Texas mixed beverage taxes explained: gross receipts tax vs. sales tax

Two taxes, one drink

Texas doesn't tax a mixed beverage once. A permittee — the business holding the mixed beverage permit — owes the 6.7% mixed beverage gross receipts tax on top of, and separately from, the 8.25% mixed beverage sales tax on the same sale. Both are collected by the Comptroller under the mixed beverage tax program, not the general sales tax program, and both apply specifically to distilled spirits, beer, ale and wine sold, prepared or served by a permit holder for on-premise consumption, or to mixers sold for that purpose.

The gross receipts tax: yours to absorb, not to pass on

The mixed beverage gross receipts tax is 6.7% (.067) of your gross receipts from mixed beverage sales, and the Comptroller's language on who owes it is unambiguous: "The person or organization holding the mixed beverage permit — not the customer — must pay the mixed beverage gross receipts tax." You're also told you "may not add it to the selling price as a separate charge or deduct it from the amount received." In practice that means this tax has to be built into how you price your drinks, not tacked onto the check the way a sales tax normally is. There's no exemption carve-out for nonprofits or other exempt organizations — a permit holder under Tax Code Section 183.001(b)(1) owes it regardless of the entity type.

The sales tax: charged to the customer, with wording rules

The mixed beverage sales tax is a separate 8.25% (.0825) charge on the sale of the mixed beverage itself, and unlike the gross receipts tax, this one is meant to reach the customer. The Comptroller allows a permittee to pass it along either by "adding a line item for the mixed beverage sales tax on the bill" or by "including mixed beverage sales tax in the sales price" outright. If you itemize it, the Comptroller's guidance recognizes four acceptable ways to state it on a receipt: a statement that sales and MB sales taxes are included in the sales price; a separate line showing the amount of mixed beverage sales tax on that sale; a combined line showing the total mixed beverage taxes on the sale; or a combined line showing sales tax and mixed beverage sales tax together across all items. Whichever format you pick, the point is the same — the customer's receipt has to make clear what they were charged, in one of those recognized ways.

Why the same 8.25% shows up twice and isn't double taxation

It's a common point of confusion on a check that has both food and alcohol: the food and any soft drinks are taxed under the regular Texas sales tax (state 6.25% plus up to 2% local, capped at 8.25%), while the alcoholic mixed beverages are taxed under the entirely separate mixed beverage sales tax, which also happens to be set at 8.25%. They share a number, not a legal basis — an item is taxed under one system or the other, never both, so a $12 cocktail isn't paying 16.5% in combined sales tax. If the two figures on a receipt look identical, that's the two systems landing on the same rate, not a duplicate charge.

Who this actually applies to

These taxes only kick in if you hold a TABC permit that authorizes selling, preparing or serving mixed beverages, or selling mixers, for on-premise consumption — a restaurant with a beer-and-wine-only permit and no mixed drinks doesn't owe mixed beverage tax on those sales, though its beer and wine are still subject to the regular sales tax framework as retail sales. If you're not sure which of your TABC permit's privileges triggers mixed beverage tax versus ordinary sales tax, that split is worth nailing down with your permit type before you set your receipt wording — see the TABC permit types guide for what each permit actually authorizes.

Keep the bar's returns separate from the kitchen's

Because these are their own tax program with their own filing and remittance rules, most restaurants keep the bar's mixed beverage tax returns separate from the kitchen's regular sales tax return, even though both show up on the same nightly close. If you're taking online food orders through your own site, that sales-tax rate is set up to apply to food — mixed beverage tax on the bar side stays a separate return your accountant files under the mixed beverage tax program, not something a food-ordering cart calculates for you.