To calculate your Texas mixed beverage tax, multiply your month’s on-premise alcohol receipts by 6.7% for the Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax and by 8.25% for the Mixed Beverage Sales Tax, then file both amounts with the Texas Comptroller by the 20th of the following month.1State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 183.041 – Tax Imposed on Sales of Mixed Beverages and Related Items The two taxes come out of different pockets, use different forms, and get tracked separately even though they share the same sales figure.
The Two Rates You Apply
The 6.7% Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax is yours to pay as the permit holder. It applies to everything you take in from selling, preparing, or serving alcoholic drinks on your premises, including ice and nonalcoholic mixers sold with those drinks. It comes out of your revenue, not the customer’s bill.2Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax
The 8.25% Mixed Beverage Sales Tax works like a traditional sales tax on each drink sold. You can list it on the customer’s check or bake it into your menu prices, but either way you collect it and remit it to the state.3Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Mixed Beverage Sales Tax
A Worked Example
Say your bar brings in $25,000 in on-premise alcohol sales for the month.
- Gross receipts tax: $25,000 × 0.067 = $1,675. You pay this from your own revenue.
- Sales tax: $25,000 × 0.0825 = $2,062.50. You should have collected this from customers through the month.
Total remitted to the Comptroller: $3,737.50, reported on two separate forms. Both calculations start from the same taxable sales figure, so an error in that figure doubles into both returns. Track the number carefully.
What Goes Into the Taxable Base
Taxable receipts include the alcohol you sell and serve on-site, plus the ice and nonalcoholic beverages intended to be mixed with it.2Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax A few categories trip people up.
Complimentary Drinks
Free drinks are not included in your gross receipts tax base. You still list them on the gross receipts report for informational purposes, and you owe limited sales and use tax on the cost of the taxable ingredients that went into them. That ingredient cost goes on your regular sales tax return, not the mixed beverage report.4Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Mixed Beverage Taxes Frequently Asked Questions
Cover Charges
Cover charges are generally subject to limited sales tax rather than the gross receipts tax. The exception: if the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission finds that a cover charge violates TABC rules, the Comptroller treats it as taxable under gross receipts. Absent a specific notice from TABC, report cover charges on your sales tax return.5Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Mixed Beverage Tax Return
Bad Debts
If a customer’s payment fails and you write it off as a bad debt for federal tax purposes, you can withhold the gross receipts tax on that unpaid portion. The bad debt has to be entered in your books during the reporting period you determine it won’t be collected.
Off-Premise Sales Fall Outside These Taxes
Sealed bottles sold to-go for consumption elsewhere are not subject to either mixed beverage tax. Those sales fall under the standard limited sales and use tax and go on your regular sales tax return.4Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Mixed Beverage Taxes Frequently Asked Questions The dividing line is where the drink is consumed: on your premises triggers the 6.7% and 8.25%; off-premise does not.
How and When to File
Reports are monthly, due by the 20th of the month following the reporting period. If the 20th lands on a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. In 2026, most due dates fall on the 20th, with June shifting to the 22nd, September to the 21st, and December to the 21st.6Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Due Dates for Taxes, Fees and Information Reports
You file two returns each month:
- Form 67-100, Texas Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax Report
- Form 67-101, Mixed Beverage Sales Tax Report
Both go through the Comptroller’s Webfile system in the eSystems portal, with payment by electronic funds transfer or credit card.7Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. File and Pay Unlike some other Texas tax types, mixed beverage taxes carry no timely filing discount, so the amount you calculate is the amount you pay.4Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Mixed Beverage Taxes Frequently Asked Questions
What Late Filing Costs
The penalties stack quickly:8Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Penalties for Past Due Taxes
- 1 to 30 days late: 5% penalty on the tax owed.
- More than 30 days late: 10% penalty.
- After a Notice of Tax Due: an additional 10%, bringing the total to 20%.
Add a flat $50 penalty for each late report, even when no tax is owed for the period. Statutory interest starts accruing on the 61st day after the due date, at a variable rate the Comptroller sets at the beginning of each calendar year.8Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Penalties for Past Due Taxes A $1,675 gross receipts bill ignored for two months can push past $2,000 once penalties and the flat fee hit. File on time even when the cash is tight.
Records That Back Up Your Numbers
Your calculation is only as good as the records behind it. Track monthly gross receipts from alcohol sales, the number and type of complimentary drinks served, the ingredient cost for those free drinks, and the sales tax collected from customers. Every drink poured should show up in your point-of-sale system or inventory logs.
The Comptroller can look back four years on audit, so keep at least four years of monthly reports, bank statements, and inventory records on hand. If you also import alcohol, maintain daily records of receipt and disposition for all spirits, beer, and wine kept at your place of business.9Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. TTB Business Central – Maintaining Compliance as an Alcohol Importer/Exporter or Wholesaler