Most people I know in the industry always declare their tips. They’d be idiots not to… if they ever want to apply for a loan or credit anywhere.
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Most tipped employees declare only some of their cash tips. I worked in the tipped industry for years and we generally declared 20% to 30% of our tips, some a bit more, some a bit less. If our managers warned us that there was a spotter due soon we might up it to 50%.
I actually applied for a mortgage in one of my peak tipped income years and the mortgage officer laughed, in a nice way, at the situation. He said he knew my income was high enough to qualify but since I did not declare most of the tips I would only qualify for the dumpiest buildings in town. I laughed as well, because it was my doing and something I knew in advance could happen. So I rented for a few more years.
I ended up working with that loan officer after I became a Realtor.
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Thanks for proving my point 
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So, what your politicians are proposing is to legalise what is currently fraud?
In a word, yes. Won’t be the first time either. Have you ever looked at our health care “system”?
Sometimes, when there isn’t a direct path to “fix” something, people in charge decide to take a path that appears to be idiotic. Sometimes that path helps minimize damage that would continue to be done if not followed. Other times, it’s simply a ploy to curry favor and get elected. I won’t comment on the motivation(s) here, only that tipping is a great example of a complicated mess that folks persist in making worse.
By the way, I’m guessing that the cash gratuities that I’ve left on the table in France and Italy might not have been reported either.
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I havent. I’ve only had one experience with your health care system. Needed to see a doctor. Local tourist centre directed me to someone nearby. Saw doctor, got medication, paid bill. Wasnt even worth the hassle of trying to claim back the cost for my travel insurance.
I saved $30 to $60 a week by being a tax cheat, and it meant i did not qualify for a condo i wanted to buy, so there were some real downsides to not declaring most of my tipped income.
But $120 to $200 more in spending money per month seemed like it was worth it at the time. I worked for 4 hotels and 1 cafe and no one declared most of their tips. Our bell captains did not care what we declared as long as we all declared a similar amount.
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I’ll be looking into waiting tables again “yay” while in Philly. I’ll see how I deal with things…
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Well, also in this country, there’s virtually no such thing as “cash” tips anymore. No one leaves them (at least not in NYC), so even if one aspires to be a tax cheat (?), you can’t, as all tips are reported on your tax document from your employer, who pays out all of the CC charged tips according to whatever method the restaurant uses.
