Server & staff tip-out calculator
Split your tips with support staff by your house's tip-out percentages, or divide a pooled amount by hours worked.
Enter your restaurant's own percentages. Typical ranges by role are on the standard tip-out percentages page.
Each share = (person's hours ÷ everyone's hours) × the pool. The $/hr column shows each share divided by that person's hours.
Tip pooling vs. tipping out
Tipping out (the percentage tab) is the classic full-service model: each server keeps their own tips and pays a fixed percentage to the people who supported their tables — bussers, food runners, bartenders, sometimes hosts. Tip pooling (the hours tab) puts everything into one pot and divides it by an agreed formula, most often hours worked.
Know the rules
Federal law sets the floor: tips belong to employees, managers and supervisors may not take a share, and if the employer claims a tip credit — counting your tips toward the minimum wage it owes you — the pool may only include workers who customarily receive tips. Many states layer on stricter rules: some ban the tip credit entirely, some regulate who can be in a pool. Your state's rules are on the tip pooling rules by state pages.
Know your rights and the going rates
How to use this calculator
There are two tabs, because tips get split two different ways:
- By percentage — for tipping out. Enter your sales and your tips for the shift, then list each support role and the percentage they get. The tool subtracts each tip-out and shows what you keep. Switch the basis between percent of your sales and percent of your tips, since houses use both.
- By hours worked — for a pooled shift. Enter the total pool and everyone's hours, and the tool splits the pot in proportion to hours, showing each person's share and their effective dollars per hour.
The math behind the split
Both methods:
Percentage: each tip-out = base × percentage, where the base is your sales or
your tips. You keep your tips minus the total tipped out.
Hours: each share = (that person's hours ÷ everyone's hours) × the pool.
Tip-out FAQs
Are tip-outs based on tips or on sales?
Both are used. Percent-of-tips scales the tip-out with what you actually earned; percent-of-sales does not, so a table that leaves no tip still produces a tip-out. This calculator supports both — switch the basis in the percentage tab.
Do tip-outs apply to cash tips?
House policy decides which tips the percentages apply to, including whether cash tips are counted.
Are tip-outs taxable?
You report the tips you keep, and the people you tip out report what they receive. Your taxable tips are your total tips minus what you tipped out.
Can a manager be in the tip-out?
No. Federal law bars managers, supervisors, and owners from taking any share of a tip pool or tip-out. See who can be in a tip pool.
What if my tip-out is more than I made in tips?
On a sales basis the tip-out is a percentage of your sales, not of your tips, so a low-tip shift can produce a tip-out larger than your tips. The calculator flags it when that happens.