The tip, the total, and what each person at the table actually pays.
Each person pays
In the United States 15–20% is customary for table service, and 20% or more for good service. Tipping is how servers are paid, so leaving nothing reads as a complaint.
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In the United States tipping is not a bonus — it is how table service is paid. Federal law lets employers count tips toward the minimum wage, so a server’s income depends on the room. Fifteen per cent is the floor for adequate service, eighteen to twenty is standard, and above that is genuine appreciation. Leaving nothing reads as a complaint rather than as thrift.
That is a local arrangement, not a universal one. In much of Europe service is included by law and the tip is a rounding-up; in Japan it can cause offence. This page shows the customary range for the language you are reading, because a calculator that offered the same steps everywhere would be exporting one country’s norm to the rest.
The split is where a tip calculator earns its keep. A $110 bill between three people is $36.666… each — three payments of $36.67 come to $110.01, a cent more than the bill. This one says so: two people pay the higher share and one pays a cent less, and the total always closes.
In the United States, 18–20% for ordinary table service and 15% if it was poor. For counter service, coffee and takeaway, tipping is optional and smaller. The buttons above cover the usual range; type any number for something else.
On the bill before tax. Tipping on the taxed total quietly adds a few per cent, and this calculator does not ask for tax for that reason — if you want to include it, add it to the bill yourself.
Because the total does not divide evenly. Rounding everyone up would collect more than the bill; rounding down would leave it short. The calculator gives most people the higher share and one or two the lower, so the numbers add up exactly.
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