Toast POS Receipt

Toast is a restaurant POS, and its receipts show it

Toast is built specifically for restaurants, and that shapes what its receipts look like. Where a retail POS prints a simple list of items, a Toast receipt reflects the way restaurant service actually works: a check opened at a table, items fired to the kitchen over time, a tip added after the card is authorized, and a check that may be split between several guests.

Understanding that flow explains the two things diners most often puzzle over — why the receipt shows an amount that differs from what posts to the card, and why there are two slips at the end of a meal.

The two-slip mystery, and why your card shows a different amount

At a full-service restaurant on Toast, paying by card typically produces a merchant copy (which you sign, with the tip line filled in) and a customer copy for you to keep. The card is first authorized for the pre-tip total, and the tip is added afterwards when the server closes the check.

This is why your banking app may briefly show a pending charge for the meal without the tip, then settle a day or two later at the full amount. Nothing has gone wrong — the pending authorization and the final settled charge are two stages of the same transaction. The receipt in your hand shows the intended total; the settled charge is what actually leaves your account.

Getting a copy of a Toast receipt after you leave

Restaurants running Toast keep a complete record of every check, and staff can look up a past transaction from the Toast back office by date, amount, card last four digits, or check number. If you need a copy for an expense report, calling the restaurant with the date and approximate amount is usually enough for them to find and resend it.

Toast can also deliver receipts digitally by email or text at the point of payment, and many restaurants prompt for this on the payment screen or on a handheld device at the table. Taking the digital copy is the simplest way to avoid needing a lookup at all — particularly for business meals, where the itemized receipt matters far more than the card slip.

Itemized receipt vs card slip — the one that matters for expenses

For a business meal, the credit-card slip alone is often not sufficient documentation. It shows a total and a tip, but not what was purchased, and expense policies (and tax rules on meal deductions) frequently require the itemized detail:

• The itemized receipt lists each dish and drink, subtotal, tax, and the check number.

• The card slip shows only the total, the tip line, the card's last four digits, and the authorization.

Keep both if you can, and if you can only keep one, keep the itemized receipt. Alcohol lines matter too — some employers reimburse food but not alcohol, and only the itemized version distinguishes them.