Most EPOS comparisons stop at the monthly licence, which is the smallest number in the deal. This guide covers what actually differs between UK systems: VAT treatment, card processing structure, tips and tronc handling, and how to work out a fully-loaded cost you can compare.
An EPOS decision is unusually sticky. You will train every member of staff on it, your menu will be modelled inside it, your VAT will be calculated by it and your card payments will probably route through whoever supplied it. Changing your mind in eighteen months is expensive in a way that choosing badly does not feel like at the time. It is worth a slow afternoon.
This guide is about the comparisons that actually separate UK systems. It deliberately skips the feature-checklist section that every vendor site already has, because in 2026 nearly all of them will tick nearly all of those boxes, and the differences that matter to a UK operator sit elsewhere.
UK hospitality VAT is not a single rate applied to a bill. Food eaten in is standard-rated; cold takeaway food is usually zero-rated; hot takeaway is standard-rated; and a long list of items — confectionery, crisps, ice cream, alcohol, most soft drinks, all hot drinks — is standard-rated regardless. The detail is in HMRC's Notice 701/14, and it is worth reading before you sit through a demo, because it gives you the question that separates good systems from adequate ones.
That question is: can a single menu item carry two VAT treatments, switched automatically by order type? Many systems handle it by making you create two products — "Panini (eat in)" and "Panini (take away)" — which works until someone under pressure taps the wrong one. The failure is silent, it is on the customer's bill, and it propagates into your VAT return. Ask to see an order changed from takeaway to eat-in after it has been rung in, and watch whether the lines re-rate.
All VAT-registered businesses should now be signed up for Making Tax Digital for VAT. What operators tend to underestimate is that MTD is primarily about how records are kept, not about who presses submit. HMRC requires the records to be kept digitally in functional compatible software, and requires digital links between programs where data forms part of your electronic account — an electronic transfer with no manual intervention. Copying and pasting between spreadsheets does not qualify as a digital link.
There is a genuine relief for retail and hospitality here: businesses using a retail scheme can record Daily Gross Takings as a single figure, and are not required to keep a separate record of the individual supplies making up that DGT within the software. That is worth knowing before a vendor sells you a compliance feature you may not need.
The practical question for an EPOS is therefore narrow and answerable: what does it hand your accounting software, and does it get there over a digital link rather than a monthly export-and-paste? If the answer is a CSV that someone downloads and re-keys, that is the part of your process MTD is actually about.
Handheld ordering and payment at the table is the single most requested capability in UK table service, and the justification is usually framed as speed. It is more precisely about the number of trips: taking the order at the table removes a walk to a fixed terminal, and paying at the table removes the two-trip dance of fetching a card machine and returning with a receipt. On a busy service that is time back per table, and it is time back at exactly the moment you have none.
What to check is less exciting than the demo: how the handhelds behave on your actual Wi-Fi, at the far end of the room, with a full house of phones competing for the same access points. A device that works beautifully in a showroom and drops in your back corner is a daily irritation. Ask for a trial in your own building if the vendor will allow it, and walk the room.
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 changed how tips must be handled in the UK, and it makes tip handling an EPOS question rather than a back-office one. The obligation is to pass on qualifying tips to workers in full and to allocate them fairly, with a written policy and records available. Whatever system you choose has to produce the record: what was tipped, on which transaction, and how it was allocated.
If you operate a tronc, the arrangement has its own tax treatment and typically an independent troncmaster, and the EPOS side of it is data rather than decisions — accurate capture of tips by service and by person, in a form the troncmaster can actually work from. Ask to see the tips report, not a description of it. For the current legal position, start with the GOV.UK guidance on tipping and take advice on your own arrangement.
The monthly licence fee is almost never the largest line in an EPOS decision. For most restaurants, card processing is — and it is charged by a different party, on a different basis, often bundled into the same conversation. Comparing two systems on their licence fees while ignoring the processing structure is comparing the small numbers.
To build a figure you can actually compare, total these for a full year, for each system on your shortlist:
On processing specifically, ask whether pricing is blended or interchange-plus. Blended is simpler to read and hides the variation between a domestic debit card and a commercial credit card; interchange-plus is harder to read and shows you what you are actually paying for. Neither is automatically better, but you cannot compare two quotes priced differently without converting them to the same basis. Ask both vendors for an effective rate on your last three months of real volume.
That last one is the most useful question on the list and the one most often skipped. A twenty-minute call with an operator running your concept on the system you are considering will tell you things no demo will.
Novaryq is built for UK VAT-inclusive pricing with order-type-driven treatment, pay at table on handhelds, and per-channel reporting for direct and marketplace orders. What is included at each tier is on the pricing page, the capability detail is under features, and the comparison page sets out how we line up against typical UK EPOS packages.
Checked against these sources on 6 September 2026. Rules change; confirm your own position with your accountant or the relevant authority before acting.
The UK-specific requirements are VAT treatment that varies by eat-in versus takeaway and by whether food is hot, VAT-inclusive menu pricing with reporting net of VAT, digital records that reach your accounting software over a digital link for Making Tax Digital, and tip capture detailed enough to evidence fair allocation under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023.
Not necessarily. MTD is mainly about how records are kept: digitally, in functional compatible software, with digital links between programs where data forms part of your electronic account. Copy-and-paste between spreadsheets is not a digital link. Businesses using a retail scheme may record Daily Gross Takings as a single figure. The question to ask an EPOS vendor is what reaches your accounting software and how.
Neither is automatically better. Blended pricing is simpler to read but averages across card types; interchange-plus is more transparent about what you are paying for but harder to compare at a glance. What matters is converting every quote to the same basis — ask each provider for an effective rate against your last three months of actual card volume and mix.
Total a full year for each: software licence for the tier you actually need, card processing at your real volume and card mix, hardware whether bought or rented, installation and menu build, any per-order charges, and the contract term. Then ask what year two costs, which is where introductory pricing and bundled setup stop applying.
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 requires qualifying tips to be passed to workers in full and allocated fairly, with a written policy and records. In practice your system needs to record what was tipped, on which transaction, and support the allocation your policy or troncmaster applies. Ask to see the actual report rather than a description of it.