How should a bill be split when people ordered very differently?

By item, with tax and service apportioned in the same proportion as the items. Splitting evenly is faster and is fine when the orders are similar; it quietly overcharges the person who had a salad whenever they are not.

Who pays the rounding difference?

Somebody has to, and the honest thing is to show it rather than bury it. This tool reports the rounding separately so the group can see the amount before deciding whether one person absorbs it or it goes to the tip.

Everydaydining

Split Bill Calculator

Split a bill evenly, with optional tip and tax. For an uneven split by what each person ordered, use the roommate expense splitter.

Also called: divide the bill calculator, who owes what.

Each person pays

$36.00

$36.00 each on a total of $180.00, split 5 ways.

Grand total

$180.00

Tip

$0.00

Tax

$0.00

How this is calculated

Method and background

How this is calculated

Tax applies to the bill and the tip applies after, which is the usual order, though conventions differ and tipping on the pre-tax amount is also common. Both are inputs so you can match whichever your table is using.

each = total * (1 + tip) * (1 + tax) / people

T: Bill before tip and tax (currency)
n: Number of people

Worked examples

Each of these is asserted on every build. If a change to the engine ever moved one of these answers, the build would fail before the page could print it.

with tip and tax

Total bill: $180.00
Number of people: 4
Tip or service (%): 18%
Tax already included? Leave 0 (%): 8%

Each person pays$57.35

independently computed: 180 x 1.08 x 1.18 / 4

Open this example

Frequently asked questions

How should a bill be split when people ordered very differently?: By item, with tax and service apportioned in the same proportion as the items. Splitting evenly is faster and is fine when the orders are similar; it quietly overcharges the person who had a salad whenever they are not.
Who pays the rounding difference?: Somebody has to, and the honest thing is to show it rather than bury it. This tool reports the rounding separately so the group can see the amount before deciding whether one person absorbs it or it goes to the tip.