POS in Restaurants and Cafes: Pre-Check, Banquets, Tips

Restaurant payments rarely fit a simple "one guest — one bill" pattern: the bill is split three ways, a banquet is paid in advance, and a guest sometimes pays via QR directly from their phone. We break down which document is required at what point, where a receipt isn't needed at all, and where skipping it is a direct violation of 54-FZ.

1. Pre-check and Fiscal Receipt Are Different Documents#

A pre-check can be printed as many times as needed — when updating an order, verifying with the guest, or submitting for signature during a banquet. A fiscal receipt is generated only once — at the moment when funds are actually transferred from the guest to the venue.

2. Splitting the bill among multiple guests#

If guests pay for themselves using different payment methods (some by card, some in cash), a receipt is tied to each actual payment rather than to the table as a whole:

1. In the POS, split the order by item or by amount into the required number of parts.
2. Issue a separate receipt for each part that a guest pays for individually — listing the specific items (or proportional share) paid for by that guest.
3. Each receipt has its own payment method: "cash" for some, "cashless/card" for others — this does not interfere with bill splitting in any way.

A single receipt for the total table amount followed by guests splitting the money verbally among themselves is also legal (fiscally, only the fact that the venue receives the full amount matters), but in practice, it is less convenient for guests than separate receipts.

3. Banquet: Advance Payment and Event Day#

A banquet is almost always paid for in two stages, and these are two different receipts:

1. Upon reservation — the guest makes an advance payment. A receipt is issued with the payment method attribute "advance" or "prepayment", without a detailed itemization of dishes (their composition can still change at this stage) — usually phrased as "prepayment for order No. …".
2. On the day of the banquet — during final settlement, a receipt is issued taking into account the advance payment made and containing the full list of items (all dishes, drinks, extra services), with the remaining amount paid by any payment method.

The mechanics of offsetting an advance payment, including cases where the guest pays the remaining amount using another payment method, are explained in detail in the article "Advances, Installments, and Credit in Receipts". If an establishment uses a deposit system instead of classic prepayment (topped up an account — deducted as orders are placed, as in bars and karaoke) — this is a separate mechanic, see "Gift Certificates and Deposits".

4. Buffet with Payment at the Entrance#

If a guest pays a fixed fee for entry and then takes food without restrictions, the line item on the receipt is not a list of dishes, but the service itself:

• a single line item such as "Buffet Service" (or "Breakfast Buffet", "Fixed Business Lunch") with the entry price;
• listed separately — only items for which the guest pays extra beyond the basic package (drinks not included in the price, additional takeaway dishes, etc.).

Itemizing the buffet contents line by line on the receipt is not required and usually makes no sense — the selection changes daily.

5. Tips and Service Charge Are Not the Same Thing#

If a guest gives a tip directly to the waiter (cash in hand or transfer to the employee's personal card), this is not a payment to the venue and does not require a receipt. As soon as tips or a service charge pass through the venue's POS as part of the total amount to pay, it becomes revenue and must be included on the receipt as a separate line item.

6. QR Code Payment at the Table#

When a guest scans the QR code at the table and pays the bill themselves from a smartphone, the payment takes place without waiter involvement, and the receipt must be generated automatically at the exact moment of payment, rather than when the waiter "becomes free" and registers it manually. This requires integration between the POS and the ordering system: as soon as the payment is confirmed by the payment provider, the POS fiscalizes it without any additional steps from staff. Technical details of the payment method ("cashless") and working with QR payments in general can be found in the article "Payment via SBP and QR Code".

7. Night operations: a shift crossing midnight#

By law, a POS shift cannot last longer than 24 hours — for night-operating establishments, this is not an abstract rule, but a real risk of the POS refusing to print a receipt in the middle of service. A practical solution is to close the shift not strictly at midnight, but during a "quiet hour" with minimal guest traffic (for example, 4–5 AM), and maintain a clear cashier changeover schedule around that specific moment rather than the calendar day. For a detailed breakdown of this limitation and the procedure for closing a stuck shift, see the article "Shift exceeded 24 hours".

8. Evening order, morning payment#

If a guest opened a bill in the evening and settled it only in the morning (an open bar tab, a guest account at an attached hotel), the fiscal receipt is linked to the moment of actual settlement — that is, to the morning, and not to the time when the orders were placed. The only thing this affects technically is which specific POS shift the receipt falls into: if the shift has already changed by the time of payment, the receipt is issued in the new shift for the full total amount.

9. Catering and Off-Site Payment#

When payment with a guest takes place not on the venue premises, but at a banquet/event location, a mobile trade attribute is required in the POS settings, and the address specified during registration differs from the actual payment address at the specific event. This is the same principle as with any off-site trade — food trucks, fairs, delivery. A full breakdown of addresses and registration for such cases is in the article "Mobile Trade and Second Location".

10. Example#

A cafe accepts a banquet room reservation for 20 people. Upon reservation, the guest pays an advance payment of ₽15,000 — an "advance payment" receipt is issued, without detailed line items. On the day of the banquet, the final bill is ₽62,000 (food, drinks, 10% service charge = ₽5,636 included in the total amount). A final receipt is issued: prepayment credit of ₽15,000 + additional payment of ₽47,000 by card, itemized with all banquet items plus a separate line "10% service charge". Personal tips to the waiter (₽2,000 in cash from the organizer) do not appear on the receipt at all.

11. How to do this in Cenaly#

• Splitting a bill by guests and payment methods — right inside the order in POS: split menu items into multiple receipts before payment.
• QR payment at the table is recorded via online payment in the QR menu and fiscalized automatically upon payment confirmation — without any manual step by the waiter.
• Service charge is configured as a separate service on the bill and appears on the receipt as its own item; personal tips are not processed through the POS at all if paid by the guest outside the cash register.
• Cash shifts and shift duration control — in Finance → Cash Shifts, read more in the article about cash shifts; for physical POS hardware, fiscalization is handled via Cenaly Hardware Bridge.
• History of all receipts, including banquet prepayments and settlements, — in POS → Receipts, see receipts and refunds.

12. Frequently Asked Questions#

A guest asked only for a pre-bill and left — is this a violation? No, not by itself: a violation occurs only if the actual payment was processed without a fiscal receipt. A pre-bill without subsequent payment is not a transaction.

Can a single receipt be issued for the whole table if guests simply pooled cash among themselves? Yes, if the venue ultimately receives a single amount from them via one payment method — fiscally, what matters is the fact that the venue received the money, not how the guests split it among themselves beforehand.

Can a service charge be made optional so it doesn't need to be printed on the receipt? Yes, if the charge is voluntary (the guest can opt out), it is essentially an equivalent of tips and does not need to be included on the receipt; but if the charge is fixed and mandatory for everyone, it is part of the price and must be printed on the receipt.

At a banquet, if some guests paid by card and some in cash from the organizer — how many receipts are needed? Usually one receipt with combined payment (the amount is split into "cash" and "cashless" within a single receipt) if a single responsible organizer pays — this is standard combined payment, and the law does not require a separate receipt here.

Related articles: SBP and QR payment · "Shift exceeded 24 hours" · advances, installments and credit · gift certificates and deposits · mobile trade

This material is for informational purposes only and does not replace a consultation with an accountant. Primary sources: Federal Law No. 54-FZ "On the Use of CRE", FNS methodological recommendations (kkt-online.nalog.ru), Art. 14.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.