’s activity gets reported and paid by February 20th. Miss the deadline and penalties start accumulating. These filings are separate from your regular Texas sales tax returns for food and other taxable items.
The common mistake is treating these as one combined report. They require different forms and different calculations. The dollar amounts will be similar since both are based on your mixed beverage sales, but the rates differ and you cannot combine them into a single filing.
Your records need to track mixed beverage sales separately from food and non-alcoholic drinks. If your POS system lumps everything together, you’ll spend hours untangling numbers every month. Configure your system to break out liquor-by-the-drink sales from the start so reporting is straightforward.
Keep your beverage purchase records organized too. The Comptroller can compare what you buy from distributors against what you report in sales. Significant gaps raise red flags. Proper tracking keeps you compliant and also reveals theft or waste problems you might not otherwise catch.
If you’ve fallen behind on these filings or your records are disorganized, bookkeeping cleanup and catch-up services can help get everything current with the Comptroller before small problems become expensive ones.
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