FORT Koffee Klatch

[Unklescott]

Is it true that now the government taxes you on tips you may never have even earned? That they assume you would've gotten a certain amount in tips and tax you on that...even if you may have gotten stiffed by a lot of cheap customers?

Tips being reported as income are handled one of two ways. My company requires the servers report 100% of their tips as income. They write on their time cards at the end of the shift how much they earn. It's their responsibility to report their tips.
The IRS uses 8% of a servers sales as a guideline for how much tips they earn. Some restaurants will take 8% of each server's sales and automatically use that as their reported tips, freeing the servers from reporting their tips themselves. This is accepted by the IRS. That is how the myth of "That they assume you would've gotten a certain amount in tips and tax you on that...even if you may have gotten stiffed by a lot of cheap customers" gets around. I guarantee you that most servers make way more than 8% of their total sales in tips on average. This figure is low to allow for the "stiffs" that occur during their work shifts.
The other myth that servers don't ever get paychecks is perpetuated by the fact that they must pay taxes on this income and their hourly wages paid by the company are used to pay the taxes they owe on their reported tips.

[Marleybone]

That's interesting, Unk. I remember how upset we were back when they first started taxing our tips. We had to report how much we made, and then that amount was added to our wages and it was all taxed together. I worked in a country club where the members were allowed to charge their tips to their accounts, so that was automatically taxed. It wasn't unheard of though, for us to slip some of the cash in our pockets and keep our mouths shut. I'm glad that there is way to do it now that seems fair to everybody.

[cricketeen]

We had a dog like that at the elemantary school I went to. He always slept in the grass right by the cafateria dores. He was a super nice dog.

Did you attend elementary school in Pennsylvania in the early 1990's?

[misskitty]

I used to work banquets at the hotel my sister worked at when they were understaffed. Mostly weekends. It was hard work but everyone always felt great if the meal was served up great and everyone was happy. (not buffet).

I did breakfast meetings, weddings, conference lunches (sit down service). We didn't get tips, but we got gratuities from the event. I don't know how that was figured out. But we certainly had pride in our work. I was happy not to spill anything on anyone. Everyone got the same thing so it was impossible to mix up orders.

[SuperBrat]

Did you attend elementary school in Pennsylvania in the early 1990's?

Nope! I went to an elementary school in a city just south of Seattle, Washington!

[Newfherder]

Be careful what you post on the internet. As a result of something that I posted here on FoRT a couple of months ago, I am facing either a $270,000 fine or jail time, and substantial legal fees. It all started with a post that I made about jay-walking on a near-daily basis. It turns out that the County Sheriff's Department monitors this website, primarily for people trying to solicit minors, but they are also authorized to act on any other information that they glean. After investigating, they determined that I've lived in this county for 25 years, which is over 9,000 infractions at $30 a pop.

As a result, you won't be seeing me here for a while, unless I'm allowed internet privleges in prison. My ex is going to look after my stuff while I'm away, but since I'll have no income (well, I guess I can earn something like $1.25 a day stamping license plates) I'll likely lose everything.

DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES THAT I MADE!!

[just1paul]

The other night my 14 year old son and I were watching "Dancing with the Stars" and they were showing Edyta and John's little intro before the dance (where they are showing them practicing and such)...well they were talking about John being a "thespian" but they were showing Edyta on the screen and my son looked at me and said "She's a lesbian?" It took me a few seconds to realize what he was talking about because my mind was thinking "They just said on national TV that she was a lesbian????" (not that there's anything wrong with that, of course..a la Jerry Seinfeld)....... ...I had to explain to him what a thespian was.......

Reminds me of an episode of The Golden Girls, where one of Dorothys college friends comes to visit and developes a crush on Rose. So one evening Dorothy & Sophia are discussing this in one of the bedrooms and Blanche walks in and asks what's new, Dorothy says that Jean is a Lesbian - Blanche gets this look on her face and says "well so Isn't Danny Thomas?" Dorothy in only the way Dorothy could do LESBIAN BLANCHE -NOT LEBANESE! Then Blance thinks about it and wonders when Jean would pick rose over her. Hilarious scene.

[bbnbama]

Reminds me of an episode of The Golden Girls, where one of Dorothys college friends comes to visit and developes a crush on Rose. So one evening Dorothy & Sophia are discussing this in one of the bedrooms and Blanche walks in and asks what's new, Dorothy says that Jean is a Lesbian - Blanche gets this look on her face and says "well so Isn't Danny Thomas?" Dorothy in only the way Dorothy could do LESBIAN BLANCHE -NOT LEBANESE! Then Blance thinks about it and wonders when Jean would pick rose over her. Hilarious scene.

Ironically enough, my son loves and adores the Golden Girls!!

[just1paul]

Ironically enough, my son loves and adores the Golden Girls!!

I could watch that show always. It's been what 20 years since they were done? oh my God time is flying right past me.

[Amy Lee]

Oh, boy! I love those girls. I don't go a day without seeing the show. I've been watching for years now and can't get enough. It has a timeless quality too it.