How to write an event venue invoice

A venue sells a room, a minimum and a schedule

An event planner bills for coordination and a caterer bills for food. A venue bills for the use of a space on one particular night, usually with food and beverage attached, and its contract carries terms few other trades have: a rental fee, a food and beverage minimum, a mandatory service charge, a security deposit and a payment schedule that runs for months. The final invoice is where all of those terms turn into numbers, and it is the biggest bill of the event, so the host reads every line.

The food and beverage minimum, and the shortfall line

A minimum is a spending floor for food and beverage, set in the contract. How it is counted is the part to write down. The McMenamins private events FAQ, one venue's published terms, says its private spaces are rented per food and beverage minimums and that only hosted, catered food and beverage served in the event space during the event applies toward the minimum. Under a rule like that, the room rental and the service charge do not count toward the floor.

On the invoice, show three things on three lines: the food and beverage actually served, the minimum, and the difference as an adjustment. In the example below the host served $6,840 against a $7,500 minimum, so a $660 adjustment appears. Without that line, a host looking at $7,500 of food for 120 guests wonders where the extra went. With it, the answer is printed.

Event venue invoice example, filled in

The final invoice for a wedding reception. The host paid two installments earlier and lodged a separate security deposit that stays out of this total. Rates, minimum and percentages are samples.

The charges total $13,504.80. Tax of $688.45 is applied to food, beverage and the service charge ($8,344.80), bringing the total to $14,193.25. After $8,000 in payments, $6,193.25 is due.

Service charge or gratuity: the word has consequences

Venues often add a percentage for staff. What you call it matters twice, once for payroll and once for sales tax. Under Revenue Ruling 2012-18, whether a payment is a tip depends on the facts, not the label. The IRS fact sheet FS-2015-8 lists the four tests: the payment is made free from compulsion, the customer has the unrestricted right to set the amount, it is not negotiated or dictated by employer policy, and the customer generally decides who receives it. Fail those and it is a service charge, and the IRS says service charges paid out to employees are generally reported as non-tip wages.

Federal payroll rules and state sales tax rules ask different questions. Check both before you name the line.

So: if the host cannot decline it, call it a service charge on the contract and the invoice, never a gratuity, and tell your payroll provider you add one. If you also offer an optional gratuity line, keep it separate, and in a state like New York make sure the wording and the payout meet the conditions before you leave it untaxed.

Is the room rental taxed?

Two states show how much the answer depends on who serves the food. New York's TB-ST-110, on caterers and catering services, says that when a hotel or banquet facility (or a caterer it hires) provides the catering, the room charge is part of the charge for the event and is taxable, whether or not it is separately stated; when the customer rents the room and hires a separate caterer, the room rental is not taxable. The Texas Comptroller hotel tax FAQ says the 6 percent state hotel tax applies to any room or space in a hotel, including meeting and banquet rooms, while local hotel taxes apply only to rooms ordinarily used for sleeping, and neither applies to meeting rooms in a building with no sleeping rooms. Sales tax on food is a separate question in both. Write the room line so a reader can see which rule you applied.

We found no state rule specific to event venue security deposits in this research, so the refund period and allowed deductions come from your contract. Print both on the receipt you issue when the deposit is taken.

Staged payments, and the security deposit that stays separate

Venues take money in stages tied to the calendar. McMenamins, for example, asks for 50% of the food and beverage minimum within two weeks of booking for corporate and social events. Whatever your schedule, each stage is its own invoice with its own due date, and the final invoice credits every earlier payment by date.

Dates and amounts belong to the sample contract. Your schedule is whatever your contract says.

The security deposit is different money. It secures the condition of the space, not the price of the event, so keep it off the final total, note the amount held, and issue a receipt when you refund or apply it after the walk-through. Mixed into the main balance, it leaves the host unsure whether they have overpaid, and the venue unsure what it may keep.

Overtime, damage and late changes

The charges that arrive on the night are the ones to document on the spot: overtime past the contracted end time, extra staff, a late guest count increase, damage found at the walk-through. Write the time the event actually ended, photograph any damage, and have the host or their representative sign the condition report before they leave. Then each goes on the final invoice as its own line with the date and the contract rate. A deduction from the security deposit should point to the same signed report, line for line.

The host's planner sends their own invoice for coordination; the event planner invoice guide covers that side of the same night.

Before the final invoice goes out

• Room rental with the contracted hours.
• Food and beverage served, the minimum and any shortfall, on three lines.
• Service charge named as a service charge, with its percentage and base.
• Any optional gratuity on a separate line, if you offer one.
• Tax with its base stated, built from your state's rules.
• Every earlier payment credited by date, and the security deposit kept out of the total.
• Overtime and damage lines that match a signed report.

Event venue invoice questions

Free event venue invoice template

The closest preset is Event planner, which has deposit and vendor lines you can retype as rental and minimum lines. If bookings live in a spreadsheet, download the blank invoice as Word, Excel or PDF. The security deposit refund is cleanest on a receipt of its own.

The other vendors on the night

Tools for venue managers

Bookings, deposits and the final bill.