Mixed beverage taxes

Texas mixed beverage taxes, defined.

Texas mixed beverage taxes are the two state taxes on alcohol sold for on-premises consumption by TABC mixed beverage permittees: a mixed beverage gross receipts tax — currently 6.7% per the Comptroller — that the business itself owes, and a mixed beverage sales tax — currently 8.25% — collected from the customer. Two taxes, two legal payers, two different homes in the books: the gross receipts tax is the bar's own expense and may not appear on the bill as a separate charge, while the sales tax is the customer's money passing through in trust. Treating the pair as one thing is what tangles bar books.

Updated October 2026 · Rates and rules are the Comptroller's and can change — its site is the authority; which regime your permit falls under is a TABC, Comptroller, and CPA determination. We structure books so each tax is trackable and provable.

Two taxes, two homes in the books Comptroller rates, cited & dated

The term in one breath

Gross receipts tax — 6.7%

The business's own expense; never a separate line on the bill.

Sales tax — 8.25%

The customer's money, held as a liability until it's remitted.

Quick answer

If you hold a mixed beverage permit, these taxes apply; per the Comptroller, wine and malt beverage retailer permits owe limited sales and use tax instead, so confirm your regime with your CPA. A permittee's books carry both: the gross receipts tax accrued monthly as an expense, the sales tax held as a liability until remitted.

Related terms

Where this term connects.

The month-end close — the rhythm on which the tax liability ties to the filed returns · Reconciling to the bank — the proof that the cash the taxes ride on is real · The whose-money question — the working rule our guides use: name whose dollar it is before it posts.

Bar books where the two taxes blur together? The free review reads your file and says plainly whether the liability account, the expense accrual, and the filed returns actually tie — and what untangling costs, fixed-fee.

Free books review

FAQ · Updated October 2026

The definitional questions.

Is the 8.25 percent mixed beverage sales tax the same as regular Texas sales tax?

No — the matching rate is a coincidence, not the same tax. Regular Texas sales and use tax combines a 6.25 percent state rate with local taxes up to an 8.25 percent cap. Mixed beverage sales tax is a flat statewide 8.25 percent with no local split, filed on its own Comptroller return — alcohol rides the mixed-beverage return, food and merchandise ride the regular one.

Do food sales at a bar or restaurant get hit by mixed beverage taxes?

No. Per the Comptroller, the mixed beverage taxes apply only to alcoholic beverages served for on-premises consumption, plus the ice and mixers served with them. Food and merchandise fall under regular sales and use tax instead — which is why a bar's point-of-sale needs to split alcohol from food cleanly.

Books built for the building this tax lives in: bookkeeping built for bars on the alcohol side, restaurant bookkeeping where the kitchen carries half the register. Not sure what shape the file's in: a quick scope check.