Caterers and event organisers
You collect a deposit months ahead, pay a dozen suppliers on the day, and hire staff for eight hours. Here is how to keep that legible.
Catering and events run on other people's money and other people's labour. A client pays a deposit in advance. On the day you pay the venue, the rentals, the food suppliers, and a crew hired for that event only.
Everything is short-term, which makes the records unusually easy to lose.
Money received is not yet money earned
A deposit taken in March for a December event is in your account nine months before the work happens, and the costs of that event are almost entirely still ahead of you.
Treating deposits as available cash is the most common way event businesses run into trouble: the money is spent on this month's operations, and the event's actual costs have to be funded from the next client's deposit. That works until bookings slow down, at which point it stops working suddenly.
For record-keeping there is a matching point: money received in advance should not be recorded as though the job is complete. And your contract should say what happens to the deposit if a client cancels, because that conversation is much worse when it is improvised.
Your suppliers are your biggest paperwork risk
An event might involve a venue, a rental company, a florist, several food suppliers, a sound provider, and a photographer. Some are established businesses that issue proper documents. Many are small operators who deal in cash and issue nothing.
That matters because your costs only count as costs if they are supported. A caterer with substantial income and unsupported expenses looks, on paper, far more profitable than they are, and the resulting tax picture is unpleasant.
The practical response is to make documentation part of supplier selection. A supplier who cannot issue anything is more expensive than their quote suggests, and for larger amounts it is worth paying slightly more for one who can.
Staff hired for a day
Events run on temporary crew: servers, kitchen help, riggers, coordinators. They work one day, get paid in cash, and disappear until the next event.
They are still workers. Whether a given person is an employee or an independent contractor depends on the substance of the arrangement, and short duration does not automatically make someone independent. Where you direct the work, set the hours, and provide the equipment, the arrangement looks like employment even if it lasts eight hours.
At minimum, keep a record of who worked, when, and what they were paid. Without it you have an unsupported cost and they have an undocumented income.
Corporate clients change the paperwork
Companies booking events will need proper documents from you and will generally deduct something before paying, remitting it in your name. Collect the certificate for each payment: it is an advance against your own tax and you cannot claim it without proof.
They also pay on their own schedule, often well after the event, while your suppliers and crew were paid on the day. That gap is the reason many event businesses need working capital despite being profitable.
Practical footing
Run a file per event: contract, deposit, payments, supplier costs, crew, and the final settlement. The business becomes readable one event at a time.
Track deposits separately so you know how much of your balance is committed.
Insist on documents from suppliers, and treat those who cannot as costlier.
Keep a crew log for every event.
Running events and unsure how to handle deposits or undocumented suppliers? Ask AskOnward for a clear answer from the official BIR rules, so a profitable season looks profitable on paper too.
This article is for general information and is not affiliated with the government. For official forms and the latest rules, see the Bureau of Internal Revenue at bir.gov.ph.