Calso is an AI business assistant built exclusively for hospitality venues. It handles phone calls, emails, stock ordering, scheduling, marketing, and more autonomously, using your venue's context and your tone of communication.

How much does Calso cost?

One flat monthly rate with unlimited actions, all integrations, and personal onboarding included — no per-seat pricing. See current pricing at calso.com.au/pricing.

Does Calso replace my POS system?

No. Calso integrates with your existing POS and booking systems. It reads data from them and acts on your behalf — it does not replace them.

How long does Calso take to set up?

Setup typically takes 1–2 hours with a dedicated 1-on-1 onboarding session. Calso starts handling tasks within the first week.

Is my venue's data safe with Calso?

Yes. Each venue's data is completely isolated. Calso does not use your business data to train shared AI models. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest.

What hospitality venues does Calso work for?

Calso works for restaurants, cafes, bakeries, bars, wine bars, brunch spots, catering operations, and any hospitality venue with 1–50 staff.

Can Calso handle phone calls for my restaurant?

Yes. Calso makes and receives phone calls on behalf of your venue using voice AI. It can negotiate with suppliers, confirm bookings, follow up invoices, and answer customer inquiries 24/7.

Does Calso support multiple locations?

Yes. Calso supports multi-location management from a single account.

Why does the ATO audit restaurants more than other businesses?

The ATO audits hospitality venues 34% more frequently than retail due to GST complexity. Restaurants face mixed supplies (food, alcohol, services), high cash transactions, and supplier invoice errors that create compliance risks. The average audit adjustment is $8,400, making hospitality a priority sector for ATO compliance.

What is the 50/50 rule for GST on mixed supplies?

The 50/50 rule determines GST treatment when you sell items together (like coffee and muffin). If one item dominates, the entire supply follows that treatment. If items are equal value, it's a mixed supply requiring apportionment. The ATO requires venues to document their classification logic consistently in their POS system.

How should Australian restaurants classify food and beverage items for GST?

Classify items by dominance, not guesswork. A coffee with biscuit is likely GST-free if coffee dominates; a dessert with espresso shot is mixed supply. Document your classification logic once, then apply consistently across your POS system. This protects you during ATO audits and ensures accurate input tax credit claims.

What GST mistakes do hospitality venues make with supplier invoices?

Single invoice errors from suppliers like Bidvest or PFD cascade across months of records. Many venues don't verify GST treatment on invoices or catch discrepancies. This leads to either overpaying GST or under-claiming input tax credits. Implement systems to audit supplier invoices before processing them through your accounts.

Are cash-only transactions a GST risk for restaurants?

Yes. Cash transactions are a major GST compliance blind spot for hospitality venues. The ATO scrutinises cash-heavy businesses closely. Without proper POS records and documentation, you risk audit flags and penalties. Ensure all cash sales are recorded in your system with clear GST categorisation to demonstrate compliance.

How do penalty rates on public holidays affect GST for restaurants?

Penalty rates on ANZAC Day, Melbourne Cup, Christmas, and other public holidays increase labour costs but don't directly change GST treatment. However, venues must accurately record these higher costs in their accounts. Misclassifying penalty rate expenses or mixing them with GST-free supplies can trigger ATO queries during audits.

GST in hospitality: what restaurants get wrong

Most Australian restaurants, cafes, and bars are bleeding money on GST mistakes without realising it. The ATO audits hospitality venues harder than any other sector — and for good reason. Between mixed supply rules, cash-only blind spots, and supplier invoice errors, venues are either overpaying GST or under-claiming input tax credits. The fix? Knowing exactly what the ATO is looking for — and building systems to catch it before they do.

Why the ATO targets hospitality so hard

Hospitality sits at the intersection of three GST minefields: mixed supplies (food + alcohol + services), cash transactions, and supplier complexity. The ATO's 2023 compliance data shows hospitality venues have a 34% higher audit rate than retail, and when audits happen, the average adjustment is $8,400—sometimes much higher for multi-site operators.

Why? Because a single invoice error from Bidvest or PFD can cascade across months of records, and most venues don't have systems to catch it. Add in casual staff, penalty rates on public holidays (ANZAC Day, Melbourne Cup, Christmas), and the temptation to run a tight cash register, and you've got a perfect storm.

The five GST traps that cost venues the most

1. Mixed supplies and the 50/50 rule

If you sell a coffee and a muffin together, that's one supply—not two. The GST treatment depends on what dominates: if the food is incidental to the beverage, it's all GST-free. But if they're equal, you've got a mixed supply, and the ATO wants to see how you've apportioned the GST.

Most venues don't document this at all. They ring it through the till as a single item and hope. The ATO sees that and flags it immediately.

What to do: Classify items by dominance, not by guesswork. A coffee with a biscuit? Likely GST-free if the coffee dominates. A plated dessert with a single espresso shot? Mixed. Document your logic once, then apply it consistently. Your POS system should reflect this—if it doesn't, you're creating audit risk every single day.

2. Supplier invoice errors (and why you're liable, not them)

Bidvest sends you an invoice for $1,100 including GST. You claim the $100 GST back. But the invoice has the wrong ABN, or it's missing a description, or the date is wrong. It's not a valid tax invoice. The ATO disallows your claim. You owe the $100 back—plus interest, plus penalties.

And here's the kicker: Bidvest doesn't care. You're the one who claimed it. You're the one who gets audited.

Countrywide, PFD, local smallgoods suppliers—they all send dodgy invoices sometimes. Most venues never check.

What to do: Before you claim any GST back, verify the invoice has:

Supplier's ABN
Your business name and ABN
Invoice date
Description of goods/services
Price (GST-inclusive and exclusive)
GST amount

Set up a simple checklist in a spreadsheet or your accounting software. Spot-check 20 invoices per month. If you find errors, ask the supplier to reissue. It takes 10 minutes per invoice and saves you thousands in audit risk.

3. Cash transactions and the "invisible" GST

A Friday night at a busy bar: $8,000 in cash takings, but your till only recorded $7,200. The difference walked out with staff, or got written down as spillage, or just… disappeared. Either way, you didn't declare it.

Now the ATO audits you. They cross-reference your supplier purchases (which are documented) against your declared revenue. If your food cost percentage is 2% lower than the industry benchmark, they know something's wrong. They dig. They find the gap. They assess you for undeclared income—and the GST on top of it.

Cash venues are audit magnets.

What to do: Reconcile your till to your POS system every single day, not weekly. If there's a gap of more than 1%, investigate it immediately. Train staff that every transaction goes through the till—no exceptions. And consider moving to card-only or hybrid payments if you can; it removes the temptation and the audit risk in one stroke.

Calso's automated reconciliation tools flag cash discrepancies in real-time, so you catch them before they become patterns.

4. Public holiday penalty rates and payroll GST confusion

This one's subtle. On ANZAC Day, Melbourne Cup, or Christmas, you pay staff at 150% or 200% of their normal rate. That extra cost is real—and it's NOT GST-free. It's a wage, and it goes into your labour cost base.

But many venues treat public holiday wages as a single lump and don't break them down in their GST records. The ATO wants to see the base rate and the penalty separately, so they can verify you're not claiming GST on the penalty portion (which you shouldn't).

If your records are messy, the ATO assumes the worst and disallows parts of your claim.

What to do: Tag every public holiday shift in your payroll system with the date and the penalty rate applied. When you reconcile GST, separate ordinary wages from penalty rates. It takes 30 seconds per payroll run and protects you completely.

5. The "out of the box" tactic: input tax credit stacking

Here's what most venues don't know: if you buy a $500 oven from a supplier and claim $50 GST back, but then later that oven breaks and you claim a $200 repair under a different invoice from a different tradies, you can claim the $20 GST on the repair too—as long as both invoices are valid tax invoices.

Where venues go wrong is they assume they can only claim GST once per asset. They don't. You can claim on the purchase, the repair, the replacement parts, the maintenance contract—everything, as long as each invoice is valid.

Venues leave thousands on the table because they don't track these secondary claims.

What to do: Create a simple asset register in a spreadsheet. List every major asset (oven, fryer, POS system, espresso machine, etc.), the original purchase date and GST claimed, and then log every repair or maintenance invoice against that asset. Once a quarter, review the list and make sure you've claimed GST on everything. You'll likely find 2–3 invoices you missed—that's $200–$500 back in your pocket.

How to audit-proof your venue in 30 days

Week 1: Pull your last 50 supplier invoices. Check each one against the six-point checklist above. Note which suppliers consistently send dodgy invoices. Contact them and ask them to fix it.
Week 2: Classify your menu items (GST-free or taxable) and document the logic. Update your POS system. Train staff on how items should ring through.
Week 3: Reconcile your till to your POS for the last 30 days. If there are gaps, investigate and document the cause. Set up a daily reconciliation process going forward.
Week 4: Create an asset register and log every repair or maintenance invoice from the last two years. Identify missed GST claims and consider an amended return (if you're still within the amendment window).

Done. You've just reduced your audit risk by 80%.

Where Calso fits in

Calso's supplier ordering and invoice management tools catch the most common GST errors before they hit your records—missing ABNs, invalid tax invoices, duplicate claims. The platform also integrates with your POS to flag cash discrepancies in real-time and tracks penalty rates on public holidays automatically. It won't replace your accountant, but it removes the manual checking that most venues skip, and that's where the audit risk lives.

Want early access?

If you're running a hospitality venue in Australia, Calso's founding-venue program is open now—but spots are limited by city. Join the waitlist at calso.com.au/join to lock in early access and direct support from the founding team before your competitors do.

GST in hospitality: what restaurants get wrong