Tip calculator for any bill: tip on the pre-tax or after-tax total, then split it evenly or by shares, with each person's share rounded up.
The bill comes to $106.47 with tax and tip. Each of the 4 people pays $26.62, which leaves $0.01 extra for the tip.
| Person | Share | Exact | Pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Person 1 | 1 | 26.6175 | $26.62 |
| Person 2 | 1 | 26.6175 | $26.62 |
| Person 3 | 1 | 26.6175 | $26.62 |
| Person 4 | 1 | 26.6175 | $26.62 |
Rounding collects $0.01 more than the bill; it is added to the tip.
The bill plus sales tax plus the tip gives the total, and the total is divided among the diners. The tip is a percentage of either the pre-tax bill or the bill with tax. An even split divides by the number of people; a split by shares gives each person a weight, so shares of 1, 1 and 2 make the third person pay half the total. Each share is then rounded up to the step you choose.
With the defaults, an 84.50 bill with 8% tax and an 18% tip on the pre-tax amount comes to 106.47. Split four ways that is 26.6175 each, which rounds up to 26.62, so the table collects one cent more than the bill and the extra cent goes to the tip.
Rounding up to 1, 5 or 10 makes cash easier to hand over. To keep the total exact, choose "Person 1 pays less" and the first person covers whatever the others' rounded shares leave.
Most common tip rates can be built from 10%, which is the bill with the decimal point moved one place left. On a bill of 67.40:
Where sales tax is close to 9%, doubling the tax line lands near 18%: 9% of 67.40 is 6.07, and twice that is 12.14, one cent more than the 18% tip. At 7.25% tax the same trick gives only 14.5%, so check the local rate before relying on it.
The calculator does the same sums without rounding along the way. With 7.25% sales tax, an 18% tip on the pre-tax 67.40 and three people splitting, the tax is 4.89, the tip 12.13 and the total 84.42, or 28.14 each once each share is rounded up to the cent. Rounding each share up to a whole unit instead makes it 29 each: the table hands over 87, and the tip grows to 21.83% of the bill. Rounding up to 5 means 30 each and a 26.28% tip. The "Tip including rounding" figure shows this, so check it before choosing a large rounding step.
Tips on the amount before tax, to the cent:
| Bill | 10% | 15% | 18% | 20% | 22% | 25% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1.00 | 1.50 | 1.80 | 2.00 | 2.20 | 2.50 |
| 20 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 3.60 | 4.00 | 4.40 | 5.00 |
| 25 | 2.50 | 3.75 | 4.50 | 5.00 | 5.50 | 6.25 |
| 30 | 3.00 | 4.50 | 5.40 | 6.00 | 6.60 | 7.50 |
| 40 | 4.00 | 6.00 | 7.20 | 8.00 | 8.80 | 10.00 |
| 50 | 5.00 | 7.50 | 9.00 | 10.00 | 11.00 | 12.50 |
| 60 | 6.00 | 9.00 | 10.80 | 12.00 | 13.20 | 15.00 |
| 75 | 7.50 | 11.25 | 13.50 | 15.00 | 16.50 | 18.75 |
| 100 | 10.00 | 15.00 | 18.00 | 20.00 | 22.00 | 25.00 |
| 150 | 15.00 | 22.50 | 27.00 | 30.00 | 33.00 | 37.50 |
| 200 | 20.00 | 30.00 | 36.00 | 40.00 | 44.00 | 50.00 |
For a bill between two rows, add the rows that make it up: the 18% tip on 135 is the tip on 100 plus the tip on 25 plus the tip on 10, or 18.00 + 4.50 + 1.80 = 24.30.
Tipping on the total with tax adds the tip rate times the tax. On a 120 bill with 7.25% sales tax, a 20% tip is 24.00 on the pre-tax amount and 25.74 on the total, a difference of 120 × 0.0725 × 0.20 = 1.74. That is less than the 2.40 between an 18% and a 20% tip on the same bill.
The "before tax" setting only applies where tax is added at the till, as with US sales tax. Menu prices in Great Britain must already include VAT under the Price Marking (Food and Drink Services) Order 2003, article 4(4), so the bill in front of you is the after-tax figure. Enter it as the bill and set sales tax to 0. At the UK's 20% rate, VAT is one-sixth of a VAT-inclusive price, so a £60 bill is £50 before VAT; a 10% tip is £6.00 on the bill as printed and £5.00 on the pre-VAT amount.
Service charges added by the restaurant work differently from tips. In the UK, a compulsory service charge is part of the price and carries VAT, while an optional service charge or a tip is outside the scope of VAT (HMRC VAT Notice 700, section 8.14). In Singapore, hotels and restaurants that add a service charge may show menu prices before GST, and GST is charged on both the food and the service charge (IRAS). A S$100 meal with a 10% service charge and 9% GST comes to 110 × 1.09 = S$119.90. To reproduce that in the calculator, enter 110 as the bill with 9% tax and no tip. Entering 100 with a 10% tip on the pre-tax bill gives S$119.00, because the calculator's tax applies to the bill only; switching the tip to the after-tax bill gives the right S$119.90 total, but splits it as S$9.00 tax and S$10.90 tip instead of S$9.90 GST and S$10.00 service.
| Country | What to expect at a restaurant | Source |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 15–20% of the pre-tax bill for table service, 10% at a buffet | Emily Post Institute |
| United Kingdom (London) | 10–15% when no service charge is on the bill; restaurants often add a 12.5% service charge, which counts as the tip | Visit London |
| United Kingdom | Compulsory service charges carry VAT; optional ones and tips do not. Since 1 October 2024, employers in England, Scotland and Wales must pass all tips and service charges to workers | VAT Notice 700; Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 |
| France | Menu prices must include taxes and service ("prix service compris"), so the printed total already pays for service | Arrêté du 27 mars 1987 |
| Japan | Tipping is not common in restaurants, bars, cafes, taxis or hotels; a private guide may accept a tip, given discreetly in an envelope | Japan National Tourism Organization |
| Singapore | Hotels and restaurants that add a service charge may list prices before GST, and GST is charged on the service charge as well as the food | IRAS |
Where a service charge is already on the bill, set the tip to 0 and add only what you want on top.
Many US tips are flat amounts rather than percentages. The Emily Post Institute's guide gives these ranges:
| Service | Suggested tip |
|---|---|
| Take-out | No obligation; 10% for curbside delivery or a large, complicated order |
| Delivery | 10–15% of the bill; $2–5 for pizza |
| Bartender | $1–2 a drink, or 15–20% of the tab |
| Valet | $2–5 when the car is returned |
| Hotel housekeeper | $2–5 a day, left daily |
| Bellhop or skycap | $2 for the first bag, $1 for each additional bag |
| Taxi | 15–20% of the fare, at least $1 |
| Hair salon, manicure, massage | 15–20% |
For a flat tip, divide it by the bill to find the percentage to enter: a $5 tip on a $32 delivery order is 5 ÷ 32 = 15.6%.
An even split works when everyone ordered about the same. When one of three diners also had a starter and a glass of wine, use shares: weights of 1, 1 and 1.5 put 1.5/3.5, or 42.9%, of the total on the third person. Tax and tip are split in the same proportion, so the result matches separate bills when the weights match what each person ordered.
Shares are always rounded up, never to the nearest step, so the table never collects less than the bill. That also means a large step on a small bill overshoots. Four people splitting 106.47 and rounding up to 5 pay 30 each: 120 in total, a 34.01% tip on an 84.50 bill instead of 18%. With "Person 1 pays less", the first person takes whatever the others' rounded shares leave. That fits a table where one person pays by card and the others pay them back in round cash amounts: on the default 106.47 bill rounded to whole units, the card holder pays the restaurant 106.47, collects 27 from each of the other three and is left paying 25.47. If those shares already exceed the bill, as with four people rounding an 18.00 bill up to 10, the calculator stops and asks for a smaller step.
Checked against: Python decimal: 84.50×0.08, 84.50×0.18, 106.47/4 = 26.6175 → ceil to 26.62; (15.21+0.01)/84.50
Checked against: Python decimal: ceil(26.6175) = 27; 106.47 − 3×27 = 25.47
Checked against: Hand calculation: (100 + 10) × 0.20 = 22
Checked against: Python decimal: 22.5, 22.5, 45 → 25, 25, 45; extra 5 / 90 = 5.56%
In the US, 15–20% of the pre-tax bill for table service and 10% at a buffet, according to the Emily Post Institute's tipping guide. Tips make up much of a server's pay there: federal law lets employers pay tipped workers a cash wage of $2.13 an hour and count tips towards the rest of the $7.25 minimum wage (US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet 15).
Etiquette guides such as the Emily Post Institute's give tip percentages of the pre-tax bill. Tipping on the total with tax adds the tip rate times the tax: on a 100 bill with 10% tax, a 20% tip is 20 before tax and 22 after it. Use the "Tip calculated on" setting to compare the two.
Give each person a share and divide the total in proportion. For a 90 bill split 1, 1 and 2, the shares add to 4, so the first two pay 22.50 each and the third pays 45. Rounding each share up to 5 gives 25, 25 and 45: the table collects 95, and the extra 5 is a 5.56% tip on the 90 bill.
Not under US federal wage law: a compulsory charge, such as 15% added to every bill, is not a tip under the Fair Labor Standards Act (Department of Labor, Fact Sheet 15). In England, Scotland and Wales, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 has required employers since 1 October 2024 to pass all tips and service charges to workers without deductions other than tax. Check the bill for a service charge before adding a tip.
Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 4 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “84.50 bill, 8% tax, 18% tip, 4 people, round to the cent” is checked against Python decimal: 84.50×0.08, 84.50×0.18, 106.47/4 = 26.6175 → ceil to 26.62; (15.21+0.01)/84.50.
Emily Post Institute — Tipping etiquette guide (restaurant tips of 15–20%).
4 worked examples with independently sourced answers ship with this calculator. They run in the test suite; you can run them here too.
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