Gift Card Liability Without the Toast Gift Card Module

Last updated: Dec 17, 2025, 10:59 AM

Learn how to manage gift card liability when your Toast Gift Card module is deactivated.

In this Article:

 

Gift Card Liability Overview

When your Toast Gift Card module is deactivated, your restaurant will no longer be able to sell or activate new gift cards, and the functionality to redeem existing gift cards will no longer be available. 
 

If you have outstanding gift card balances when your Toast Gift Card access is removed, your restaurant is still liable for those past purchases. If you do not import existing gift card balances into a different system, you must manually keep track of balances and redemptions.   

The following sections will help you manage the process.

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Gift Card Reporting

You can find a report of all of your gift cards in Toast Web:

  1. From the home page, navigate to Reports > Payments > Gift card balances.
  2. From here, you can view gift card balance information. If you do not have any gift cards, the report will not load.
 

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Recommended Gift Card Redemption Method

Once Toast's Gift Card Module is turned off, you must manually manage all gift card redemptions. Note that at this point, your guests cannot redeem their gift cards on Toast's Online Ordering system.
 

To manually support Toast Gift Cards, you will need to create a payment option in order to close out open checks where guests plan on redeeming a gift card.

 

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Create a Payment Option

To create a payment option. Follow the steps below:

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to the Payments > Other payment options
  2. Select +Add in the Other Payment Options section.
  3. Create your new payment option by completing the following information. Note: While some settings in the Other Payment Options section should be set up as seen below, other settings you see on this page are optional and can be changed based on your preference.
  • Name: label your payment option with a name that will indicate it is a payment option for gift cards, we recommend naming the payment option Gift Card.
  • Treat as a Discount: Since this will be used as a form of payment, select No for Treat as a Discount.
  • Tax Exempt: Gift cards do not exempt an order from being taxable so leave Tax Exempt set as No.
 

Use the New Payment Option to Redeem a Gift Card in POS

If a guest would like to redeem their balance on a gift card purchased via the Toast Gift Card module, you will need to use the new Payment Option created in order to close the check. Follow these steps:
 

STEP ONE - Confirm and adjust the gift card balance.

  1. Use the gift card balance report to confirm the gift card and its balance.
  2. Manually adjust the balance accordingly depending on how much of the gift card your guest will be using. Note: If you are a multi-location establishment, you must keep track of locations where gift cards are purchased vs. redeemed.


STEP TWO - Close the check in the POS.
 

Now that the balance has been confirmed and manually adjusted, it is time to apply the payment to the guest's check.

  1. From the payment screen, indicate how much the payment is worth in the Amount Tendered section. In this example, the gift card was adjusted by $5.00, as that is the remaining balance on the card.

     amount tendered

  2.  Next, select Gift Card from the payment options on the right side of the screen.
  3. Select the new payment option you set up to redeem gift cards.
  4. If applicable, confirm the partial payment in the next screen by selecting Yes. 
     
    gift card prompt
  5. The partial payment now appears on the Payment Screen. Other forms of payment can be applied to cover any remaining balance.

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Track Sales Made with Gift Card Payments

In order to track sales using alternative methods for redeeming and honoring gift cards, these payments will also appear in a new section of the Sales Summary Report.

 

In the payment breakdown section, you will find these payments tracked in the Other category as seen below. 


 Sales Summary Report with the "Other" button highlighted
 

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Multi-Location Gift Card Tracking

With the Toast Gift Card module, Toast will automatically track and highlight instances where a gift card is purchased at one location but redeemed at another. When your Toast Gift Card module is deactivated, tracking on inter-location gift card liability will become manual. For financial record-keeping purposes, we recommend tracking shifts in liability. Details such as where the card was initially purchased compared to where the card is ultimately redeemed should be tracked closely to ensure your restaurant's records are up-to-date according to your local regulations.
 

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