Menu prices in Iceland: what you must show, and where

Guests in Iceland expect the price on the menu to be the price they pay, and the rules say the same. The rules are short, and most of them are about where the prices must be visible. This guide goes through them as of October 2026: what the price must include, where the menu must be, what the drinks list needs, how to handle service charges and tips, and how Neytendastofa (the Consumer Agency) checks.

The rule in one sentence

Show the final price in Icelandic krónur, with VAT and all other public charges included.¹ The rule applies at the place of sale and also in distance sales, so it covers the printed menu, the QR menu and online ordering.¹

The detailed rules are Neytendastofa’s rules no. 537/2011 on price information for services. A new Marketing Act took effect in 2026, and the last section of this guide explains what that changed.

The menu at the entrance

The rules have one sentence written for restaurants: “Restaurants must always have a menu with a price list at the entrance door. In price information about drinks, the sizes must also be stated.”¹ The full price list must also be shown clearly where you serve, so that it is easy to see which price belongs to which dish.¹ The regulation on restaurants adds that a list of the prices of all food and drink on offer must be available to guests.⁷

A QR code at the door is an extra, not the menu

In 2025, Neytendastofa fined the operator of Fröken Selfoss 50.000 kr. At the inspection there was no menu with prices at the entrance. The restaurant explained that menus lay on the bar counter inside, and that four signs outside had a QR code to the menu on its website.³

Neytendastofa decided that a menu that guests can reach at the entrance only through a QR code is not a price display that is prominent and easy to see. In this case the code was also on a sign together with other information.³

The simple answer is a printed menu with prices in a frame at the door or in the window, where a guest can read it before they come in. A QR code next to it is a good extra, for example for other languages or for allergen information.

Drinks: the size and the measure

Every drink on the list needs its size, for example 33 cl, 50 cl, 4 cl or 175 ml.¹ Neytendastofa inspected food halls in the capital area in 2022 and fined 13 operators. In all 13 cases the fine was about the drinks: the size, or the size and the price, was missing.⁵

When you pour spirits, you must use verified measures (löggilt mælitæki).⁷ In 2015, Neytendastofa visited three restaurants in Hveragerði and three in Selfoss. All six had a menu at the entrance. Two had no drink sizes on the menu, and five used pourers that were not verified.⁶

Service charges and other extra costs

If any other cost is added to the price, you must state it specifically.¹ This covers a service charge, a charge for large groups and a delivery fee.

The clearest choice is to put the cost into the menu price, so the menu shows the whole price. If you add a service charge to the bill instead, state it on the menu at the entrance, on the table menu and in the online menu, so that every guest sees it before they order.

VAT is calculated on the full amount that the seller charges. The VAT Act counts other amounts that the seller requires from the buyer as a condition of the sale as part of that amount.¹² By that wording, a compulsory service charge is part of your taxable sales. We found no ruling from Skatturinn about service charges in restaurants, so confirm how to record it with your accountant before you add one.

Tips

Iceland has no tradition of tipping. The Director of Internal Revenue (ríkisskattstjóri) said so in an interview in 2017.¹¹ Some guests, often visitors, leave a tip anyway. In the same interview, he described how tips are taxed:

• A tip is taxable income for the employee who gets it. The Income Tax Act counts direct gifts of money as taxable income.¹⁰ The employee must declare tips on their tax return.¹¹
• When a guest adds a tip to a card payment, the amount above the bill belongs to the staff. The business records it as owed to its employees and shares it out by its own rules.¹¹
• The employer reports these payments in the annual data return to Skatturinn in January.¹¹

These points come from a news interview, not from a written guideline, and we found no newer guidance from Skatturinn. Ask your accountant how to report card tips and whether to withhold tax on them through payroll.

If you turn on a tip screen on your card terminal, keep the menu price as the full price, so that a tip stays a free choice for the guest. Agree with your staff how tips are shared, and write it down.

Price mistakes

You must sell at the price that you showed, even when that price is a mistake. The exception is a mistake that the guest can clearly see.¹ Neytendastofa explains why: guests choose by the price that they see, not by the price that the POS shows when they pay.⁹

Here is an example. The printed menu at the door says 2.490 kr. for the fish soup, but you raised the price to 2.690 kr. on the POS last week. A guest who orders the soup pays 2.490 kr. Change the printed menu, the QR menu and the online menu on the same day as the POS.

When you change a price in the back office in Resto, the POS, the kiosk and online ordering all show the new price. The printed menu at the door is the one copy that you change by hand. See the menu in Resto.

Prices in a foreign currency

The price must be in krónur.¹ Many restaurants also show a price in euros for visitors. We found no decision or guidance from Neytendastofa about a second currency on a menu. If you show one, keep the króna price as the main price on every line, and ask Neytendastofa if you are unsure.

How Neytendastofa inspects

Neytendastofa gives a restaurant time to fix the problem before it fines. The published decisions show the same steps each time:³⁴

1. An inspector visits, notes the problems on an inspection sheet and leaves a letter. A member of your staff signs the sheet.
2. Neytendastofa sends a letter that explains the rules and tells you what to fix.
3. An inspector visits again a few weeks later.
4. If the problem is still there, you get two weeks to send your comments.
5. Neytendastofa decides on a fine.

For Fröken Selfoss, the first visit was on 28–29 January 2025 and the letter came on 7 February. The second visit was on 26 February, and the decision was dated 15 May 2025.³

In the food-hall inspection, the visits were on 1 September and 13 October 2022, and the 13 decisions were dated 19 December 2022.⁵ The amounts were:

The 150.000 kr. fine went to an operator with three restaurants in two food halls.⁴ In every case, the fine came only after a letter with instructions and a second visit. Fix the problem as soon as the first letter comes.

What changed in 2026

The Marketing Act no. 44/2026 took effect on 16 May 2026 and replaced Act no. 57/2005.² It says that a business must state the price of its goods and services clearly, and the minister can set more detailed rules in a regulation.²

Until the minister sets new regulations, the existing rules stay in force where they agree with the new act.² In June 2026, Neytendastofa applied this to its parallel rules for goods (536/2011). It also said that the new act made no material change to the rules on price marking.⁸ We read this to mean that the restaurant rules in 537/2011 also still apply. A new regulation can replace them, so check Neytendastofa’s website for news.

The maximum fine is now 4 % of the last year’s turnover or the value of EUR 2 million, whichever is higher.² That is a ceiling: the fines in the restaurant decisions above were 50.000 to 150.000 kr.

A check at your own front door

Before a busy season, walk out of the restaurant and come back in as a guest.

1. A printed menu with prices hangs at the entrance, and you can read it from outside.
2. Every price is in krónur and includes VAT.
3. Every drink on the list shows its size.
4. The bar pours spirits with verified measures.
5. A service charge or any other extra cost is on the menu at the door, on the table and online.
6. The printed menu, the QR menu, the online menu and the POS show the same prices.

For how to set the prices themselves, see food cost and menu pricing.