Re: Last night was "surf and coop."

Jill McQuown wrote:

On 3/8/2025 7:08 PM, Dave Smith wrote:

On 2025-03-08 6:49 p.m., Jill McQuown wrote:

On 3/8/2025 5:33 PM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:

 

The customers pay the employees either way.
 

That's true.  But in states like SC where the minimum server wage
is  still a ridiculous $2.13/hour, it's kind of silly to have to
depend  upon the kindness of strangers to make up the difference
between that  and the Federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour. 
(Technically the employer  is supposed to make up the
difference.)  Counting on the customer to  leave more than a 50
cent tip on a $40 meal doesn't cut it.
 
My manager and his wife eat out a LOT.  He had no idea $2.13 is
the  base server wage in this state.  And oh, it doesn't matter
if you tip  in cash or put it on your credit card because server
income is  reported based on sales rung at the register.  Handing
them a tip in  cash makes no difference whatsoever in what gets
reported as taxable  income to the IRS.  They assume you're
earning at least the Federal  minimum.

 
I don't know exactly how the IRS does it  but up here is the CRA
and my  understanding is that they have some sort of formula to
estimate the tip  income that would be expected for a server.  My
son was waiter in bar  for a while and later managed bars. At one
time one of his cousins  worked for him and the  guy was making a
lot in tips and apparently not  declaring them all. He got audited
and ended up owing thousands of  dollars in income tax.  This
nephew had worked part time as a waiter  while studying restaurant
and hotel management at university.  After  graduation he kept
waiting tables for years because he was making so  much more than
he could have as a manager.
 
 

It's been a very long time since I worked as a server.  I remember
the days when tips were not reported as income.  Then someone at the
IRS woke up and said hey, wait a minute! what about all that money
people keep handing them?  We need to find a way to tax it!  So they
decided not to rely on servers reporting what they earned.  So they
calculate a percentage based on each server's sales rung up at the
register.  Even if you don't make diddly squat in tips, a percentage
gets reported to the IRS as taxable income.
 
Jill

Well that doesn't work well.  See my other post.  5 shifts, only 2
customers total (on differnt nights).  Tip total, 4.13 over 15 hours
work (3 hour shifts)