Deliveroo and Uber Eats reconciliation fails the same way most platform reconciliations do: books chase the net payout instead of the gross order. Book the menu price, break out fees and tips, and the weekly statement becomes a routine match.

Why delivery-platform statements look harder than they are

Deliveroo reconciliation (and the same workflow for Uber Eats) is the reconciliation hospitality operators put off the longest. The statements look dense. Each has fees in three or four categories. Tips move through in a way that’s different from menu revenue. Refunds and adjustments show up across weeks. By week three, the backlog looks big enough that nobody wants to start.

We’ve cleaned up enough three-month-old delivery platform reconciliations to have an opinion: don’t let these go more than a week. The weekly version is trivial; the monthly version is painful; the quarterly version is archaeology.

The shape of the problem is the same across both platforms:

  • The customer pays the platform (not the restaurant).
  • The platform deducts its fees (commission, delivery fee, marketing) each of which may be VAT-able.
  • The platform collects tips separately from menu revenue.
  • The platform pays the restaurant the net.

The bank statement only shows the last step. A restaurant bookkeeping setup that only captures the bank deposit has every upstream number missing: gross sales, commission expense, input VAT on fees, and tips flow.

This guide walks through how to structure a clean Deliveroo reconciliation and Uber Eats bookkeeping flow without the weekly scramble.

What’s actually on the statement

Both platforms publish statements with broadly the same structure, even if the column names differ. Every delivery platform statement resolves into five categories.

1. Gross menu sales

The customer-paid menu price before any deductions. This is the restaurant’s revenue. On a VAT / GST-registered business, the tax is embedded in this number.

2. Commission

Platform’s percentage take on each order. Typically 25-30% on Deliveroo and Uber Eats, depending on the contract (and lower on “lite” delivery-only tiers). This is an expense, not a sales deduction.

3. Delivery fees and service fees

If the platform is fulfilling delivery (rider-managed), the restaurant may see a delivery fee as an additional line. In some contracts the restaurant bears part of this; in others, the customer does. Check the contract language.

4. Tips

Tips paid by the customer through the platform flow through to the restaurant but are not menu revenue. They belong in a separate tips-payable (or tips-received) account, not in sales.

5. Adjustments

Refunds, compensation for missing items, platform credits, chargebacks. These reduce the payout. Each has its own matching accounting treatment. A refund reduces revenue and VAT collected. A goodwill credit from the platform can be other income.

The statement sums: gross menu sales − commission − fees − adjustments + tips = net payout to the bank.

The correct bookkeeping flow

For every weekly statement, book the five components separately:

  • Revenue. Gross menu sales (with VAT / GST where applicable).
  • Expense: commission. Its own line with input VAT / GST where the platform is registered.
  • Expense: delivery / service fees. A separate line from commission, different expense category for margin analysis.
  • Clearing / tips payable. Tips collected, ultimately passed through to staff per the tips policy, not held as restaurant revenue.
  • Contra-revenue: refund adjustments. Negative to revenue, with the corresponding VAT / GST reversal.

Then reconcile the net payout:

  • Receivable from platform (clearing account). Increments when statements are booked.
  • Bank deposit. When the payout arrives, clears the receivable.

When it’s done this way, the gross margin line shows real food-delivery economics. Commission is visible. Tips flow to staff correctly. The bank reconciliation is a clean match.

When it’s done by booking only the net payout, all five of those numbers disappear into one average that tells the operator nothing.

Platform-specific notes

Deliveroo

  • Weekly statements, typically available via the Restaurant Hub.
  • Commission percentage stated in the contract and visible on the statement breakdown.
  • VAT-registered restaurants get a Deliveroo-issued invoice for the commission (and any Deliveroo fees). This is the document the input VAT / GST claim keys off.
  • Refunds and adjustments itemized by order ID. Match back to the POS order when investigating.
  • Tips flow through the statement and are paid with the net; some markets settle tips separately.

Uber Eats

  • Weekly statements via Uber Eats Manager.
  • Commission + service fees broken out on the statement.
  • Tax documents downloadable per period for the VAT / GST claim.
  • Adjustment categories slightly more granular (missing items, quality, rider issues). Useful for reconciling specific customer disputes.
  • Tips shown separately from menu revenue.

Both platforms will reissue or adjust a statement occasionally. A previous week’s figures may shift slightly when a late dispute resolves. The reconciliation needs to accommodate that without double-counting. The clearing-account approach handles it cleanly.

The weekly cadence that holds up

A delivery platform statement reconciliation that runs weekly stays trivial. The same reconciliation run monthly turns into a reconstruction. Quarterly is a disaster.

The cadence that works:

  1. Day statement arrives. Pull from the platform portal, book the five components, record the receivable.
  2. Day payout hits the bank. Match against the receivable. Investigate any variance immediately while the context is fresh.
  3. By the 5th of the following month. All prior-month statements reconciled, clearing account balance = outstanding payouts only.
  4. Month-end review. Confirm the month’s gross platform revenue, commission, tips flow, and input VAT / GST match the sum of weekly entries.

When this cadence holds, the quarterly VAT / BAS / GST return is mechanical. When it doesn’t, each filing is an archaeological exercise.

Common mistakes

  • Booking only the net payout. The most common and most expensive. Sales are understated, commission is invisible, input VAT / GST is lost, tips land in the wrong account.
  • Treating tips as sales. Tips are pass-through to staff. Putting them in revenue distorts sales, VAT / GST, and (depending on local rules) could misrepresent tax position.
  • Skipping the clearing account. Without a platform receivable, there’s no visibility into what the platform owes at any given moment.
  • Lumping Deliveroo and Uber Eats together. Different commission structures, different fee breakdowns. Book them separately so the margin analysis is real.
  • Ignoring adjustments. Refunds and missing-item credits compound over weeks if not matched to specific orders. The clean-up later is much harder.
  • Monthly cadence instead of weekly. A month-old statement discrepancy is three times harder to investigate than a week-old one.

Hospitality reconciliation checklist: Deliveroo / Uber Eats

  • Weekly statement pulled from each platform, within a day of availability
  • Gross menu sales booked as revenue (with VAT / GST where applicable)
  • Commission booked as its own expense line (with input VAT / GST)
  • Delivery / service fees separated from commission
  • Tips in a separate tips-payable or tips-received account, never in revenue
  • Adjustments (refunds, missing items, credits) itemized by order
  • Platform receivable / clearing account maintained
  • Bank payout matched weekly against the receivable
  • Monthly review: gross platform revenue, commission, tips, VAT / GST totals all tied out

Next step

If Deliveroo or Uber Eats reconciliations are currently catching up rather than keeping up in your business, the free books health check is the practical first step. We look at where the weekly rhythm breaks down and what a clean cadence looks like for your specific setup.

Last updated: April 2026.