How to split a restaurant bill fairly, with tax and tip

When an even split isn't fair

Dividing the bill evenly is quick, and when everyone ordered about the same, it is fine. It stops being fair when one person had a salad and water and another had a steak and two glasses of wine. The fair way is for everyone to pay for what they ordered, plus a share of anything that was shared, with the tax and tip divided in the same proportions.

Open Tab Split and it works that out as you type.

How a fair split works

1. Add up each person's own items, before tax and tip.
2. Divide shared items, such as appetizers or a bottle of wine for the table, evenly between everyone and add a share to each person.
3. Apply the tax to each person's subtotal.
4. Apply the tip to each person's subtotal, or to their subtotal plus tax if that is how your group tips.
5. Each person's total is their subtotal plus their tax and tip.

Because tax and tip are percentages, each person pays them in proportion to what they had. Someone who ordered twice as much pays twice the tip.

A worked example

Three friends share a $16 appetizer. Sam's own items come to $24.50, Priya's to $31.00 and Jonah's to $18.75. Tax is 13% and they tip 18% on the pre-tax amount.

• The appetizer costs each of them $16 ÷ 3 = $5.33.
• Sam's subtotal is $24.50 + $5.33 = $29.83. Tax adds $3.88 and the tip adds $5.37, so Sam pays $39.08.
• Priya's subtotal is $36.33. With tax and tip, Priya pays $47.60.
• Jonah's subtotal is $24.08. With tax and tip, Jonah pays $31.55.

Together that is $118.23, the full bill. Split evenly, everyone would pay $39.41, so Jonah would have covered $7.86 of Priya's dinner.

Split a bill with Tab Split, step by step

1. Under Who ordered what, enter each person's name and the total of their own items, before tax and tip. Select Add person for more people.
2. Enter anything everyone shared under Shared items. It is split evenly.
3. Enter the Tax rate as a percentage.
4. Enter the Tip percentage, or select 15%, 18% or 20%.
5. Tick Tip on the total after tax if your group tips on the full amount.
6. Tick Round each share up to the next dollar if you would rather not deal with coins.
7. Read Each person pays. The summary underneath shows the food and drink, tax, tip and total for the whole table.

Finding the tax rate

If you are not sure of the rate, work it out from the receipt: divide the tax amount by the food and drink subtotal, then multiply by 100. For example, $11.73 of tax on a $90.25 subtotal is 13%.

If the receipt lists more than one tax, add them together. If the bill already includes a service charge or automatic gratuity, check whether you still want to add a tip, and set the tip to 0 if not.

Tip before or after tax?

Tipping on the pre-tax amount is common, and it is what Tab Split does by default. Some people prefer to tip on the full total, which comes to a little more. Neither is wrong, but agree on one before you split.

What rounding up does

With Round each share up to the next dollar ticked, each person's total goes up to the next whole dollar. The extra is added to the tip, so the server gets it rather than it vanishing. In the example above, rounding up means Sam pays $40, Priya $48 and Jonah $32, adding $1.77 to the tip.

Check it against the receipt

The total at the bottom should match the bill. If it is off by a cent or two, that is rounding on individual shares. If it is off by more, check that every item on the receipt was counted once: either as someone's own or as shared, not both.

Tab Split works on any phone, with no sign-up, so you can do this at the table.