Tip Calculator with Bill Split
Enter the bill, pick a percentage, say how many people are paying. If you know how much of the bill is sales tax, put it in the last box and the tip is taken on the food rather than on the tax.
The figure printed at the bottom of the check, tax included.
People paying an equal share. Use 1 if you are covering it.
Leave blank to tip on the whole bill. Fill it in and the tip is taken on the pre-tax subtotal.
Rounding up adds to the tip, never to the bill.
The arithmetic, and how to do it without a phone
A tip is a straight percentage of a base amount, so the only real question is what the base is. Everything else is one multiplication.
The mental method that works every time: move the decimal point one place left to get 10%. On a bill of 64.50 that is 6.45. Double it for 20%. Halve it and add it on for 15%. Add a quarter of it for 12.5%. You can hit any common tip within a few cents without touching a calculator, and it is faster than unlocking your phone.
Pre-tax or post-tax, and why the card machine cares
The traditional convention in the United States is to tip on the pre-tax subtotal. Tax is money that goes to the state, not to the restaurant, and it varies by city, so tipping on it means the same meal earns a server a different amount depending on where it is eaten.
What almost every card terminal does instead is calculate its suggested tip on the post-tax total. That quietly raises the tip. At a 9% sales tax, a suggested "20%" is really 21.8% of the food — not a scandal, but not what the button says either. Filling in the tax box above shows you both numbers, so you can decide rather than have it decided for you.
There is an old New York shortcut of doubling the tax to get the tip. With city tax at 8.875% that lands near 17.75%, which was a normal tip when the rule was coined and is now on the low side. Shortcuts age.
Splitting a bill without shorting anyone
An even split rarely divides into whole cents. Three people on a 100.00 total owe 33.333… each, and if everyone rounds down to 33.33 the table is a cent short. It is trivially small once and systematically in the server's disfavour over a career, which is why this tool tells you when a gap exists and how big it is. Someone rounds up.
The other splitting problem is more common and this tool cannot solve it: an even split is not a fair split when one person had a starter, three drinks and the tasting menu. Splitting by item requires knowing the items. All a calculator can do is divide.
The round-up option
Ticking round-up pushes the total to the next whole number and adds the difference to the tip, never to the bill. It makes the number easier to write on a receipt and easier to split. It also means the effective percentage drifts upward from whatever you selected, which the working line reports.
Where this tool stops being useful
- It does not know local custom. It is a percentage machine. In much of the world tipping is modest, occasional or not expected at all, and in some places it causes confusion. Percentages that are normal in the US are unusual almost everywhere else. Ask, or watch what other people do.
- It cannot see a service charge. If the bill already carries a service charge, gratuity or coperto — common for large groups and standard in several countries — then adding a tip on top pays twice. Check the itemised lines before you enter the total.
- It assumes an even split. No per-item allocation, no one person covering the wine.
- It does the sums, not the ethics. Whether the tip reaches the person who served you, or is pooled, or is used to offset a subminimum wage, varies by employer and by jurisdiction. Cash is more likely to reach a server directly than a card tip, though that is a tendency and not a guarantee.
Amounts are rounded to two decimals for display, using half-away-from-zero rounding rather than the naive kind that turns 1.005 into 1.00. Nothing you type is stored or transmitted — the page has no server to send it to.
Frequently asked questions
Should I tip on the total before or after tax?
Before tax is the traditional convention, because the tax is not part of what the restaurant earned. Card terminals almost always suggest tips on the post-tax total, which quietly increases the amount. Enter the tax above and the tool shows the difference.
How do I work out 15% in my head?
Move the decimal point one place left for 10%, then add half of that. On a 64.50 bill: 6.45, plus 3.23, is 9.68. For 20%, just double the 10%.
The per-person shares do not add up to the total. Why?
Because the split does not divide into whole cents. The tool flags the gap when it appears. Rounding every share down leaves the total short, so one person should round up — it is a cent or two.
Does the round-up option increase the tip or the bill?
The tip. The bill is fixed. Rounding the total up to the next whole number pushes the extra into the gratuity, and the working line tells you what effective percentage you ended on.
Is a tip expected everywhere?
No. Tipping norms vary enormously and US percentages are unusual in most of the world. Many bills also already include a service charge, in which case an added tip pays twice. Read the itemised lines before deciding.
Last updated September 19, 2026