What is EPOS and how does it work?
EPOS stands for electronic point of sale. It is a digital system that replaces the mechanical cash register: it records every sale, calculates totals, applies discounts and VAT, and keeps a complete record of your transactions.
A traditional EPOS setup is a bundle of hardware — a touchscreen, a receipt printer, a cash drawer, perhaps a barcode scanner and a card terminal. Modern web-based systems like Mini Till run entirely in a browser on a device you already own, which brings EPOS within reach of even the smallest counter without any upfront spend.
When a customer buys something, the system looks up the price, adds it to the transaction, works out discounts and tax, records how it was paid, and stores the completed sale. That data then feeds the reports you use to understand the business and to meet your obligations to HMRC.
Tip: you do not need special hardware to start. A tablet or a smartphone running a web-based till is enough for most market stalls, pop-ups and small shops.
Why a digital till beats a cash register
Accuracy and speed
Products are pre-loaded with their correct prices, so the operator taps an item rather than keying a price. That speeds up the queue and removes the mistakes that creep in when someone is typing prices under pressure.
Automatic record keeping
Every transaction is recorded with a timestamp, an itemised list, the payment method and the total — a complete audit trail for tax returns, VAT submissions and settling disputes. A paper till roll fades, tears and goes missing; a CSV file does not.
Sales reporting
A digital till tells you your daily takings, best sellers, busiest hours and the card-to-cash split. That is the information behind good decisions on stock, staffing and pricing. A mechanical register gives you one number at the end of the day.
Lower cost of entry
Web-based systems run on hardware you already own — a tablet, a laptop, the phone in your pocket. Some, including Mini Till, are free to use.
Common EPOS features, explained
Stock management
Stock tracking counts what you have and reduces it with every sale, so you know when to reorder and never sell what you have run out of. It matters most for perishable goods and for businesses trading from more than one place. Mini Till's Pro stock system handles this across multiple locations with a central store.
Sales reporting
Reports summarise trading over any period — revenue, transaction counts, average sale, payment split, and product-level detail. You will lean on these for tax returns as much as for decisions.
Barcode scanning
Useful for retail with large catalogues. USB scanners start at around £20 and work with most systems; some tills scan with a phone camera instead. For a short menu — a coffee van, a cake stall — buttons are quicker than barcodes.
Discounts and promotions
Percentage or fixed-amount discounts applied to a sale, with the maths done for you. More elaborate systems add multi-buy offers and loyalty pricing; most small counters need far less than they are sold.
Product categories
Grouping products — food, drink, retail — keeps a longer list manageable and enables category-level reporting, so you can see which lines actually make the money.
HMRC requirements for record keeping
Every UK business, whatever its size, must keep adequate records of income and expenses. If you take cash or card payments through a till, that means keeping detailed transaction records.
What you must keep
- All sales and income, including cash and card transactions
- All purchases and expenses
- VAT records if you are VAT-registered — sales invoices, purchase receipts and a VAT account
- PAYE records if you employ anyone
- Daily gross takings if you run a retail business
How long to keep them
Self Assessment records: at least five years after the 31 January deadline of the relevant tax year. Limited company records: at least six years from the end of the financial year they cover. VAT records: six years.
Worth knowing: HMRC can penalise inadequate record keeping. A till that records every transaction automatically makes compliance a by-product of trading rather than a chore.
Making Tax Digital and your till
Making Tax Digital (MTD) is HMRC's programme to move tax records and returns into software. It is arriving in phases, and it changes what "keeping records" means in practice.
MTD for VAT
Since April 2022, all VAT-registered businesses must keep digital VAT records and file returns through MTD-compatible software. Your till provides the digital record of sales; you export it into your accounting package, or hand it to your accountant.
MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment
MTD for ITSA requires self-employed people and landlords above certain income thresholds to keep digital records and send quarterly updates. The rollout began in April 2026 for qualifying income over £50,000. If your sales already live in a till rather than a notebook, you are most of the way there.
Where the till fits
A till that exports CSV makes MTD compliance straightforward: import your sales into Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent — all MTD-compatible — instead of transcribing paper till rolls.
Note: Mini Till exports your full sales history as CSV from the Sales history section of the till, ready for MTD-compatible accounting software.
Setting up your first till
1. Choose your hardware
A tablet or laptop on a stand is plenty; a phone works. If you want receipts, thermal printers start at about £50 — though at most small counters nobody asks. For card payments you'll need a reader from SumUp, Square, Zettle or similar.
2. Add your products
Enter every product with a clear name and price, and put your fastest sellers first. The seconds this saves on each transaction add up to hours across a busy week.
3. Sort out your tax position
If you are VAT-registered, know which of your lines are standard, reduced or zero-rated, and how your till presents VAT. Mini Till treats prices as VAT-inclusive at 20% and shows the VAT portion on each sale.
4. Test before going live
Run several practice transactions before your first trading day — prices, discounts, change, the lot. Clear the test data before you start for real.
5. Train whoever's on the till
Everyone using it should be able to ring up a sale, apply a discount, take each payment type and clear a mistake. A few minutes of practice prevents expensive fumbles mid-queue.
Cash handling done properly
Card has overtaken cash, but notes and coins still matter at markets and fairs. Good cash habits protect you from theft, error and argument.
Opening
Start every day or shift with a counted float — typically £50 to £150 depending on your prices. Count it, write it down, and have a second person check it if you can.
During trading
- Leave the customer's note on top of the till while you count change, so there's no dispute about what they handed over
- Count change back out loud
- Keep the drawer or tin closed between transactions
- Drop excess cash to a safe during busy spells
- Never leave the till unattended with the drawer open
Closing
Count the drawer, subtract the float, and compare against the till's recorded cash sales. Investigate and note any difference. A few pence either way is normal; a pattern of shortfalls is a problem worth catching early.
Tip: keep a cash-up sheet recording the float, cash sales, counted cash and any variance. It creates a paper trail and shows up patterns.
Card payments
Card now accounts for well over half of UK retail transactions, and many customers carry no cash at all. Here's what small businesses need to know.
Choosing a reader
- SumUp — no monthly fee, 1.69% per transaction, reader from about £39
- Square — no monthly fee, 1.75% per transaction, reader from about £19
- Zettle by PayPal — no monthly fee, 1.75% per transaction, reader from about £29
- Dojo — subscription model, usually lower per-transaction rates at higher volume
Contactless
All modern readers take contactless cards and mobile wallets. The UK contactless limit is £100; above that the customer inserts their card and enters a PIN.
Settlement
Card money is not instant — it typically lands in your bank within one to three working days. Factor that into cash flow, especially in your first weeks.
Organising products and prices
Naming
Use short names anyone on the till can recognise at a glance. Put sizes in the name — "Latte – regular", "Latte – large" — rather than inventing extra categories.
Categories
Keep the structure simple; four to eight categories covers most small businesses. A café might use hot drinks, cold drinks, food and snacks; a market stall might need nothing more than main products and offers.
Pricing
Review prices at least quarterly against supplier costs. Psychological pricing (£2.99) earns its keep in retail; round numbers (£3.00) are faster where speed and change-giving matter — food, drink and busy stalls.
End-of-day reconciliation
Reconciliation is checking that the money you hold matches what the till says you took. Done daily, it keeps your records honest and catches problems while they're small.
- Bring up the till's end-of-day figures, broken down by payment method
- Count the cash and subtract the opening float
- Compare counted cash against the till's cash figure
- Compare the card reader's total against the till's card figure
- Note any differences on your cash-up sheet
- Investigate anything over £1 straight away
- Secure the takings or prepare the banking
- Export or back up the day's data
Worth repeating: don't skip reconciliation on quiet days. The habit is the point — consistent daily cashing up is the foundation of accurate records.
VAT and your till
If your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold (currently £90,000 a year) you must register for VAT; below it, you may register voluntarily. Your till is where VAT gets recorded correctly — or not.
The UK's VAT rates
- Standard (20%) — most goods and services
- Reduced (5%) — certain items such as children's car seats and domestic energy
- Zero (0%) — most cold takeaway food, children's clothing, books and newspapers
Getting it right at the counter
Mixed businesses need care: eat-in food is standard-rated while most cold takeaway food is zero-rated, so a café selling both must record them differently. Mistakes here are a compliance problem, not just an accounting one — if this applies to you, an accountant's hour is money well spent.
Reporting
Your till's export gives you total sales with the VAT portion shown, which feeds your quarterly MTD return. Keep the exports — they are your digital record.
Choosing the right system for your business
Market stalls and pop-ups
You need portable, simple and tolerant of patchy signal: a web till on a tablet or phone, offline-capable, cheap or free. This is the use case Mini Till was built for.
Cafés and coffee shops
Speed is everything: big tappable buttons, a short well-ordered menu, a reliable card reader. Eat-in versus takeaway VAT matters here. Kitchen display screens only earn their place once food orders get complex.
Small retail shops
Bigger catalogues benefit from barcode scanning, stock tracking and loyalty features. If you also sell online, look for stock that syncs with your e-commerce platform.
Food trucks and street food
Durability and simplicity: a tablet in a rugged case, a short menu grid, and a card reader with dependable mobile data. Wipe-clean beats feature-rich.
What it all costs
Free web-based tills cost nothing. Mid-range cloud systems run £30–£70 a month. Enterprise setups cost thousands up front plus fees. For most small businesses the free tier genuinely covers the job — Mini Till's till is free, and its multi-location stock system is £4 a month if you grow into needing it.
Tip: start free and learn which features you actually use before paying for any. Buying capability you never touch is the most common EPOS mistake there is.
Disclaimer: this guide is general information, not tax advice. VAT thresholds and rates change — check GOV.UK or ask an accountant for the current position.