# Tipping the "to-go" person **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-the-to-go-person/322655 "2005-09-21T03:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-the-to-go-person/322655/101 "2005-09-27T02:20:14Z")
> [@Audrey Levins](#): > > Servers and bartenders are taxed on their total sales. That includes to-go food. (At certain establishments it also includes merchandise, like T-shirts, which is even more of a rip-off.) I have never worked at a restaurant where the to-go orders were rung in as anything but server sales, which are presumed tipped and which are taxed accordingly. Wow! You’ve worked at restaurants where you are taxed on the sales that other people make? That’s incredible! What country is that? ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-the-to-go-person/322655/102 "2005-09-27T04:12:35Z")
> [@The New Guy](#): > > I disagree. As I said, I’ve know servers who make quite decent money. It’s not unrealistic at all. Yes, I know plenty of servers who make quite decent money, as well, but not from management; it comes from tips. Please tell us where servers are being paid a decent wage by management. > [@The New Guy](#): > > That’s a false characterization of my “attitude”. That would be clear to you if you read my entire comments, not just taking one sentence out of context. Did you think your attitude was subtle and hard to interpret? > [@The New Guy](#): > > If poor restaurant management is an intractable problem, as you seem to be arguing (and that’s a sidetrack I’d rather not get into), giving less than 100% effort to people who didn’t tip you for to-go food doesn’t solve that problem. Wow, talk about misreading my posts to suit your own needs. I don’t enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing, as you obviously do. I was interjecting a point of consideration, in that understaffing is a problem that spans several industries. I said nothing of “giving less than 100 percent effort blah blah blah …” ---
**Author:** ![The\_New\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@The\_New\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_New_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-the-to-go-person/322655/103 "2005-09-27T07:12:34Z")
> [@Large Marge](#): > > Yes, I know plenty of servers who make quite decent money, as well, but not from management; it comes from tips. Please tell us where servers are being paid a decent wage by management. I don’t understand what point you are trying to prove by making that distinction. Some servers make good money. Why would I not count their tips? The tips are part of their income - they can take them home and spend them. That’s like saying “I don’t make much money if you don’t count the money I make on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.” > [@](#): > > Did you think your attitude was subtle and hard to interpret? No; which is why it’s baffling that you misinterpreted it. > [@](#): > > Wow, talk about misreading my posts to suit your own needs. I don’t enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing, as you obviously do. I was interjecting a point of consideration, in that understaffing is a problem that spans several industries. I said nothing of “giving less than 100 percent effort blah blah blah …” I don’t know what you’re talking about. You mischaracterized what my point is, so I corrected you. I have no idea why you think I was _quoting_ you; I was not. Just calm down, o.k.? ---
**Author:** ![The\_New\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@The\_New\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_New_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-the-to-go-person/322655/104 "2005-09-27T07:30:53Z")
> [@Audrey Levins](#): > > Servers and bartenders are taxed on their total sales. That includes to-go food. (At certain establishments it also includes merchandise, like T-shirts, which is even more of a rip-off.) I have never worked at a restaurant where the to-go orders were rung in as anything but server sales, which are presumed tipped and which are taxed accordingly. > > Ergo, if I sell $200 bucks worth of to-go food, Uncle Sam assumes that I was tipped at least $20 bucks on it and I’m taxed accordingly. That’s not what the IRS says. The IRS publication on tip income says that you declare your _actual_ tips, and pay taxes on that amount. Alternately, your employer can _allocate_ tips to you, which you have to pay tax on. BUT, the rate is not 10%, as you show in your example, but rather 8% _or less_. In addition, take-out sales are EXEMPTED. > **[Publication 531 (2020), Reporting Tip Income | Internal Revenue Service](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p531)** > > Publication 531 - Introductory Material > Future Developments > What's New > Reminder > [@](#): > > What are allocated tips? These are tips that your employer assigned to you in addition to the tips you reported to your employer for the year. Your employer will have done this only if: > > ``` > You worked in a restaurant, cocktail lounge, or similar business that must allocate tips to employees, and > > The tips you reported to your employer were less than your share of **8% of food and drink sales**. > > ``` > > How were your allocated tips figured? The tips allocated to you are your share of an amount figured by subtracting the reported tips of all employees from 8% (or an approved lower rate) of food and drink sales ( **other than carryout sales** and sales with a service charge of 10% or more). Your share of that amount was figured using either a method provided by an employer-employee agreement or a method provided by IRS regulations based on employees’ sales or hours worked. For information about the exact allocation method used, ask your employer. Please read that carefully - “ **other than carryout sales** ” If, as you claim, Uncle Sam assumes you make 10% in tips and “taxes you accordingly”, that is utterly contrary to the information posted on their own website. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-the-to-go-person/322655/105 "2005-09-27T07:38:40Z")
> [@The New Guy](#): > > I don’t understand what point you are trying to prove by making that distinction. \ That’s because you are a bit wound up. Here was my original sentence: “I’m saying that it is reasonable but unrealistic to expect management to provide a decent wage to servers. It isn’t done in many industries.” I said “management” because I was talking about the wages that management pays, NOT what servers earn in tips, because this does not come out of managers’ pockets. I think you’ve inadvertantly attributed others’ posts/ideas to me, because you may be having a hard time separating them from each other. You’ve had to defend yourself a lot in this thread, from many different people, and that can be confusing. But not every thread is a streaming, step by step argument, with each poster building on the last. Sometimes people just interject related information they think is pertinent (or not!). Please go back and read my posts and responses. Thanks. > [@The New Guy](#): > > I don’t know what you’re talking about. You mischaracterized what my point is, so I corrected you. I have no idea why you think I was _quoting_ you; I was not. Just calm down, o.k.? Um, yeah, I’ll try to work on that. I was barely able to focus at work today, I was so upset. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![The\_New\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@The\_New\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_New_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-the-to-go-person/322655/106 "2005-09-27T17:44:01Z")
> [@Large Marge](#): > > That’s because you are a bit wound up. Um, yeah, I’ll try to work on that. I was barely able to focus at work today, I was so upset. :rolleyes: How about this? Could we just skip the “You’re upset” “No, _you’re_ upset” game? Your post doesn’t shed any light on the subject at all. It remains pointless to talk about one’s salary _minus_ tips, since tips are part of the salary. Whatever picayune, inscrutable point you are trying to make doesn’t interest me. No, I didn’t attribute any other people’s ideas to you; you just have trouble differentiating between someone making their own point, and someone _quoting_ you. If it helps, the latter generally includes some sort of quote marks. > [@](#): > > But not every thread is a streaming, step by step argument, with each poster building on the last. Sometimes people just interject related information they think is pertinent (or not!). This is exactly your problem. You fail to comprehend that this IS a discussion, and that I have made certain points. If you want to interject non-sequiturs into the thread, go ahead, but you didn’t DO that. You mischaracterized what _I_ said. Just so you know, generally when you start out a sentence with “If your attitude is …”, the person you are addressing is probably going to assume that you are making a characterization about what his attitude is, and that you are not “interjecting related information”. Thanks, have a nice day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-the-to-go-person/322655.md?page=5)