Salon accounting software in Ireland for hair and beauty businesses

The Government reduced the VAT rate for hairdressing services to 9% from 1 July 2026. Services before that date stay at 13.5%, so your 2026 books should show both rates, split at 1 July. Beauty treatments and retail products are separate questions: check each in Revenue’s VAT rates database rather than assuming they follow hairdressing.

A salon supplies services, so the relevant registration threshold is €42,500 a year, not the €85,000 for goods. A busy salon reaches that quickly. Keep a rolling twelve-month total of sales so you know when you are getting close, and talk to your accountant about the timing of registration.

Gift vouchers sold in the salon deserve their own account until they are redeemed, so they are not counted twice.

Record takings from your booking or till system’s daily report, split between services and products and by VAT rate. Card payouts arrive in the bank net of fees, so record the gross takings and the processing fee separately. HelloBooks matches the payouts to the takings when you upload the bank statement.

Colour, styling products and retail stock come from a few wholesalers on regular invoices. Photograph or upload each one and HelloBooks reads it, proposes the cost account and VAT treatment, and matches it to the payment. Separating products used in the chair from products sold to clients makes your margins much clearer.

Salon clients are mostly consumers, so many salons can account for VAT on the moneys received basis, when they are paid rather than when they invoice. The conditions are the same as for any business: turnover of no more than €2,000,000 in a continuous twelve months, or at least 90% of sales made to customers who are unregistered or cannot fully reclaim VAT.

Many salons pay a mix of wages and commission.

HelloBooks does not run Irish payroll. Run wages in your payroll product and post the totals to the books after each pay run; a direct payroll journal import is coming soon. Commission paid to stylists should be coded consistently so you can see it against the services they deliver.