Tip Pool Calculator

Stop doing tip math by hand at the end of every shift. Enter hours, sales and tips, and the calculator works out every tip-out, pool share and net payout, then checks every dollar is accounted for.

What is inside

• Settings for tip-out percent by tipped role and pool split by support role
• Daily entry for up to 15 tipped and 10 support staff
• Support shares split by hours worked with a variance check
• A weekly summary for up to 20 employees for payroll
• Instructions and a note on federal tip pooling rules

Who it is for

Owners, GMs, bar managers and banquet teams who close out tips nightly and want fewer disputes.

How it works

Built in Excel. Set rules once and enter each shift at close. Confirm your pool follows federal and state law.

A look inside

The tabs, one by one

• Instructions. Five steps, a color legend and a plain explanation of how the split is calculated.
• Settings. A tip out percent of sales for each tipped role and a share of the pool for each support role. The shares have to total 100 percent and the sheet tells you when they do.
• Daily Entry. Date, shift and manager on duty, then each tipped employee's name, role, hours, sales, cash tips and card tips. Tip outs calculate as you type. Below that, enter support staff with their hours and each payout fills in.
• Weekly Summary. Record each shift's totals and finish the week with every employee's earnings in one place for payroll and for your records.

A worked example

The file comes set with servers tipping out 5 percent of sales and bartenders 3 percent. A server who rings $800 owes $40 to the pool, whatever they collected in tips. We base it on sales because it is consistent and you can check it against the POS.

The pool is then divided between support roles. The starting split is 40 percent to bussers, 35 percent to food runners, 15 percent to hosts and 10 percent to barbacks. Inside each role the money follows hours worked. If the busser pool is $120 and one busser worked 6 hours and the other 4, the first takes $72 and the second $48.

Is this the right tool?

Pick this one if you run a tip out on sales with a shared pool for support staff and you want a record of every shift. If you only want to test a split, try our free tip pool calculator. The rules on who can share in a pool are covered in our tip pooling guide, and the written policy your staff should sign is in the Employee Handbook Template.

Questions and answers

Can I change the roles and percentages?
Yes. Rename any role, change any rate and use the spare rows for roles we did not list.

Is the tip out based on sales or on tips?
On sales. A percent of each tipped employee's total sales goes to the pool.

Can kitchen staff be in the pool?
That depends on how you pay. Under federal law an employer that takes a tip credit cannot include back of house staff, and one that pays the full minimum wage to everyone in the pool can. States add their own rules, so check yours before you set the split.

Does it work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload it to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets.

How do I get the file?
Checkout is through our Etsy shop and the file is ready to download right after purchase.