Free restaurant template · Sheet
Restaurant tip-out sheet template
Free to use and edit. These are starting drafts, not legal advice: have an employment attorney review any policy before you rely on it.
The template
[Restaurant name]
Nightly Tip-Out Sheet
Date:
Shift: lunch / dinner / double:
Location:
Manager on duty:
Split method (hours / points / % of sales):
Money into the pool
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Card tips (from POS report) | |
| Cash tips contributed | |
| Service charges and automatic gratuities | |
| Total pool |
Shares
| Name | Role | Hours or points | Share ($) | Paid: cash / payroll | Initials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total hours or points:
Rate per hour or point:
Total paid out (must equal total pool):
Everyone listed above served guests directly or made drinks for service on this shift, and had no managerial duties on this shift.
Completed by:Date:
Checked by:Date:
Starting draft from Back of House Ops (backhousehr.com). Edit it to fit your restaurant. It is not legal advice.
Massachusetts rules
The rules that apply to this document
Who is allowed to share in a tip pool in Massachusetts?
Only wait staff, service bartenders and service employees. Wait staff means people who serve food or drink directly to customers or clear their tables, including bussers and counter staff in quick-service restaurants, and who have no managerial responsibility that day.
Full answer and official sourceCan cooks and dishwashers share in the tips?
No. Kitchen staff do not serve customers directly, so under the Massachusetts Tips Act they cannot receive tips or service-charge money. The narrow exception is counter staff in a quick-service restaurant who prepare or serve food as part of a counter team.
Full answer and official sourceCan a manager, shift lead or owner share in the tip pool?
Owners never can. A manager or supervisor cannot share on any day they have managerial responsibility, even if they also served tables. The Attorney General names shift supervisors, assistant managers, banquet captains and many maître d's.
Full answer and official sourceWhen do tips and service charges have to be paid out?
The Tips Act says by the end of the same business day, and never later than the normal Wage Act payday. The Attorney General's Fair Labor Division treats tips as paid on time if they are paid by the end of the pay period in which they were earned.
Full answer and official sourceCan a restaurant take the credit card processing fee out of card tips?
The Massachusetts Tips Act bars employers from taking any payment or deduction from a tip, and it defines a tip to include amounts added by a credit card customer. Federal law allows a proportional card-fee deduction, but Massachusetts gives no such exception, so pass the full card tip to the server.
Full answer and official sourceIs time spent counting and splitting tips after close paid?
Yes. If you require staff to stay after their shift to count and distribute tips, that time is working time and must be paid.
Full answer and official source
Rules checked against official sources on . General information, not legal or tax advice.
Where restaurants go wrong
- Adding a line for the kitchen or the expo. In Massachusetts, cooks and dishwashers cannot receive tip money, whatever the sheet says.
- Listing a shift lead who ran the floor that night. Managerial duties on the day take them out of the pool for that day.
- Taking the card processing fee off the top before the split.
- Clocking staff out before the tip count. Time spent counting and splitting is paid.
Your restaurant remains the employer of record and approves payroll and employment decisions. BOHO is not a PEO, a staffing agency, or legal counsel. This template is a starting draft for you to edit. It does not decide how the rules apply to your restaurant, so have counsel review any policy or separation before you rely on it.
Want the numbers behind it? Try the restaurant calculators.
Rather have someone keep these documents current?
Your restaurant remains the employer of record and approves payroll and employment decisions. BOHO is not a PEO, a staffing agency, or legal counsel.