Card tips: how to record them and split them with your team

Published on October 17, 2026

More and more guests leave the tip when they pay by card or phone. It is convenient for everyone, but there is a catch: that tip is not in the jar. Nobody sees it, nobody counts it at the end of the night and, if nobody records it, it gets forgotten or split late and badly. This guide explains how to include it in the split without anyone having to trust the numbers blindly.

1. One split, several payment methods

A card tip belongs to the same team and the same service as a cash tip, so the simplest option is to split them together, under the same rule. What does help is recording each one with its payment method (cash, card or other): that way the pool total can be checked against the till and the card terminal's end-of-day report, and any gap stands out.

Splitting them separately (cash every night and card tips at the end of the month, for example) works too, but then each split needs its own hours and its own people: whoever worked in June gets June's card tips, even if they are paid in July.

2. Where to get the figure

Many card terminals and point-of-sale systems ask for the tip at payment and show it separately in the end-of-day or end-of-shift report. If yours does, that is the figure to record. If not, the tip is usually written on the receipt or added to the total, and has to be separated when cashing up. Either way, record it the same day, while it can still be checked receipt by receipt.

3. When and how it is paid

Card money reaches the business's account days later, and not every business pays it out the same way: some advance it in cash, others pay it by bank transfer or through payroll. How it is paid, and how it is taxed, depends on each business and on local law; if in doubt, ask your accountant. What does not change is the calculation: the split uses every tip from the period, whenever it is paid.

4. Card processing fees

Some businesses deduct the bank's card processing fee from the tip. If you do, put it in the written rule from the start, record the amount that is actually split and add a note explaining the difference. The rules on this vary from country to country, and in the US from state to state: if you are not sure it is allowed where you work, check before applying it.

5. Late tips and typos

Sometimes the card figure is not available until the next day, or someone copies it wrong. If the split is still open, just add or correct it. A wrong tip is not deleted: it is voided with a reason and the right one is recorded, so the total can always be rebuilt. If the split was already closed, reopen it with a reason and close it again, or add the tip to the next split, whichever you agreed.

6. Let the team see it

Distrust about card tips almost always comes from the same place: nobody has seen them. It goes away when anyone on the team can see each recorded tip, with its payment method, who recorded it and when, and when the split explains where each person's share comes from. If you have not picked a rule yet, how to split tips compares the five usual methods.

How Split the Tips does it

• each tip is recorded with its payment method (cash, card or other) and, if needed, a note;
• the whole team sees the list of tips, with who recorded each one and when, in private mode too;
• a wrong tip is voided with a reason, never deleted;
• a closed split is reopened with a reason, and both versions are kept;
• the split adds up exactly to the recorded total, to the cent.

Try it with your own numbers in the tip pool calculator, no sign-up needed. And if you split by hours, read on with how to track hours for tips.