Tax deductions for restaurants and cafes, in plain language.

What is in the checklist?

Questions, not tax code. Each line asks whether you paid for something — an office, a phone, a licence, a meal with a client — and tells you what counts, what only counts partly, and what to watch. Where the arithmetic is simple, the sheet does it. Where it is not, such as equipment, mileage and the home office, you enter what you paid, and the sheet tells you to ask about the specifics, because the answer depends on your circumstances.

Three tabs: the checklist itself, the things people assume count and do not, and the records to keep so that every line survives a question from a tax agency.

What do restaurants, cafes and food service businesses routinely miss?

• Delivery app commissions. Taken out before the deposit, so they never appear as an expense and sales are understated too.
• Credits that may be available. Including one on payroll tax paid on tips. Often unclaimed simply because nobody asked.
• Music licensing, hood cleaning, grease trap. Annual or quarterly bills that arrive when nobody is looking.
• Build-out costs. Treated as slow write-offs when much faster treatment was available.

None of these is exotic. They are missed because they are paid once a year, or land on the personal return instead of the business, or feel too close to personal life to claim. The checklist asks about each one directly.