Why sign in to the Community?

  • Submit a question
  • Check your notifications
Sign in to the Community or Sign in to TurboTax and start working on your taxes
New Member
posted Jun 6, 2019 8:22:38 AM

What are allocated tips

how do they come up with the amount of money in the allocated tips box

0 2 1707
2 Replies
Intuit Alumni
Jun 6, 2019 8:22:40 AM

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 an establishment (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.

No income, social security, Medicare, Additional Medicare, or railroad retirement taxes are withheld on allocated tips.

If your employer allocated tips to you, they are shown separately in box 8 of your Form W-2. They are not included in box 1 with your wages and reported tips. If box 8 is blank, this discussion does not apply to you. 

How to report allocated tips.   If you received any tips that you did not report to your employer as required (including allocated tips that you are required to report on your tax return), add these tips to the amount in box 1 of your Form(s) W-2 and report this amount as wages on Form 1040, line 7; Form 1040NR, line 8; or Form 1040NR-EZ, line 3. (You cannot file Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ).
 

   Because social security, Medicare, or Additional Medicare taxes were not withheld from the allocated tips, you must report those taxes as additional tax on your return. Complete Form 4137 and include the allocated tips on line 1 of the form as provided in its instructions. See Reporting social security, Medicare, Additional Medicare, or railroad retirement taxes on tips not reported to your employer under Reporting Tips on Your Tax Return, earlier.

New Member
Apr 2, 2021 3:52:41 PM

I printed out a form from IRS tips stating that if I have a record of my tips to use those tips instead of allocated tips.