PaidFairTip out calculator
Put in your sales and your tips, set the rates your house uses, and see exactly what each support role is owed and what you walk out with.
A tip-out is calculated by multiplying either your sales or your tips for the shift by a set percentage for each support role.
Tipping out 2% of sales on $1,800 means $36 to the bar. Tipping out 15% of tips on $400 means $60. Which basis your house uses changes what a bad night costs you — a sales-based tip-out is owed whether or not the table tipped you.
Total you rang in. Needed for sales-based tip-outs.
Cash and card tips before any tip-out.
Who you tip out
Set each role's rate and whether it comes off sales or off tips. Leave a rate blank to skip it.
What you owe
Show me the math
Nothing you type leaves your device. This runs entirely in your browser — no account, no signup, nothing stored or sent.
Typical tip-out rates
These are the ranges you'll most often see in U.S. full-service restaurants. They are customary practice, not legal standards, and they vary a lot by region and by house. Whatever your restaurant uses should be written down and given to staff before the shift, not explained after it.
| Role | Common basis | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Bar / bartender | Percent of your bar sales, or total sales | 1–3% of sales |
| Bussers | Percent of tips, or of sales | 1–2% of sales · 5–10% of tips |
| Food runners | Percent of tips, or of food sales | 1–2% of sales · 5–10% of tips |
| Host | Percent of tips | 1–2% of sales · 2–5% of tips |
| Back of house | Percent of tips, where legally permitted | Varies widely |
Back of house is the one to check. Whether cooks and dishwashers may be included depends on whether your employer takes a tip credit, and state rules vary. See DOL Fact Sheet #15 and your state's rules.
Sales-based or tips-based: why it matters
On a good night the two look similar. On a bad night they are not remotely the same.
You ring $1,800 in sales and tip out 4% of sales — $72 — regardless of what you made.
Good night: $380 in tips. You tip out $72 and keep $308. That's 19% of your tips.
Rough night: a large party stiffs you and you finish with $150 in tips. You still owe $72. You keep $78 — the tip-out just took 48% of your night.
That asymmetry is the single most common source of tip-out resentment, and it is why some houses cap sales-based tip-outs or switch to a tips-based rate. Neither approach is automatically right. What matters is that the rule is written down in advance and applied the same way to everyone.
Stop recalculating this every night
If you're a manager and your team is doing this by hand at close, they're doing it tired, differently from each other, and with no record afterward. PaidFair applies your tip-out rules automatically from real clock-ins and sales, keeps a per-person record, and shows every person their own breakdown.
Free cash register forever. Everything else is $29/month per location with a 14-day trial — no card to start. Works in any browser, on iPhone, and on Android.
General information, not legal or tax advice. This tool does arithmetic. It does not tell you what your jurisdiction allows or whether your house policy is lawful. Check the U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet #15, your state's rules, and an employment attorney.
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