Restaurants in the United States will need to reevaluate their mandatory tipping policies for employees due to a new regulation set out in Donald Trump’s government budget law, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”.
The proposal, which aims to, is considered a key piece of the president’s agenda. For American restaurants, especially large ones, a section of the law could mean that owners pay more taxes and less tips are passed on to workers.
That’s because. Currently, extra payment for the service of employees of a gastronomic establishment is tax-exempt — both for restaurants and workers.
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Although, the Trump administration law defines that the exemption will only be guaranteed for “qualified tips”that is, those that are not part of the total bill and that cannot have a minimum value for the consumer.
For example, imagine an American restaurant that charges between 15% and 18% as a service fee on food and drink for groups of six or more people. In the past, this amount could be passed on to waiters tax-free. However, the new law indicates that this would not be a tip that qualifies for the exemption.
In the same scenario, , but which is not directly linked to the account, can be considered tax-exempt. It is worth emphasizing that this would imply turning this extra payment into an optional model — that is, consumers can decide how much to pay, including nothing.
A, from 2025 to 2028. And the US IRS must be more strict with the measure than previously.
Additionally, restaurants will have to include all tips on payroll, even if they didn’t do so before or included service charges incorrectly, in order for the employee to benefit from the deduction.
