Reception Venue Contract Tax Question

To be sure, you will definitely need to ask your venue.

I don't know why your food is being taxed twice, but I do know some venues tax the service charge.

For #2, that is up to your venue. For some, it is just the pay for the staff, for others it is also the gratuity.

The 20% service charge also, known as banquet fee is not gratuity. My venue stated it was to help them pay there servers higher wages. To answer your first question, maybe food and beverage is taxed at a 7.75% rate and everything else 6.75. That's the only reason I can think of.

ETA-grammar

Both are questions for your venue.

The tax thing is probably a city tax. We're getting married in Newport. So we have 7% RI tax and 1% Newport tax.

The 20% service charge is entirely venue specific. You'll have to ask them.

It depends on which county your venue is located . Some charge a Prepared "Food and Beverage Tax in addition to the State Tax.

One example:

"The Wake County Board of Commissioners levied a Prepared Food and Beverage Tax of 1% of the sale price of prepared food and beverages effective January 1, 1993. This tax is applicable to all prepared food and beverages sold at retail for consumption, on or off the premises, by any retailer with sales in Wake County that are subject to sales tax imposed by the State under North Carolina General Statute (NCGS) 105-164.4(a)(1). This tax is collected by the merchant, in addition to NC State Sales Tax, and is remitted to the county on a monthly basis."

Tar Heel born and bred here!

Food in NC is taxed a separate tax in addition to regular sales tax. It's been 2% in Durham and surrounding as long as I can remember so maybe it's lower in your county or it's been lowered and I just haven't noticed.

And the 20% service charge is standard. That's usually what pays the wait staff. If it doesn't specifically say in your contract that it includes gratuity, then it's likely not included and you'd need to cough up gratuity separately.