Why keep a daily tip record?
You must keep a daily tip record so you can:
- Report your tips accurately to your employer,
- Report your tips accurately on your tax return, and
- Prove your tip income if your return is ever
questioned.
How to keep a daily tip record.
There are two ways to keep a daily tip record. You can either:
- Write information about your tips in a tip diary, or
- Keep copies of documents that show your tips, such as
restaurant bills and credit card charge slips.
You should keep your daily tip record with your personal
records. You must keep your records for as long as they are important
for administration of the federal tax law.
If you keep a tip diary, you can use Form 4070A, Employee's
Daily Record of Tips. To get Form 4070A, ask the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) or your employer for Publication 1244,
Employee's Daily Record of Tips and Report to Employer.
Publication 1244 includes a year's supply of Form 4070A. Each day,
write in the information asked for on the form. A filled-in Form 4070A
is shown on this page.
Filled-in Form 4070A
If you do not use Form 4070A, start your records by writing your
name, your employer's name, and the name of the business if it is
different from your employer's name. Then, each workday, write the
date and the following information.
- Cash tips you get directly from customers or from other
employees.
- Tips from credit card charge customers that your employer
pays you.
- The value of any noncash tips you get, such as tickets,
passes, or other items of value.
- The amount of tips you paid out to other employees through
tip pools or tip splitting, or other arrangements, and the names of
the employees to whom you paid the tips.
Do not write in your tip diary the amount of any service
charge that your employer adds to a customer's bill and then
pays to you and treats as wages. This is part of your wages, not a
tip.
Electronic tip record.
You may use an electronic system provided by your employer to
record your daily tips. You must receive and keep a paper copy of this
record.
Previous | First | Next
Publication Index | 2000 Tax Help Archives | Tax Help Archives | Home
