Tillside

Guides for servers, bartenders and tipped workers

How to keep track of tips, work out tip-out, find your real hourly rate, and keep records you will be glad of at tax time. Written for people who log their night at 1 a.m., not for accountants.

A server's green apron pocket holding folded banknotes and a small notebook on a wooden bar at closing time

How to keep track of tips as a server

What to write down after every shift, why net tips matter more than gross, and how to make tracking your tips a 30-second habit.

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Overhead view of hands dividing coins and banknotes into three small piles on a steel restaurant counter beside a green bar towel

How to calculate tip-out as a server or bartender

Tip-out with worked examples: percentage of tips, percentage of sales and flat amounts, typical rates, and how to make the deduction automatic.

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A plain wall clock above a brass bar shelf holding folded notes, coins, a green towel and an empty glass, against green tiles

How to calculate your hourly wage with tips

The formula for a server's real hourly rate: wage plus net tips divided by hours, with worked examples and the three mistakes that inflate it.

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A green ring binder, a blank calendar page, a mug of tea and a banded stack of notes on a kitchen table in morning light

How to track tips for taxes

The daily tip record the IRS asks tipped workers to keep, how long to keep it, and how to export a clean year of shifts from Tillside.

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An open paper ledger with empty ruled columns, a green fountain pen and a few coins on a light oak café table beside a mint espresso cup

Free tip tracker spreadsheet template

A free tip tracking layout for Google Sheets or Excel: the columns, the three formulas, a CSV download, and when a spreadsheet stops being worth it.

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A bedside table at night with a phone face down, a warm lamp, a green apron over a chair and coins emptied from a pocket

Best tip tracker app for servers: how to choose

What to look for in a tip tracker app: tip-out handling, a real hourly rate, no ads, free export, and a backup that does not depend on an account.

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A busy restaurant dining room at night seen over a server's tray, with green banquettes, brass lamps and blurred staff in motion

Which shifts make the most money for servers?

Friday and Saturday dinner usually pay most in total, but not always per hour. How to find your own best shifts from three weeks of tip records.

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A traditional British pub bar with a glass tip jar, a pint of ale on a green bar towel, brass rail and green tiles

Do you have to declare tips in the UK?

Tips are taxable in the UK. Which tips go through PAYE or a tronc, which cash tips you must tell HMRC about yourself, and the record that makes it easy.

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A green bib apron and a navy café apron hanging on brass hooks above a wooden bench holding a dish of coins and keys

How to track tips from two jobs

Tracking tips across two jobs: separate wages and tip-out rules, comparing hourly rates per job, and keeping one export for tax time.

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