Tip Calculator
Work out the tip, the total and what each person owes. Enter the bill, choose a percentage and set how many people are splitting it. The country table below shows what is actually customary where you are, because the right percentage varies far more than the arithmetic does.
Last updated: June 2026
Enter the bill amount and a tip percentage above.
Tip = bill × percentage ÷ 100 · total = bill + tip · per person = total ÷ people
How to work out a tip
The arithmetic is the easy part: multiply the bill by the percentage and divide by a hundred, then add it to the bill. The hard part is knowing which percentage is right, because tipping is a local custom rather than a rule, and the same 20 percent that is expected in New York would be an odd gesture in Tokyo. Use the calculator for the number and the country table for the norm, and you will not overpay abroad or underpay at home.
Doing it in your head
Two shortcuts cover most situations. Ten percent is the bill with the decimal point moved one place to the left, so a 46.80 bill gives 4.68. Fifteen percent is that ten percent plus half of it again, so 4.68 plus 2.34 gives 7.02, and twenty percent is simply double the ten percent, 9.36. For anything between, round to whatever makes the total a neat number; nobody has ever objected to a tip rounded up to the nearest note or round number.
Tipping is a custom, not a formula
In the United States, servers are frequently paid below the standard minimum wage on the assumption that tips make up the difference, which is why 15 to 20 percent is genuinely expected rather than merely nice. Canada expects much the same range, though most provinces have now scrapped the lower server wage and pay tipped staff the full minimum, so the expectation there rests on custom rather than on wages. Across most of continental Europe, service is included in the menu price by law or long habit, so locals round up or leave 5 to 10 percent for something above average. In Japan and much of East Asia, tipping is simply not done and pressing money on staff can be awkward. The table below summarises the common cases.
Worked example
Dinner for four comes to 80. You choose 18 percent, a middle-of-the-road American tip. The tip is 80 times 0.18, which is 14.40, making the total 94.40. Split four ways that is 23.60 each. Had the same meal been in Amsterdam, rounding the 80 up to 85 would have been perfectly generous, and in Tokyo you would simply have paid the 80.
What is customary by country
| Country | Typical restaurant tip | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 15 to 20% | Expected; staff often paid below the standard minimum wage |
| Canada | 15 to 20% | Similar 15 to 20% expectation; most provinces now pay servers the full minimum wage |
| United Kingdom | 10 to 12.5% | Frequently added as a service charge; check before adding more |
| Netherlands | Round up, or 5 to 10% | Service is included; a tip is appreciated, not required |
| Germany | 5 to 10% | Round up and state the total amount as you pay |
| France | Service included by law | Leaving small change for good service is enough |
| Italy | 5 to 10% if no servizio | Many bills carry a coperto, a fixed per-person cover charge |
| Spain | Round up, or 5 to 10% | Not obligatory, common after a good meal |
| Japan | No tipping | Not practised; offering a tip can cause confusion |
| Australia | Not expected, 10% for excellent | Staff are paid a living wage |
Customs shift over time and by city and venue. Treat these as starting points, and follow what the bill itself says about service charges.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I tip in a restaurant?
If you need one number without looking anything up: 15 percent in the United States and Canada, round up or leave 5 to 10 percent in most of Europe, and nothing at all in Japan. The right figure is a local custom rather than a rule, and it varies far more than most travellers expect, so the country table on this page is the part worth reading before you pay. When the bill already carries a service charge, that percentage has effectively been chosen for you.
Do I tip on the amount before or after tax?
Convention varies, and the difference is small. In the United States the traditional rule is to tip on the pre-tax subtotal, though many people simply apply the percentage to the final total, which leaves the server slightly better off. Elsewhere the question rarely arises because tax is already included in menu prices. This calculator applies your percentage to whatever amount you enter, so type the subtotal if you tip pre-tax and the grand total if you do not.
What if a service charge is already on the bill?
Do not tip twice. Many restaurants, especially in the United Kingdom, add a discretionary service charge of 10 to 12.5 percent automatically. Many Italian bills instead carry a coperto, a fixed per-person cover charge, with a percentage servizio mostly confined to tourist areas. If either appears, the service element is already paid and anything extra is optional. Read the bill before you calculate: look for wording such as service charge, servizio, coperto, or service compris, which means service is included.
How do I split a bill and the tip between people?
Add the tip first, then divide the total, which is what the split field here does. Splitting the bill and the tip separately produces the same answer but takes longer and invites arithmetic mistakes. If people ordered very differently, a fairer approach is for each person to cover their own items and apply the same tip percentage to their own share, rather than splitting the whole bill evenly.
What about tipping outside restaurants?
The country table covers table service, but the rest of a trip has its own habits. Taxi fares are commonly rounded up rather than tipped a percentage, though 10 to 15 percent is normal in the United States. Hotel staff are usually tipped per action rather than per bill: a small note for a porter who carries bags, a little left for housekeeping per night. Bar service in Europe is typically rounded to the nearest whole amount, while a fixed sum per drink is the American convention. Food delivery sits closest to restaurant rates wherever tipping is expected at all.
Methodology and sources
This tool does the tip arithmetic and the split, and pairs it with the customary percentages by country so the number you calculate is the number that actually fits the situation.
- Method: Tip = bill × percentage ÷ 100. Total = bill + tip. Per person = total ÷ number of people. The split is applied after the tip is added, which is the standard way to divide a table's bill evenly.
- Standards and sources: The arithmetic is elementary percentage maths. The country figures are conventional ranges drawn from widely published travel and etiquette guidance; tipping is a social custom, not a regulated rate, so no authority fixes these numbers.
- Assumptions and limits: The percentage is applied to exactly the amount you enter, so enter the pre-tax subtotal if you tip pre-tax. It does not detect or subtract a service charge already printed on the bill, and it does not handle uneven splits where people owe different amounts. Per-person amounts are rounded to two decimals independently, so on bills that do not divide evenly the shares can differ from the total by a cent or two. Figures are currency-neutral. Customs vary by city, venue and over time.
Reviewed and maintained by Rick Oosterling, who travels between tipping cultures often enough to have got it wrong in both directions. Last reviewed: June 2026. Treat the country ranges as guidance and follow local practice and what the bill states.