A restaurant establishment operator that makes tax-exempt supplies of meals, in a residential and long-term care centre or a seniors' residence, for example, can be exempted from having to produce bills using a sales recording module (SRM) when suppling meals in the operator's establishment.

In order for the exemption to be granted, one of the following conditions must be met:

• The supply of taxable meals in the operator's establishment did not exceed $30,000 in the course of the four calendar quarters preceding a given calendar quarter.  
• The supply of taxable meals in the operator's establishment represents no more than 10% of the total supply of meals, which includes the supply of taxable meals (other than zero-rated meals), tax-exempt meals and meals that are part of a single tax-exempt supply.  

In such cases, the bar operator can be exempted from having to produce a bill using an SRM when the operator makes a supply of certain property or services in the establishment (or at its entrance or near the establishment).

In addition, such a bar operator can be exempted from having to file form VD-350.51.1-V, Information Return Concerning Contracts Respecting the Supply of Property or Services in a Restaurant Establishment, when a person ordinarily makes a supply of property or services in the operator's bar (or at its entrance or near the establishment). This person can also be granted an exemption from the obligations, including that of having to produce bills using an SRM for the supply of services and property other than meals.

Such a bar operator can be exempted from having to enter into a written agreement with another person that makes supplies on an exceptional basis in the operator's establishment (or at its entrance or near the establishment).

This exemption is valid for a given calendar quarter and the month that follows it. When an operator ceases to benefit from the exemption for a quarter, the operator can no longer benefit from the present exemption afterwards. In addition, the exemption is automatically revoked where a person that ordinarily makes a supply of property or services in an operator's establishment (or at its entrance or near the establishment) no longer benefits from an exemption.

The operator of a restaurant establishment covered by this exemption must, however, provide clients with bills for taxable meals (including an alcoholic beverage served without food) bearing the following information:

• the name under which the operator conducts business;
• the address of the establishment (it must correspond to the address of the place where the property and services are supplied);
• the date the bill was prepared;
• the bill number;
• a detailed description of each food item and beverage sold;
• the price of each food item and beverage sold (if an item is free of charge, it must be indicated as such on the bill);
• the total before taxes;
• the GST registration number;
• the QST registration number;
• the amount of GST;
• the amount of QST;
• the total of the bill including taxes.

In addition, when there is no obligation to produce bills using an SRM, the usual rules set forth in the Act respecting the Québec sales tax apply, notably the requirement to list the amount of tax on bills.

The above is only a summary of the exemption. Note that the full text of the exemption takes precedence over this summary.

To read the full text, see Exemption Granted by the Minister: Tax-Exempt Supplies (DIS-350.57.FE-V) in the Exemptions section under Publication of Information.