A voucher is a certificate that serves as a form of prepaid redemption of a service or goods. A customer can purchase it in advance and then use it when paying at your business. In practice, this can be, for example, a gift voucher for a specific value or for a selected service or product.
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Important: In Storyous, you can use vouchers in several ways. We recommend consulting with your accountant or bookkeeper in advance to decide which option is the most suitable for your business. Each method may differ in how the voucher sale and its later redemption are recorded. From an accounting perspective, you may encounter two types of vouchers:
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If you are not sure which option is right for you, start by deciding how you want to use the voucher in practice:
- as a separate payment type,
- as a product for sale and later deduction,
- or as a fully digital voucher through an external integration.
1. Redeeming a voucher through a separate payment type
This option is suitable if you want to record the voucher as a separate payment type. In practice, it is most often used for multi-purpose vouchers (MPV), i.e. in situations where it is not clear in advance for which specific goods or service the customer will redeem the voucher.
The sale of the voucher is usually recorded through a separate product, for example Gift voucher. When the customer uses the voucher, the bill is closed with the Voucher payment type.
From an accounting perspective, this procedure makes sense precisely because VAT is only addressed at the customer's actual spending. However, it is good to keep in mind that in this variant Storyous itself does not track specific voucher numbers, their balance, or automatically check the remaining value.
Setting up the Voucher payment type
In the web administration, open:
- Settings (the gear icon in the top right corner),
- the Payment methods section,
- and enable the slider for the Voucher payment type so that it is active.
You can find the detailed step-by-step guide in the article Payment methods.
| Note: To make the change appear in the POS app as well, log out and log back in on the main device. The new payment type will then appear in the payment completion window, or under the Other button. |
Using the voucher during payment
If the voucher value exactly matches the bill total, simply select the Voucher payment type when closing the bill.
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Tip: If the voucher value is different from the final bill amount, you can use split payment. This allows the customer to pay part of the bill with the voucher and the rest, for example, by card or cash. You can find the detailed procedure in the article Split payment, specifically in the By price section. If split payment is not yet activated for your business, contact our customer support. We can activate this feature for you free of charge. |
2. Voucher recorded through products
This option is suitable if you want to record the voucher through products and at the same time have a better overview of how many vouchers you still have available.
In practice, this variant is more suitable for single-purpose vouchers (SPV), i.e. in cases where the type of supply and the VAT rate are known in advance.
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Note: For multi-purpose vouchers (MPV), we generally do not recommend this variant, because it may not correctly reflect different VAT rates and can distort the overview of sales and margins. Moreover, if the negative item is set at a 0% VAT rate, it may lead to an incorrect reduction of the tax base. We therefore recommend using this procedure only if you have it agreed in advance with your accountant or tax advisor. For non-VAT payers, this variant may be simpler in practice, but it still remains rather a workaround with an impact on reports. |
Czech Republic – products with positive and negative values
In the web administration, create two products:
- one with a positive value, for example Voucher 500 CZK,
- and one with a negative value, for example Voucher -500 CZK.
Alternatively, you can create a product with a value of 1 CZK and then enter the number of units according to the amount you want to redeem.
You can create products in the Setup → Products section of the administration. More information can be found in the article Products.
| Note: To make the new products appear in the POS, check that they are assigned to a category and enabled for display on the device. Then log out and log back in on the main device. |
Using the products in practice:
- When selling a voucher, you mark the product with a positive value.
- When redeeming a voucher, you mark the product with a negative value, which reduces the final bill amount.
| Warning: This option should always be discussed in advance with your accountant so that the recording method matches your accounting procedures. |
Slovakia – through the Voucher exchange function
In Slovakia, single-purpose vouchers (SPV) are handled through the dedicated Voucher exchange function , because VAT is settled already at the time of sale. The voucher is therefore not set up only as a payment type, but as a product, and it is later redeemed using the Voucher exchange function.
| Important: The complete procedure, including the setup of the sale, the Voucher exchange function and detailed examples for individual VAT rates (23%, 5%, exempt supply and non-VAT payer), is described in detail in the article Voucher exchange function. |
3. Digital vouchers through partner integrations
If you want to sell and redeem digital gift vouchers, you can also use partner integrations.
In the Czech Republic, this option is available through Qasima.
In Slovakia, relevant Storyous partners currently include:
- Rewardly,
- VEXiON Cards,
- CareCloud.
The available options may vary depending on the partner and the specific solution. If you are interested in a voucher solution through a partner integration, please contact our sales team.