What is a white till (GKS)?

Who needs a white till?

The operator of a business where meals are eaten, and the caterer who provides catering services, once annual revenue from restaurant and catering services exceeds 25,000 euros excluding VAT. That applies to restaurants, but also to snack bars, cafés and tearooms where people eat, and to a bakery or butcher with a seating area. A food truck is covered if an eating area with facilities is provided, or if it provides catering services for a client; food that customers take away and eat elsewhere does not count.

If you start a new business and expect to exceed the threshold, you register by the end of the second month after starting, and you use the white till by the end of the third month at the latest.

Only meals count towards that threshold: drinks do not, not even with a meal, and neither do takeaway meals or sales of groceries. If you have never been above the threshold, a white till is not required, but you still give a bill or receipt. Once you have been above it, the obligation remains, even if revenue later falls; it only ends when you no longer provide restaurant or catering services. There are exemptions, among others for meals on the hotel bill and, under conditions, for a company restaurant that serves only the company's own staff during working hours.

These rules apply in Belgium. What applies to till data in the Netherlands is explained under POS system.

How does a white till work?

Above the threshold you give a VAT till receipt for every sale of food and drink, including drinks and takeaway meals. An invoice never replaces that receipt. The till records every transaction and a fiscal data module (FDM), the so-called black box, stores the data. With a first-generation white till, a separate VAT Signing Card (VSC) signs it. You keep that data as long as the rest of your records.

If the system fails, you write bills or receipts from a stock you keep on the premises, and report the problem to the GKS service of the FPS Finance within seven calendar days.

What changes with GKS 2.0?

GKS 2.0 has been mandatory since 1 July 2026. The till and the fiscal module must be certified again for it, and the data goes to the FPS Finance almost in real time. A new hospitality business chooses GKS 2.0 straight away. Anyone who already has a white till switches according to the purchase date of their current till:

• bought before 1 January 2018: by 1 July 2027 at the latest;
• bought from 2018 to 2021 inclusive: by 1 July 2028 at the latest;
• bought from 1 January 2022: by 1 January 2029 at the latest.

If you have several tills, the most recently bought one counts. Your own deadline is in the GKS e-service, under My profile. Compare POS systems for Belgium and ask the supplier for the GKS 2.0 certificate.