The receipt has the total. Only you know who was at the table.
German tax offices only accept business-meal costs with a separate Bewirtungsbeleg naming every participant and stating a specific business reason — nothing a restaurant receipt prints. The app already has the participants from the bill split, so it fills them straight into the record, calculates the deductible share, and states input VAT separately.
Not a substitute for a Steuerberater — check with yours if anything looks borderline.
A Bewirtungsbeleg is the extra record German tax offices require alongside the restaurant receipt itself to accept business-meal costs as a deductible expense — it names every participant and states a specific business reason, neither of which a restaurant receipt contains. Split The Bill generates this record straight from a bill you've already split: the participants are already there, you add the occasion and who was hosted, and the app calculates the deductible share (70% for external guests, 100% for employees only) and states the fully recoverable input VAT as its own line.
How the Bewirtungsbeleg gets built
- 1
Add the bill as usual
Photograph the restaurant receipt or enter the amounts manually and add the participants the same way you would for any split — the part the app already does.
- 2
State the occasion and who was hosted
A specific occasion (not "business dinner" but something like "proposal discussion, Project X, with client Y") and whether you hosted external people (clients, business partners) or only your own employees — that decision drives 70% or 100%.
- 3
Review the deductible amount and VAT
The app shows the deductible amount, the non-deductible portion, and the fully recoverable input VAT as separate lines — broken out, not folded into one total.
- 4
Sign it and keep the PDF
Once signed, the record is locked and saved as a PDF — a later edit to the underlying bill (say, a corrected line item) never changes a record that's already signed.
What the generated Bewirtungsbeleg covers
Participants without re-typing them
Names already captured for the bill split carry over to the record — the one required field no restaurant receipt has never needs typing twice.
External 70%, internal 100% — automatically
Hosting clients, prospects, or business partners makes 70% of the cost deductible as a business expense, 30% not (§ 4 Abs. 5 Nr. 2 EStG). Hosting only your own employees makes it 100%. The record applies the right share without you calculating it by hand.
Input VAT shown separately and in full
Input VAT ("Vorsteuer") is 100% recoverable regardless of the 70/30 split (§ 15 UStG) — including on the non-deductible 30%. That's the part most people get wrong; the record states it as its own line.
VAT rate keyed to the receipt date, not today
From 1 January 2026, restaurant food is taxed at 7% and drinks stay at 19%. A record for a 2025-dated bill still uses the rate that applied then — the receipt's date decides, not today's date.
A Bewirtungsbeleg for your next business meal
Create a free account and try it on your next restaurant bill once the feature is live on your account.
Create a free accountNot a substitute for a Steuerberater — check with yours if anything looks borderline.
Who actually needs this
Deduct a client dinner in Germany
A self-employed consultant takes a client to lunch to discuss a proposal. The receipt alone isn't enough for the tax office — a Bewirtungsbeleg naming the client and stating the specific occasion ("proposal discussion, Project X") makes 70% of the cost deductible as a business expense.
Split a team meal and keep it 100% deductible
A managing director takes the team out after finishing a project. Because only employees were hosted, the cost is 100% deductible instead of the 70% that applies to external guests — the record documents that no outside guests were present.
Document several client dinners in one month
Anyone entertaining clients regularly needs a separate record with its own stated occasion for each meal — a blanket reason like "various client meetings" doesn't satisfy the tax office. Each split bill can generate its own record individually.
Prepare a clean handoff for your Steuerberater
Instead of gathering receipts and handwritten notes at year-end, every relevant bill already has a signed, locked record with the required fields filled in — your Steuerberater gets a finished document instead of loose paper.
Why this beats a handwritten note
The participants are already there
The one field a restaurant receipt can't print — who was actually at the table — is already known from the split. No second form, no re-typing names.
No arithmetic mistake on 70/30
Whether 70% or 100% applies depends on whether external guests were present — the app applies the share consistently instead of it being worked out from memory each time.
Input VAT doesn't get missed
That input VAT is 100% recoverable regardless of the 70/30 split is commonly overlooked or booked wrong in practice — the record states it separately from the start.
Signed once, locked after that
Once signed, the record is fixed — a later edit to the bill (say, correcting a line item) never retroactively changes a record that's already signed.
A handwritten note vs. a generated record
Both are meant to satisfy the same legal requirement. The difference is how reliably each one actually does.
| A handwritten note vs. a generated record | ✗ | ✓ |
|---|---|---|
| Names of the people hosted | Often reconstructed from memory at year-end, after the fact. | Already known from the bill split and carried straight over. |
| 70% vs. 100% deductible | Worked out by hand or left to the Steuerberater, often with no record of the reasoning. | Calculated automatically from the external/internal answer and shown on the record. |
| Input VAT | Frequently reduced to match the 70% by mistake instead of claimed in full. | Always shown at 100%, independent of the deductible share — as the rule actually requires. |
| Later corrections | A handwritten note can be overwritten or lost at any time. | Locked once signed and kept as a PDF. |
Related guides and tools
Frequently asked questions
- What must a Bewirtungsbeleg contain?
- A Bewirtungsbeleg needs the location, date, and amount of the meal, the names of every participant, and a specific business reason — a generic entry like "business dinner" doesn't satisfy the tax office. Since 1 January 2025, the underlying receipt must also be machine-generated and secured by a certified TSE (technical security device); above €250, the hosting business's name must additionally be printed by the till itself, not added by hand.
- Can I deduct 70% or 100% of a business meal in Germany?
- Hosting external people — clients, prospects, business partners — makes 70% of the cost deductible as a business expense, 30% not (§ 4 Abs. 5 Nr. 2 EStG). Hosting only your own employees makes it 100%. Input VAT is 100% recoverable in either case, including on the non-deductible portion (§ 15 UStG).
- Can I still claim input VAT on the non-deductible 30%?
- Yes. Input VAT is always 100% recoverable regardless of the 70/30 split — that split only affects the income-tax deductibility of the cost itself, not VAT. This gets missed often in practice, which is why the generated record states input VAT as its own line.
- How specific does the stated occasion need to be?
- Specific and checkable — something like "proposal discussion, Project X, with [company], contact [name]" rather than "business dinner" or "client relations." A too-generic occasion is one of the most common reasons a tax office rejects a Bewirtungsbeleg.
- Is German VAT on restaurant bills changing in 2026?
- Yes. From 1 January 2026, restaurant food is permanently taxed at a reduced 7% (the same rate for dine-in, takeaway, and delivery), while drinks stay at the standard 19%. A 2025-dated bill still uses the rate that applied before the change — the receipt's date decides, not today's date.
- Does this generated Bewirtungsbeleg replace tax advice?
- No. The record applies the encoded rules transparently to what you enter, but it is not tax advice and doesn't replace a Steuerberater's review of your specific situation — especially for edge cases like mixed guest lists or amounts over €250.
