Free tip calculator with sales tax, pre-tax or post-tax tipping, bill splitting and round-up. Customary rates by service from the Emily Post guide.
Enter the amount before sales tax. Leave the tax field blank if the price already includes it.
Customary for this service: 15% – 20% of the bill.
Leave this at 1 if you are paying on your own.
The Emily Post Institute, Tipping Etiquette 101. The basis column shows where that guide states the tip is figured before tax.
| Service | Customary tip | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant, table service | 15% – 20% | Pre-tax |
| Restaurant, buffet | 10% | Pre-tax |
| Food delivery | 10% – 15% | Not stated |
| Bar | 15% – 20% | Not stated |
| Taxi or rideshare | 15% – 20% | Not stated |
| Salon or spa | 15% – 20% | Not stated |
| Takeout or counter | 0% – 10% | Not stated |
The same guide quotes a few services as a flat amount instead: hotel housekeeping, per day $2–$5 · valet $2–$5 · bellhop, per bag $1–$2 · restroom attendant $0.50–$3
Tipping customs are social conventions, not rules, and they differ by country, city and venue. The rates shown are published US guidance, and the sales tax is whatever you enter — check your receipt before you pay.
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Enter the bill and this calculator returns the tip, the sales tax, the total and what each person owes — plus a table showing what every common tip rate would cost on that same bill. Choose whether the tip is figured on the pre-tax or the taxed amount, and round the total or each person's share up so the payment comes out to a whole number.
A tip is a percentage of the bill. The Emily Post Institute puts sit-down restaurant service at 15-20% of the pre-tax bill, buffet service at 10%, and food delivery at 10-15%. Tax is left out of the base because it goes to the government rather than to the person who served you, and the gap is small but real: on an $85 bill with 8% sales tax, an 18% tip is $15.30 figured pre-tax and $16.52 figured on the taxed total.
Tip and total
Work out a table-service tip on the pre-tax amount, the way the etiquette guides state it, and see the total you will actually sign for.
Divide the taxed total plus tip across the table and round each share up so the collected cash covers the bill instead of falling a little short.
Apply the 10-15% delivery range, or check whether a takeout order is large enough to warrant anything at all.
Use the customary range for the service in front of you, and look up the flat amounts for housekeeping, valet and bellhop while you are there.
Enter your tax rate and choose whether the tip is figured before or after it. The calculator shows the tip either way and tells you what the choice costs.
Pick the service and the tip starts at the customary rate for it, taken from the Emily Post Institute's published tipping guide rather than a house opinion.
Round the total, or each person's share, up to a whole amount so nobody underpays and the money collected always covers the bill.
See what 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 22 and 25 percent each come to on your bill, with the total and the per-person figure beside each one.
A 15% tip is the bill multiplied by 0.15. On $50 that is $7.50, on $85 it is $12.75, and on $240 it is $36. The table on this page shows the tip, the total and the per-person share at every common rate for whatever bill you enter.
Pre-tax. The Emily Post Institute's tipping guide states 15-20% pre-tax for sit-down wait service and 10% pre-tax for buffet service, because sales tax goes to the government rather than to the person serving you. The gap is real but modest: at 8% sales tax, an 18% tip on an $85 bill is $15.30 pre-tax against $16.52 post-tax. This calculator does either, and shows the difference.
15-20% of the pre-tax bill for sit-down wait service, per the Emily Post Institute. The same guide puts buffet service at 10%, food delivery at 10-15% (or $2-5 for a pizza), a bartender at $1-2 per drink or 15-20% of the tab, and takeout at no obligation, with 10% for a large or complicated order.
Because federal law lets an employer pay a tipped worker a direct cash wage of $2.13 an hour and count tips toward the $7.25 federal minimum — a tip credit of up to $5.12 an hour, per US Department of Labor Fact Sheet #15. An employee who customarily receives more than $30 a month in tips is a tipped employee under the FLSA, so the tip is functioning as wages rather than as a bonus.
No. PROFECO, Mexico's federal consumer protection agency, states that a tip is a voluntary gratuity and that under Article 10 of the Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor an establishment may not add it to the bill or oblige a customer to pay it. No percentage is legally required, and a charge added without consent can be reported to PROFECO.
Enter the number of people and choose to round each share up. Everyone then pays a whole amount, the extra goes to the tip, and the money collected always covers the bill rather than landing a few cents short. The calculator shows how much the rounding added and what it made your effective tip rate.