Zeroes in the restick: how tax evasion works in catering
The tax Service is strengthening control over business cash flows. In addition, the Federal Tax Service has significantly increased additional payments to large businesses, as previously reported by "Izvestia". The tax authorities use automatic reconciliation of invoices, control of online sales registers, labeling of goods and cash flow. Against this background, catering companies are entering the zone of increased attention: in the industry, it is not difficult to compare official revenue with the loading of the hall, purchases of products, the number of employees and orders through delivery services. Experts told "Izvestia" what techniques unscrupulous entrepreneurs use to conceal tax deductions.
Digital footprint
The financial year is gradually reaching the finish line, which means that the issue of the correctness of accounting for income and settlements with customers is becoming more relevant for the business. For cafes, restaurants and food delivery, the risks are associated not only with tax surcharges, but also with fines for violations in the use of cash registers, and in some cases with criminal liability.
According to Rosstat, in the first half of 2026, the turnover of public catering in Russia amounted to 2,947.4 billion rubles, which is 6.4% higher than the level of the same period in 2025. The Central Federal District remains the leader in terms of volume.
(1,134.2 billion rubles, +6.5%), including Moscow (715.4 billion rubles, +7.0%); North-Western (409.9 billion rubles, +9.3%), Privolzhsky (347.7 billion rubles, +4.4%) and Siberian (269.4 billion rubles, +4.9%) also make a significant contribution. districts. At the same time, as noted by the media and market participants, the growth in money turnover is not accompanied by an increase in physical traffic: attendance at establishments in the first half of the year decreased by 10-15%, and the average check increased to 1,492 rubles, that is, the dynamics is largely due to the price factor, not the influx of guests.
— There is nothing revolutionary about income concealment schemes in the restaurant business. Rather, the "packaging" is changing. The classic is still the same: part of the proceeds is not spent through the cashier, instead of a normal fiscal check, they give a check, money is accepted by transfer to an individual's card, the amount is spent less than the actual amount in the check, sometimes they use the cashier of another legal entity," lawyer Alexey Gavrishev explained to "Izvestia".
The lawyer recalled that since March 2025, the rules of payment for catering have become stricter: a cash receipt must be formed before payment, after the visitor has requested an invoice. This measure is aimed, among other things, at preventing situations when the client is given only a preliminary invoice, but the fiscal receipt does not appear in the end. At the same time, digitalization has made it more difficult to conceal income. The Tax Service has data from online sales registers, banks, payment services, delivery aggregators, and other platforms. If the indicators do not match — for example, an institution demonstrates low revenue with constant workload, large purchases and a significant staff — this may be a reason for verification.
Crushing is under control
It is not uncommon for one restaurant project to be formally distributed among several LLCs and sole proprietors. Payments are made in the hall through one company, delivery is carried out through another, and the third deals with personnel. Such a model in itself is not a violation if all participants conduct independent business activities. However, questions arise when several legal entities actually operate as a single business: they have a common kitchen, management, employees, suppliers and a financial model, says lawyer Gavrishev.
The Federal Tax Service can assess such cases as an attempt to artificially distribute income between companies under special tax regimes. Article 54.1 of the Tax Code prohibits reducing the tax base by distorting information about real business transactions. Lawyers also point to cases of fictitious document management with technical contractors. We are talking about situations where expenses and tax deductions for transactions that were not actually performed are reflected in the reports. This can lead to additional taxes, penalties, and fines.
According to lawyer Ekaterina Krasnova, in cases of fragmentation in catering for 2021-2026, the average amount of additional charges is 40-80 million rubles, and the Federal Tax Service wins about 70% of such disputes in the first instance. An illustrative example is the case of the Volgograd bakery chain (resolution of the Arbitration Court of the Volga Region dated 03/07/2025 in case no. A12-4458/2024). The courts do not evaluate the name of the contract, but the real business purpose: if there is none, but the business remains united, splitting is considered illegal.
Replacement cash registers
In 2022, Rosfinmonitoring, the Central Bank and the Federal Tax Service stopped the work of the shadow site serving restaurants. The mechanism was as follows: the restaurant installs terminals and cash desks issued to third parties — one-day firms, travel agencies, car dealerships — customers' money is credited not to the restaurant's account, but to the accounts of these third-party organizations; restaurant owners receive funds back in the form of unaccounted for cash. The goals are to conceal real revenue in order to preserve the right to benefits (for example, VAT exemption on revenue of up to 2 billion rubles), receive cash for "gray" salaries, cash out or transfer to cryptocurrency. According to Ekaterina Krasnova, the network of famous children's cafes in Moscow thus hid more than 1 billion rubles of revenue — 36% of turnover, which led to an additional charge of over 550 million rubles in taxes.
Underestimation of revenue
For a restaurant using a simplified system, the revenue limit is a critical point: exceeding it means switching to a common system with VAT and income tax. To avoid this, part of the revenue is deducted from the statements: cash is accepted without registration, payment is not made through the cashier, and undervalued amounts are included in the declarations. At the same time, the data from R-Keeper or cash register reports show real turnover — this is what becomes the key proof.
Salaries "in envelopes"
The scheme is directly related to the previous one: unaccounted-for cash is used to pay salaries, bypassing personal income tax and insurance premiums. The Federal Tax Service looks at several signs: the absolute majority of employees are charged a minimum wage — at the minimum wage level, sometimes even half of the minimum wage, and the rest is given in cash; the "gray" part is paid from cash proceeds accumulated at the cash desk; the key source of evidence is interrogations of employees (123 witnesses were questioned in one case), which confirm payments "past the cash register." The consequences are additional personal income tax and insurance premiums for the entire period, fines (20% of the amount of unpaid tax, up to 40% with proven intent) and penalties, Ekaterina Krasnova notes.
Lawyer Gavrishev added to the staff's problems cases when a waiter, cook or courier is registered as self-employed, although in fact he is an ordinary employee. Here we are talking not so much about hiding revenue as about personal income tax and insurance premiums. The tax Service evaluates the actual content of the relationship, not the formal status of the contractor.
Lawyer Krasnov calls such cases illegal, since the self-employed actually performs the functions of a full-time employee. Markers of labor relations: work exclusively in the customer's kitchen, on his equipment and according to his schedule; subordination to internal regulations — to the chef, manager; regular identical payments on fixed dates, like salary; income from only one customer for more than three months in a row; use of corporate uniforms and internal communication channels. The consequences are the retraining of employment relationships with additional personal income tax and insurance premiums for the entire period, a fine of up to 100,000 rubles, as well as the risk of account blocking, explains Ekaterina Krasnova.
What awaits violators
For non-application of the CCT under Article 14.5 of the Administrative Code for a legal entity, the fine can range from 3/4 to the full amount of the calculation, which passed "by the cashier", at least 30 thousand rubles. In case of repeated violations and the amount of 1 million rubles or more, the activity may be suspended for up to 90 days. If intentional underestimation of taxes is proven, according to Article 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the fine is 40% of the unpaid amount. If there is a large amount of non-payment, intent and misrepresentation of financial statements, liability is possible under art. 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A large amount is the amount of taxes starting from 18.75 million rubles for a period of three consecutive financial years.
— I wouldn't call it some kind of complicated restaurant scam at all. In most cases, everything is much more banal: the state is shown one "economy" of the institution, but it really lives in another. It's just that the fiscal authorities have learned to see this gap much better," sums up Alexey Gavrishev.
From a legal point of view, "restaurant schemes" are not legitimate tax optimization, but disguised violations. They have one thing in common: documents create the appearance of real operations, whereas the actual business economy works differently. The tax audit looks not only at the "primary", but also at who actually runs the restaurant, who receives the proceeds, whether the counterparty has resources and a business goal. If intent is proven, the consequences are not limited to additional charges: criminal liability is also possible. The Federal Tax Service classifies such models as "aggressive" tax optimization, and courts are increasingly applying Article 54.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. For a restaurateur, this means that "optimization" through fictitious services, unaccounted for cash, or splitting under the guise of a franchise is not a dispute over the interpretation of the law, but a potential tax offense.
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