Quotation Template for South African Venues and Caterers

Show VAT the way section 65 requires

Section 65 of the Value-Added Tax Act says any price you advertise or quote for a taxable supply must include VAT. There is one alternative: show the VAT-exclusive price, the VAT and the VAT-inclusive price together. What you cannot do is quote R520 per head and add a line in small print saying VAT will be added.

Caterers break this rule constantly because corporate buyers ask for ex-VAT figures. That is fine, as long as the quote also carries the VAT amount and the inclusive total. The template prints all three columns on every line and at the total, so the same document works for a bride and for a procurement office.

If you are not a registered vendor, the rule runs the other way. With the compulsory threshold at R2.3 million from 1 April 2026, plenty of home caterers and small venues are below it. They must not show VAT at all. Set the VAT column to zero and the template drops the VAT lines and prints a line stating the business is not registered for VAT.

Pricing a function so the quote survives the tasting

Most South African venues price in two layers: hire of the space for a set number of hours, and catering per head. Keep them separate. When numbers drop from 140 to 110 after the RSVP deadline, the per-head line moves and the hire fee does not, and nobody argues about which part changed.

State a minimum guest number and what happens below it. A common approach is to charge for the minimum even if fewer guests arrive, which only works if the quotation says so in plain words before the client signs.

Put every extra on its own line: welcome drinks, corkage if the client brings their own wine, draping, a dance floor, backup power, security, and the cleaning fee. Clients compare quotes line by line with the venue down the road. A single bundled number looks cheaper until they ask what is included, and then it looks evasive.

• Hire of venue: hours, rooms or garden areas, set-up and breakdown times
• Catering: menu name, per-head price, minimum numbers, dietary options
• Beverages: packages, bar tab or cash bar, corkage per bottle
• Extras: decor, AV, generator, security, cleaning
• VAT: per line, and ex-VAT, VAT and inclusive totals

Wedding reception quotation

Saturday wedding reception for 120 guests at a wine-farm venue near Stellenbosch, five hours plus set-up

• Prices shown ex-VAT with VAT and VAT-inclusive totals, as allowed by section 65.
• Minimum 100 guests charged on the catering line.
• Quotation valid for 30 days.

What your quotation must show in South Africa

Deposits and cancellation terms that hold up under the CPA

Section 17 of the Consumer Protection Act gives every consumer the right to cancel an advance booking. It also lets you require a reasonable deposit and charge a reasonable cancellation fee. The Act and the National Consumer Commission's 2023 explanatory note list what reasonable means: the nature of the booking, how much notice the client gave, whether you could realistically rebook the date, and general practice in the industry.

Write a sliding scale into the quotation rather than a single forfeiture. A Saturday in December cancelled ten months ahead can usually be resold; the same date cancelled three weeks out cannot. A scale that keeps a small administration amount far out and a larger share close to the date is much easier to defend than a flat rule that the deposit is non-refundable.

One exception has no wiggle room. Under section 17(5) you may not charge any cancellation fee when the booking is cancelled because the person it was made for, or for whose benefit it was made, has died or been hospitalised. Say so on the quote. It costs you nothing and shows you know the law.

Corporate clients above the CPA's juristic-person threshold are not covered in the same way, so a company year-end can carry stricter terms. If you use one template for both, keep the consumer version as the default.

Validity dates and food price increases

Put an expiry date on every quotation. Thirty days is common for a firm quote; for a wedding more than a year away, many caterers quote current prices and state that per-head rates will be confirmed at the final menu meeting, usually six to eight weeks before the date.

If you reserve the right to adjust prices, say how. Tying the adjustment to the food inflation you actually face, and capping it, is fairer than a blank line saying prices may change. Clients accept a documented increase far more easily than a surprise at the tasting.

From accepted quote to deposit and tax invoice

Once the client accepts, the quotation becomes the reference for everything else. A deposit is not treated as payment for VAT purposes until you apply it to the supply, but once it is applied as part-payment the usual time-of-supply rule under section 9 applies: VAT becomes due at the earlier of the invoice or the payment. Agree with your accountant which point that is in your business and be consistent.

SARS expects a tax invoice within 21 days of the supply. For a function that means within three weeks of the event at the latest, and sooner for any deposit you have already treated as a payment. Copy the quotation number onto the invoice so any later query can be traced.

Use the tax invoice template at /za/tax-invoice-template for the final bill, and the receipt template at /za/receipt-template when the balance clears.

Where South African quotations go wrong

The most common problem is a VAT-exclusive total sent to a private client. The second is a quote from an unregistered caterer that still shows 15% VAT because it was copied from a template found online; that VAT is not yours to collect.

The third is a deposit clause that says non-refundable under all circumstances. A consumer can challenge it, and a clause the law would not allow undermines the rest of your terms.

Last, watch the guest count. A quote for 150 guests at R495 a head that says nothing about minimum numbers leaves you exposed when 92 people arrive and the invoice is suddenly R28,710 lower.

Quotation questions from South Africa