Tax Filing Tips

If you received $20 or more in cash and charge tips in a month from any one job and did not report all of those tips to your employer, you must report the social security and Medicare taxes on the unreported tips as additional tax on your return.
To report these taxes, use Form 4137, Social Security and Medicare Tax on Unreported Tip Income, to figure these taxes.
The unreported tips must be included as Wages on Form 1040, Line 7.

If you receive tips as a self-employed person, you should report these tips as income on Schedule C

The employer reports the allocated tips in Box 8 of the employee's Form W-2; the allocated tips are not included in Box 1 as taxable wages.
The employee must include the tip amount in Box 8, as wage income on Form 1040, Line 7 and also enter the amount on Form 4137 to determine the employee's share of the FICA tax liability.

Employers who operate large food or beverage establishments must file Form 8027, Employer’s Annual Information Return of Tip Income and Allocated Tips to report employee tip income.
A large food or beverage establishment is defined as business where all of the following apply:
Food or beverage is provided for consumption on the premises
Tipping is a customary practice
More than 10 employees, who work more than 80 hours, were normally employed on a typical business day during the preceding calendar year.
A worksheet for determining whether a business meets the criteria listed above is included in the Instructions for Form 8027. (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8027.pdf).

As an employer, you must ensure that the total tip income reported to you during any pay period is, at a minimum, equal to 8% of your total receipts for that period.
In calculating 8% of total receipts, you do not include nonallocable receipts. Nonallocable receipts are defined as receipts for carry out sales and receipts with a service charge added of 10% or more.
When the total reported to you is less than 8%, you must allocate the difference between the actual tip income reported and 8% of gross receipts.
Employers can request a lower rate (but not lower than 2%) for tip allocation purposes by submitting an application to the IRS.
Detailed instructions for computing allocation of tips, reporting allocated tips to employees, and for requesting a lower rate can be found in the Instructions for Form 8027. (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8027.pdf).
Speak to your local CPA about the requirements of Tip Income reporting.

The law requires your employees to report 100% of tip income and the 8% threshold is only one way that the IRS monitors compliance and flags under reporting restaurants.
The 8% percentage that is used on the Form 8027 is just a IRS guideline. Just because this is the “threshold” number that the form uses to require you to allocate additional tip income does not mean that this is all you need to report to be safe from an IRS audit.
The law requires your employees to report 100% of tip income

A Point of Sale Register system that tracks server sales by employee is a valuable tool to assist you to see if the servers are accurately reporting their tips.
Your Point of Sale system should report each server’s total credit card sales and total charged tips on credit cards, and the server’s total sales (cash and credit card).
From the credit card information you can get a tip percentage to apply to the server’s cash sales.
Combine the total credit card tips and the estimated cash tips for the period in question and compare this total to the tips reported by the employee.

If your total tips for any 1 month from any one job are less than $20, do not report the tips for that month to that employer.
Report to your employer only cash, check, and debit and credit card tips you receive.
If you participate in a tip-splitting or tip-pooling arrangement, report only the tips you receive and retain. Do not report to your employer any portion of the tips you receive that you pass on to other employees. You must report tips you receive from other employees.
If your employer does not give you any other way to report your tips, you can use Form 4070, Employee's Report of Tips to Employer. Fill in the information asked for on the form, sign and date the form, and give it to your employer.
If you do not use Form 4070, give your employer a statement with Your name, address, and social security number.
Your employer's name, address, and business name (if it is different from your employer's name).
The month (or the dates of any shorter period) in which you received tips.
The total tips required to be reported for that period.
You must sign and date the statement. Be sure to keep a copy with your tax or other personal records.

If your total tips for any 1 month from any one job are less than $20, do not report the tips for that month to that employer.
Report to your employer only cash, check, and debit and credit card tips you receive.
If you participate in a tip-splitting or tip-pooling arrangement, report only the tips you receive and retain. Do not report to your employer any portion of the tips you receive that you pass on to other employees. You must report tips you receive from other employees.
If your employer does not give you any other way to report your tips, you can use Form 4070, Employee's Report of Tips to Employer. Fill in the information asked for on the form, sign and date the form, and give it to your employer.
If you do not use Form 4070, give your employer a statement with Your name, address, and social security number.
Your employer's name, address, and business name (if it is different from your employer's name).
The month (or the dates of any shorter period) in which you received tips.
The total tips required to be reported for that period.
You must sign and date the statement. Be sure to keep a copy with your tax or other personal records.