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Modifier VAT per option

Override VAT on a single modifier option — the classic hot-topping-on-cold-item case.

Every modifier option has a VAT field, defaulting to Inherit from item — meaning the option uses the product's own VAT rate. This article is about the one case where you'd override it.

Leave it on Inherit — almost always

Most of the time, the option's VAT should follow the product. A "Large" option on a coffee doesn't change the tax category — it's still a coffee — so Inherit from item is correct and you never touch this field.

If everything on a group is on Inherit, the group is easy to reason about: the product decides VAT, once.

Override only when the tax category changes

The one time you override it is when picking an option shifts the item into a different VAT category. The classic UK case: a cold drink (often zero-rated as cold takeaway) with an optional hot topping. Serving it hot can change the line's VAT category from zero-rated to standard-rated — so on the hot-topping option you'd set VAT to your standard rate instead of leaving it on Inherit.

Which rate applies to hot versus cold is an HMRC question, not a Tillable one — see Which VAT rate applies (UK hospitality).

How to set it

  1. 1

    Open the modifier group

    From Items → Modifiers, click the group.

  2. 2

    Find the option

    Locate the specific option whose VAT should differ.

  3. 3

    Change VAT from Inherit to your chosen rate

    Pick the rate that applies when this option is selected. Every other option in the group stays on Inherit unless it also changes category.

Does "Show on the till" change any of this?

No. Show on the till instead of a pop-up only moves where staff tap the choice — from a pop-up to a button in the left-hand column. The option's price, its VAT rate and how it lands on the receipt are identical either way, so an override you set here still applies exactly as described above. The same goes for the Corner key switch (its name once Modifier flows is on for your venue) and for the till's newer modifier flows: they change how staff pick, not what is charged.

"Main item used" is not a price — it's stock

If you track stock with recipes, each option also has a Main item used box sitting near its price. It is easy to read as a price multiplier. It isn't one: it only tells your stock count how much of the product one of that option actually uses up, and it never changes what the customer pays or what VAT is charged.

Price, VAT rate and Main item used are three independent settings on the same option.

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