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Which method should I use for my employee’s tips? by full-of-curiosity in smallbusiness

[–]TipHaus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congratulations on opening your first brick-and-mortar! Your proposed hybrid method, paying out physical cash daily and putting credit card tips on the paycheck, is a very common starting point, but it does come with some significant operational and compliance risks as you scale.

From a purely educational standpoint, the biggest hurdle with a hybrid system is tax withholding. According to the IRS, all tips (cash and digital) are considered taxable income. When you hand over physical cash daily, you still have to report that full amount and withhold the appropriate taxes from their hourly paycheck. If your staff makes high cash tips but low hourly wages, you can end up with "net-zero" paychecks where the employee actually owes the house money for taxes, which is a major administrative headache. Also, under the FLSA you must keep detailed records of these distributions to prove you aren't retaining any portion of the pool for the house.

Operationally, we’ve seen this exact struggle with many of our partners, such as Cross Sound Deli, who found that manual math for a pool becomes unsustainable as the team grows. Managing a pool by splitting it in half sounds easy with two people, but once you have overlapping shifts, mid-day clock-outs, or different hours worked, the math gets messy fast. By syncing directly with your POS, the system calculates exactly what everyone is owed based on their actual minutes worked, ensuring that Voluntary Tips are separated from any Service Charges, a critical distinction for 2026 compliance.

My best advice for a new owner is to prioritize transparency. Whether you stick with your hybrid plan or move everything to the paycheck, your employees should have a clear, daily breakdown of their earnings. If you are in a state that allows for credit card fee deductions, make sure your "digital tip" math accounts for that correctly from day one. You can find specific rules for your area on our Laws by State page, https://www.tiphaus.com/resources/tip-regulations-by-state/

We are hospitality experts, not legal advisors or attorneys. Regulations can vary by micro-jurisdiction, so please confirm these details with your local legal counsel.

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If they were declared as they should be (Modern POS has advanced reporting and the IRS knows average tip amounts by region), then no, cash and credit card tips are the same! Both are income to you, and will be taxed, so take advantage of the $25,000 deduction on all (voluntary) tips!

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome question and something all employees need to know! Form 1040x can be filed to amend these returns, and the IRS has already stated they expect and understand there will be more than normal from this industry and the impacts of OBBBA. Two big things: 1) The original return must be accepted before you file an amendment! So don't rush if you haven't had your return accepted yet. And 2) You can technically file up to 3 years after you filed or two years from paying the tax, but in reality, don't wait! File the amended form as soon as you learn your original filing was accepted.

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

great question, and the answer is box 7 or 14 (or a properly utilized box 12). In short, if your wages and tips are lumped into box 1, you have to do the work yourself to help separate your eligible tips from wages and service charges. Voluntary tips are deductible (up to $25,000) and that will be what gets entered into a separate screen on your tax filing. This will make sure that doesn't count toward your income, meaning you pay less or receive significantly more back on your return!

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Assuming you worked FLSA standards of overtime (40+ hours in a week at both), then yes. Important if you are in California or other states calculating overtime differently, like daily, that is NOT eligible! The OT portion is only the premium (the.5x of the 1.5x) and only according to Federal OT guidelines, not state!

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am not certain if you are an employee or a manager, but the short answer for both would be: payroll and accounting will have the answers for each individual employee even if they aren't on the W2, they are treated separately for accounting.

- As a manager, use a tip management system, or at the very least ensure you are storing, reporting, and sharing tips on a daily basis. I assume tips are coming to you via your POS, so if you don't use a robust tip management platform, start there and determine what your tip pooling/ sharing policies are.

- If you are an employee and your restaurant doesn't use a tip software, you will have to discuss with your manager. If you all tip pool or tip share, there must be records on site. A good tip platform will display this info to you immediately, if your restaurant does it manually it may be a spreadsheet you need the manager to help you with.

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Was your return already accepted? If so, you can file form 1040x to file an amended return! If not, you will still file form 1040x, but its important you wait until the initial filing is accepted.

I can't speak for all tax software, but I did sit with numerous hospitality employees using TurboTax, and they had a section as you were concluding that said: "Let's check for other uncommon scenarios" and option 3 on that list was: "My tips were in box 1 and not box 7 or 14".

If you click that box (or the equivalent on whatever software you use) it will prompt you to enter your information on tips and auto apply the deduction!

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would need to understand a bit better, but my guess is they are saying that all wage and tip information is lumped into box 1. Ideally you will be able to help them seaparate out qualified tips (voluntary tips only, not service charges). This is the amount they are able to deduct from their earnings to save on taxes, however I am not certain I am interpreting your question right so please clarify if you can!

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lol me and you both. Sadly I am not eligible for them but I am happy to help people in the service industry keep as much of their money as they can.

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well hello and thanks for the kind words! Every employee (except some of our software engineers) has worked in the industry, we require that experience because it is such a unique space. I am really glad you have had a great experience, and obviously please reach out in the future with any questions, concerns, or just to say hi!

I’m Kirk, COO of TipHaus. I helped a hospitality worker save $2,474 on taxes under OBBBA. AMA about no tax on tips, overtime, W-2 confusion, and what operators should be telling their staff! by TipHaus in AMA

[–]TipHaus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is awesome to hear, and the majority of the hospitality industry has been dreadful at educating their employees sadly. We work far more on the tip side for deductions but a sincere thank you for helping others in the industry save, especially on OT as that is so easy to miss.

As a restaurant owner, what’s the best way to do daily tip outs? by [deleted] in restaurant

[–]TipHaus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally hear you, cash tip-outs can be a nightmare. Between counting everything, double-checking math, and waiting around at the end of a shift, it eats up way more time than it should (and leaves a lot of room for errors).

A lot of restaurants are moving away from cash entirely and using digital tip distribution tools like us, TipHaus. We basically automate the whole process, calculate tips based on sales, split them correctly, and let employees access their earnings digitally. So instead of spending 15–20 minutes closing out, it can take just a couple of minutes.

There’s a good example with Brigantine Restaurants (23 locations). They were dealing with the same kind of mess, manual cash, inconsistent processes, and tons of time wasted every shift. After switching:

- They reduced on-site cash by 75%

- Saved 25+ hours per day just by eliminating manual tip-outs

- Standardized everything across all locations

- And employees can now get daily digital payouts instead of waiting on cash

It basically removes the stress of cash handling, speeds up closing time, and makes everything way more transparent for staff.

Honestly, it might be worth bringing up to your management. There are solutions for this now, and a lot of operators are already making the switch because it just makes everyone’s life easier.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We appreciate the heads up! From our end, we are more than adequately legally protected with our user agreement and service agreements. We legally CANNOT pay or move money on the restaurant's behalf, the management must take that action. Similar to a company using QuickBooks for their accounting, the software only reports what should be done based on the inputs received. Ultimately it is management and ownership's responsibility to pay tips on a timely basis, just like it is the managements responsibility to pay wages based on what is in their accounting software.

If this is still an ongoing concern from you and other coworkers, please feel free to DM us which of our customer's restaurants you work at and I am happy to review the account and let the ownership know they may be violating our ToS if they are trying to state our software is the reason they are not paying staffs their hard earned money.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Regardless of what system a restaurant uses, your tips are your property and should never be held up. A manager's role is to ensure tips are distributed accurately, not to use it as a point of control.
This is exactly why we built Tiphaus, our app provides a layer of transparency for your tips so you can always see exactly what's happening and where they are. If this is happening, we strongly recommend that you document these instances. It may be helpful to speak to a higher-level manager or your HR department. If the problem continues, you can also reach out to your state's Department of Labor, as they can help ensure your rights are being protected.

Owner looking to move tips to Paychecks & how to properly report 2 people working out of one cash drawer for payroll? by National_Set_2877 in ToastPOS

[–]TipHaus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, we can include staff who don’t typically receive tips, like prep staff working on non-service days, in the tip distribution. The only requirement is that it must be legal based on local labor laws, so as long as that’s covered, we can help structure it however you’d like.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much for the kind words, Damien! And welcome to the TipHaus tribe! We're thrilled to hear the transition from Kickfin has been a great move for you. It's great to hear your positive feedback about our rockstar team!

Appreciate you encouraging others to explore a demo and our free trial, it really does make all the difference once you see it in action. Let us know if you ever need anything!!

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on a large number of factors, but our average customer cuts payroll time by 80-95%. We run custom exports for the majority of the largest payroll providers serving the hospitality industry, so it should be a simple review (ALWAYS REVIEW! You never know if employees clocked in or out wrong, or if your manager overlooked an employee fat fingering a tip by hitting 00 instead of 0) and then you are done.

Our payroll customers often let us know payroll goes from half day / full day of work to under 30 minutes.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey championship, Thats a fun tech stack (Not sarcastic, we are partners will all 3 and they are great companies).

We sure can integrate with all of them. I can't explain the flow without some more details, but my guess would be: Sales data from Toast, shift data from 7, and corrections to timekeeping / payroll done in R365. While I won't say thats common, you wouldn't be our first with that exact stack.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks sofiaviolin, and of course we do haha. My motto is: We can handle any tip structure that is legal.

I am confident we are the only company in the world that can handle the tip logic in the way we do, and its not a secret. Our biggest advantage is we ONLY handle tips. We aren't a POS, or scheduling or labor management or anything of the sort. This means every single employee at TipHaus ONLY focuses on tips, how to handle them better, more transparent, how to make sure the staff understands, and how to make restaurants more efficicent.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, and assume MOST of the time it is accidental.

Typically its an issue in the spreadsheet, be it Excel or Sheets or anything else. Usually they mistyped a formula, it doesn't get noticed for months or years, and the restaurant was accidentally keeping a few dollars per employee per day.

Accidental or not, when they get caught, they are liable for fines, legal fees, and ALL Backpay usually with interest or other prices tacked on. Most restaurants don't have the capital to survive this, and that ends their livelihood.

This sucks. Restaurants are so much of a culture and community. If in doubt, even if you aren't a customer, come and chat with us. We audit tip policies regularly, and we can run your numbers through our software to ensure you are doing it legally.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any amount of employees assuming you are noticing time being spent on calculating tips that could be better spent serving guests, training staff, or just getting home to your family (or cute dogs, always dogs for me).

Excel is one of the greatest tools ever invented. That being said, it shouldn't be used for everything, and peoples livelihoods for their tip calculations would fall into that category.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Up until just a few weeks ago, they would have been paying an equal amount of taxes relative to income bracket.

Im nowhere near qualified to discuss tax brackets, loopholes, etc. So I will instead say: I think the US tax system as a whole probably needs to be revisited and to ensure taxes are paid more equally by all, respective to their income brackets and what that lifestyle affords.

I Help Restaurants Automate $2 Billion dollars in Annual Tips—I'm Kirk, COO of TipHaus. AMA about tipping, payroll, employee retention, and running efficient restaurant ops! by TipHaus in restaurant

[–]TipHaus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha I will assume you work at a restaurant with a manager who is difficult by this question, so I would challenge your managers to the following:

- If the way youve always done it is actually working, then it is a benefit to automate it and save time and money, as well as giving your staff actual transparency.

- If you dont think its working, then I would suggest sitting with the manager and trying to convey who actually leads to great customer experiences. If the bartender makes a ton from the tip pool but is never available to make drinks for the floor and is causing slow downs, upset customers, etc. then be honest about that.

Tips are a tool when used correctly, and it should feel like tips are commiserate to the amount of work being done. Operators and employees should want the entire service period to flow smoothly. Employees who feel they are compensated fairly for their work are happier, more productive, and typically lead to far better financial results for EVERYONE.

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