Summary
Common practice in the UK restaurant industry is the addition of a Discretionary Service Charge (DSC) to the bill when table service is provided.
The DSC can be configured for application as a calculated percentage of the subtotal of the bill or as a set currency amount. Businesses may choose to have the POS automatically apply the DSC if a sale meets the programmed criteria, or it can be manually applied by the POS staff if required.
A DSC can be removed from the sale by the POS staff at the request of the customer.
The overview article on Discretionary Service Charges is here.
Discretionary Service Charges
The DSC can be automatically applied to sales that meet the programmed criteria, or manually added by the POS user.
The DSC will be the last item shown in the Sale Item window.
Automatic DSC
If an automatic DSC has been programmed a prompt will be presented to the POS user when a sale meets the configured criteria.
Once applied, the DSC is dynamic and the amount will update as items are added or removed from the sale.
Manually adding the DSC
POS staff can manually add the DSC to a sale if a Discretionary Service Charge button has been programmed on a product keypad.
This button could be programmed to:
- add the DSC as a set percentage of the sale total
- add the DSC as a set currency amount
- allow the POS Staff member to enter and apply either a currency amount or percentage value
- use the keyboard icon to enter a required value
- if you enter a currency value the equivalent percent amount will be calculated and displayed, and the reverse is also true
- use the apply amount or apply percent button to add the required DSC to the sale
Removing the DSC
The DSC can be removed from the sale if required.
To do this:
- highlight the DSC
- use the Clear Item button
- enter your password to proceed
Customer Bill / Receipt
The DSC is clearly listed when the bill is presented to the customer, and again on the finalised receipt.
Reporting
At the POS the value of DSCs recorded will be shown on:
- POS Area Z-Read Report (run from Admin | Reports | Trading Reports)
- POS Area Reset Report (obtained from the End of Day reset and reconciliation process)
Further reporting on DSCs is available in the Polygon POS Management database.
When reporting, you can filter by:
- PLU Class: System
- Reporting Category: System
- System PLU: -102 Discretionary Service Charge
You can learn more about Reporting in the Polygon POS Management database here.
Considerations & Tips
- The DSC can only be applied to the Dine In or Table Service sale types.
- When calculating the value of a percentage DSC discounts are included in the value of the sale, while additional surcharges are excluded.
- DSC amounts are not included in gross sales calculations and do not attract tax (GST, VAT etc). They are recorded as a liability to be distributed to staff.
- A table transfer is only possible if the DSC on both tables is for the same percentage.
- A table transfer is not possible if an amount DSC has been applied. The DSC must be removed from the tables, the transfer performed and the DSC reapplied.
- When processing split bill payments, the DSC will be applied to each split prorata according to the items assigned to the split.
- If a customer wants to adjust the amount of the DSC you can remove the DSC from the sale and use an open DSC button to apply either the amount or percentage specified by the customer.
Related Functionality
You may be interested in these articles that provide details on complementary functionality.
Related Articles
More detailed information on Discretionary Services Charges can be found in the following articles.
Article Change Log
| Date | Record of Changes | Author |
|
March 2025 |
First publication of this article. |
S Black |