Leaving a tip at Pizza Express: don't use card unless you want to give company more!!

Nenen

We went to a Pizza Express at the weekend and had a lovely meal with fantastic service. We wanted to reward this by leaving a tip. We paid by card and there was a space on the bill to add a tip via the card. We asked the waitress if she would get the whole tip if we did that. I was amazed when she told us that Pizza Express have recently changed their policy on this... all tips given via cards are paid through wages (tax deductable) with the company taking a deduction for 'administration'!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

I know there are moral/ethical issues regarding whether tips should be declared and paid tax on (which I prefer to leave to individual conscience) but I think it is a real cheek for the company to take a ‘slice’ of the tips! :eek:

I bet Pizza Express aren’t the only company doing this and so any tips I choose to leave in future will always be in cash!:beer:

Mark7799

I've always left tips in cash. Apart from the above, the restaurant will get charged by the credit card company on a small portion of the tip as well.

Emmylou_2

This has been happening for a long time. I always leave tips in cash - however, the waitress should declare her taxes to the IR and be taxed on them. She can't really complain when the company isn't doing anything illegal (or immoral)

rygon

but why should the company get a slice of the tips. To me that is immoral.

Mark7799

This discussion recurs regularly. One reason the company takes it all (and hopefully shares it all around) is to ensure the non customer-facing staff also get a share. Chefs (using the term loosely in some places) washer-uppers etc all play a part in preparing your meal, often only on minimum wages themselves, don't they deserve a part of the tip?

Maid_of_Kent_3

Maybe the "admin" deduction is the tax, employer and employee NI that is due on the tip?

As an earlier poster commented, the Revenue will be looking for their cut from the waitress, either through PAYE or at the end of the tax year

katiepoppycat

I used to work at another restaurant and we had a similar thing. The tip was not shared - it's allocated to the specific server with a 10% deduction for admin, and the company did not pay tax or NI on it. Can't speak for pizza express but at the restaurant i worked for it seemed purely a way of skimming our tips. 10% for admin when you consider how much work is involved seemed excessive. I always leave cash and in restarants where the service is included I deduct it from the bill and write on the bill that the amount has been paid directly to the server in cash. And then obviously make sure i do!

Generali

From very distant memory, I think I remember that for the f/t waiting staff where I used to work (early 90s) the IR used to assume they'd earn £x in tips and tax them accordingly.

Pelican_2

Toots wrote:

The behind the scenes staff have to cook and wash up whether they are in a service or a self-service restaurant.

I consider that I tip in cash for the person who has actually served a meal to me at my table. I don't tip where you have to queue up and collect the meal yourself.

I agree. The waiting staff are the people who face the abuse from customers when things go wrong in the kitchen. They are the ones who can really make or break a meal- ie by the atmosphere they present in the restaurant.

As a customer, I tip the waitress/waiter- irrelevant of the food. I tip them depending on how pleasant they have been, and how helpful they are when I make odd requests.

Years ago I worked in a really posh restaurant where we weren't allowed to keep the tips at all. The owner paid our wages out of them! He made a profit on us even being there, because I know that we made more in tips alone than what he paid us!