Pay guides for servers, bartenders and cooks
Tip-out, the $2.13 wage, overtime, your paycheck and your tip log, answered with the law and worked examples. Plus a printable tip log, a spreadsheet and a time card, free.
Guides
- How does tip-out work, and how much is normal? Bussers, the bar and runners: sales versus tips, the usual percentages, and what the house can ask for. Read the guide
- What is the tip credit, and what does your employer have to make up? How $2.13 plus tips has to reach the minimum every week, and what your employer owes when it doesn’t, state by state. Read the guide
- How is overtime figured when you earn tips? Past 40 hours, on the full minimum wage: why the federal overtime cash wage is $5.76, not $3.20, and what your state adds. Read the guide
- How do you check a server paycheck, line by line? What each line on a tipped pay stub means, why a $0 check can be right, and five things to check before you call payroll. Read the guide
- How do you keep a tip log for taxes? What the IRS wants written down each day, the $20 monthly report, and the No tax on tips deduction, 2025 to 2028. Read the guide
Free templates
- Printable daily tip log
A one-page monthly sheet with the IRS’s columns. Free PDF, Letter or A4. - Tip log spreadsheet
One row per shift, hours and kept tips worked out, and a summary by month. Excel and CSV. - Weekly time card template
Two weekly cards per page: clock-in, breaks, clock-out, hours, tips and overtime. Free PDF.
Free calculators
- Tip credit calculator
What your employer has to add to your tips - Tip-out calculator
What you tip out and what you keep - Tip pool calculator
Everyone’s share, split by hours - Time card calculator
Your hours, overtime and pay for the week - No tax on tips calculator
How much of your tips you can deduct, 2025 to 2028
Know what you made tonight. Not on payday.
Log each shift and its tips before you leave. On payday, Wage Check tells you if the check matches.
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