Gift Card Accounting – Issuance (Debit 1580, Credit 2421)

When a gift card is sold, it must never be booked as revenue. This is one of the most common misconceptions in restaurant accounting. Here we explain exactly what should be booked, why, and show complete T-accounts.

The core principle

On issuance of a gift card:

• The restaurant receives money (debit cash/bank)
• The restaurant gets a liability (credit gift card liability)
• No VAT is booked (see the article on VAT Act Ch 5 § 40)
• No revenue is booked (the gift card is not a sale of goods or services)

The journal entry

If the guest buys a gift card for 500 SEK and pays by card, the voucher looks like this:

The voucher balances. No revenue accounts (3xxx). No VAT accounts (2610/2620/2630). Just two lines: debit the asset (money coming in) and credit the liability (the promise to the guest).

If the customer pays cash

Multiple gift cards per day – aggregated in the Z-report

In practice, all gift card sales are booked in aggregate in the day's Z-report. Example: 5 gift cards at 500 SEK each = 2 500 SEK total.

The Z-report voucher becomes:

In Vendion's SIE export, the day's total gift card issuance is stored separately, and a specific credit row on 2421 is created automatically.

Where do you see the gift card liability?

On the balance sheet under "Current liabilities":

• Account 2421 shows the total outstanding liability for all active gift cards
• The balance decreases when gift cards are redeemed or expire
• The balance increases when new gift cards are sold

A restaurant that has been working with gift cards for a few years often has 20 000–200 000 SEK in outstanding gift card liability. This is not money you can freely use – it is money you owe guests in the form of future food and drinks.

Related articles

• Gift cards – multi-purpose voucher (VAT Ch 5 § 40)
• Gift card accounting – redemption
• Map payment methods to accounts