Intercompany Gift Cards – Chain Accounting

Intercompany gift cards is the most complex accounting scenario in a restaurant chain. Money is received by one legal entity (HQ), a liability builds up, and then the liability is redeemed by other entities – potentially several different ones. VAT is realized at redemption, not at issuance (multi-purpose voucher, Swedish VAT Act Chapter 5 § 40).

Let's walk through the canonical example that all accountants must understand:

The scenario:

The burger chain "Power Burger AB" consists of three legal entities:

• HQ (Power Burger Holding AB, org 555-1234)
• Restaurant A (Power Burger Sthlm AB, org 555-5678)
• Restaurant B (Power Burger Malmö AB, org 555-9999)

Day 1, 1 April 2026:

• Customer buys gift card 1,000 SEK at HQ (by card)
• Gift card marked as "Valid across the chain" (scope_chain_id set)

Day 10, 10 April 2026:

• Customer redeems 400 SEK at Restaurant A (burger lunch, 12% VAT)

Day 20, 20 April 2026:

• Customer redeems remaining 600 SEK at Restaurant B (dinner, mix 12% food + 25% beer)

What must the accounting achieve?

1. HQ receives 1,000 SEK → liability on 2421 (Gift Card Liability)
2. Restaurant A sells 400 SEK food → revenue 357 SEK + VAT 43 SEK
3. Restaurant B sells 600 SEK → revenue + VAT per split
4. HQ's liability (2421) must be zeroed – but only when all 1,000 SEK is redeemed
5. A and B must be paid by HQ for the food/drink they gave away
6. Skatteverket gets correct VAT per entity (A reports its VAT, B its, HQ no VAT on the gift card)

T-accounts per entity:

HQ – 1 April (Issuance)

Account  Name                         Debit    Credit
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1580     Bank                         1000
2421     Gift Card Liability                    1000
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                     1000    1000

Effect: HQ received 1,000 SEK cash but owes the value for the customer's future redemption. No VAT – it's a multi-purpose voucher.

Restaurant A – 10 April (400 SEK redemption)

Burger lunch 400 SEK = 357 SEK net + 43 SEK VAT (12%).

A must book both (i) the revenue and (ii) the receivable from HQ:

Account  Name                             Debit    Credit
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1660     Receivable from HQ (intercompany) 400
3001     Sales food (12%)                           357
2620     Output VAT 12%                              43
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                         400    400

Effect: A made a sale, reports VAT to Skatteverket, and now has a receivable from HQ to get paid for the food.

HQ – 10 April (simultaneously)

When A's redemption syncs to HQ's books:

Account  Name                             Debit    Credit
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
2421     Gift Card Liability (reduced)     400
2860     Payable to A (intercompany)                 400
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                         400    400

Effect: HQ's liability to the gift card holder decreases by 400 SEK. Instead HQ owes A 400 SEK to pay for the food.

Restaurant B – 20 April (600 SEK redemption)

Dinner: 400 SEK food (12% VAT) + 200 SEK beer (25% VAT).

• Food net: 400 / 1.12 = 357.14 SEK. VAT 42.86 SEK.
• Beer net: 200 / 1.25 = 160 SEK. VAT 40 SEK.

Account  Name                             Debit    Credit
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1660     Receivable from HQ (intercompany) 600
3001     Sales food (12%)                           357.14
3003     Sales alcohol (25%)                        160.00
2620     Output VAT 12%                              42.86
2610     Output VAT 25%                              40.00
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                         600    600

HQ – 20 April (simultaneously)

Account  Name                             Debit    Credit
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
2421     Gift Card Liability (zeroed)     600
2860     Payable to B (intercompany)                 600
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                         600    600

HQ's 2421 is now 0 SEK (gift card fully redeemed). HQ's intercompany payables: 400 SEK to A + 600 SEK to B = 1,000 SEK total (matches the received payment exactly).

Month-end (30 April) – Settlement between entities:

Now intercompany balances must be settled. Two options:

Option 1: Actual bank transfer (most common)

HQ transfers 400 SEK to A and 600 SEK to B via bank giro.

HQ:

D 2860 (Payable to A)        400
D 2860 (Payable to B)        600
C 1580 (Bank)                        1000

Restaurant A:

D 1580 (Bank)                400
C 1660 (Receivable HQ)                 400

Restaurant B:

D 1580 (Bank)                600
C 1660 (Receivable HQ)                 600

Effect: All intercompany balances zeroed. HQ has no money left from the gift card (which is correct – it was distributed to the units that actually performed).

Option 2: Netting

If HQ and A also have other intercompany transactions (e.g. marketing contributions), you can net instead of transferring several times. Handled in group reporting.

Total result effect per entity:

Note: Total revenue 874.14 + total VAT 125.86 = 1,000 SEK (the original gift card amount). Everything matches.

Intercompany balances (before settlement):

After settlement: All 0.

What Vendion tracks:

Vendion keeps a record of every intercompany transaction between issuing and redeeming entity, including:

• Kind (gift card redemption, loyalty redemption, marketing allocation)
• Issuing entity (with org number)
• Redeeming entity (with org number)
• Amount and VAT breakdown per rate
• Link to the specific gift card and the order that generated the transaction
• Settlement status (pending → both_posted → reconciled → disputed)

Each such transaction generates two accounting entries: one at the issuing entity, one at the redeeming. At Z-report or month-end closing, actual voucher rows are created in each entity's books.

Who does the settlement?

• Automatic voucher: Vendion creates debit/credit rows at Z-report (preliminary, status "both_posted")
• Manual review: Group CFO reviews the intercompany report in Chain Admin → Accounting
• Bank transfer: CFO initiates manual transfer between subsidiary accounts
• Reconciliation: When bank statement matches, the transaction is marked as reconciled

Reporting in Vendion:

In Chain Admin → Accounting → Intercompany you'll find:

• Table: all pending/both_posted transactions
• Filter: per month, per entity-pair
• Summaries: who owes whom
• Export: CSV/SIE for bookkeeper
• Status update: mark as reconciled

Tax treatment:

Intercompany transactions between group companies must happen at market-based terms (transfer pricing – Income Tax Act Chapter 14 § 19). In practice for gift cards this means:

• HQ may not charge "administration markup" at redemption
• A and B get full revenue for the food/drink they actually deliver
• Vendion's documentation of each intercompany transaction suffices as supporting evidence

In franchise (independent entities) there may be an administration agreement (e.g. HQ takes 2% admin fee) – it's then booked as a separate transaction (not included in the gift card flow above).

Common mistakes:

1. Forgetting intercompany voucher → A makes sale but no liability to HQ is booked → balance sheet doesn't balance
2. Missing VAT at redemption → VAT ends up at wrong entity (should be where the sale happened, not where the gift card was issued)
3. HQ keeps the money → A and B don't get paid → illiquidity in local units
4. Unsettled transactions year after year → intercompany balances grow to unreasonable amounts, auditor flags

Read more: Chain Accounting – Multiple Legal Entities, Gift Cards – Multi-Purpose Voucher, Monthly Closing – Checklist.