Should I tip on the pre-tax or post-tax amount?

Pre-tax is the more common convention in the US and is what most etiquette guides suggest. The difference is small — a couple of percent — and either is perfectly acceptable.

What is a standard tip in a US restaurant?

Fifteen to twenty percent for table service, with 18–20% now typical in cities. Counter service and takeaway carry no firm expectation.

Tip Calculator

Work out the tip, the total and the amount per person, with an option to round the total up.

Draft — figures checked, awaiting an editorial read. Not indexed.

Each person pays—

Tip: —
Total bill: —
Tip per person: —

Formula: Tip = bill × (tip% ÷ 100). Total = bill + tip. Per person = total ÷ number of people.

What this calculates

This works out a tip, adds it to the bill, and divides the result between however many people are paying. The rounding option handles the practical case where nobody wants to deal with cents: it rounds the total up to the next whole dollar and adjusts the tip to absorb the difference, rather than rounding each share and ending up short. That direction matters — rounding each person's share down individually is how a table of six leaves several dollars less than it intended.

How it works

The tip is the bill multiplied by the tip percentage divided by 100. The total is the bill plus the tip. Per-person is the total divided by the number of people. When rounding is enabled, the total rounds up first and the tip is recalculated as the difference between that rounded total and the original bill, so the arithmetic still reconciles exactly. The tip percentage is applied to the bill as entered — if that already includes tax, the tip includes tax too, which is a choice rather than a rule.

Worked example

An $84.50 bill at 18%, split four ways. The tip is 84.50 × 0.18 = $15.21, making the total $99.71 and each share $24.93. With rounding on, the total goes to $100, the effective tip becomes $15.50, and each person pays exactly $25 — which is the version most tables actually want.

Common mistakes

Tipping on the post-tax total without meaning to. In a high-tax jurisdiction that adds a couple of percent to the effective tip; it is a small amount and entirely your call, but worth doing deliberately. Second, dividing the bill before adding the tip and then adding a tip to each share, which usually produces a different answer through rounding. Third, forgetting that some restaurants add a service charge for larger parties — check before tipping on top of it.

Common questions

Should I tip on the pre-tax or post-tax amount?: Pre-tax is the more common convention in the US and is what most etiquette guides suggest. The difference is small — a couple of percent — and either is perfectly acceptable.
What is a standard tip in a US restaurant?: Fifteen to twenty percent for table service, with 18–20% now typical in cities. Counter service and takeaway carry no firm expectation.