How to Split a Bill

Updated October 24, 2026

To split a bill evenly, add the tip to the total, including tax, and divide by the number of people: a $126 bill with an 18% tip split four ways is $37.17 each. To split by what each person ordered, have each person add the same tip percentage to their own items, plus an even share of anything you shared.

Three fair ways to split

1. Evenly

Everyone pays the same. It's the fastest, it suits groups who ordered roughly alike or eat out together often enough that it evens out, and it avoids picking through the bill at the table. Work it out on the total, after tax, with the tip added, and divide by the number of people.

2. By what each person ordered

Fairer when orders differ a lot: one person had a salad and water, another had steak and two cocktails. Each person:

1. Adds up their own items.
2. Adds an even share of anything shared, like appetizers, a bottle of wine or dessert for the table.
3. Adds their share of the tax, which is the same percentage as the bill's tax.
4. Adds the same tip percentage everyone agreed on.

The key is that the tip is a percentage, so each person tips on their own share. Nobody pays for anyone else's steak, and the server still gets the full tip on the whole bill.

3. By share

For shared costs that aren't a restaurant check, like a vacation rental, a group gift or household bills, people sometimes split by share instead of equally: a couple pays two shares, a single person pays one, or rent is split by room size. Divide the total by the number of shares, then multiply by each person's shares. The Proportion Solver does this neatly: if 7 shares cost $2,100, then 2 shares cost $600.

Tax, tip and the order of things

For an even split, it doesn't matter whether you add the tip first and then divide, or divide and then each add the tip: the answer is the same. What matters is that the tip is figured on the right amount. Most people tip on the bill before tax (see how much to tip), but tipping on the total after tax is simpler at a big table, and only adds a little. Whatever you choose, choose it once for the whole table.

Check the bill for an automatic gratuity first. Many restaurants add one for larger groups, and if it's there, the tip is already included in the total you're splitting.

The cents problem

Split $100 three ways and you get $33.333…, which can't be paid exactly. Rounded to the cent, three shares of $33.33 come to $99.99, a cent short; round up to $33.34 and they come to $100.02. Splitting tools have to pick one. coolca.lc rounds each share to the nearest cent and shows the full total next to it, so you can see when shares and total differ by a cent, and someone can cover the difference. For cash, many groups simply round each share up to the next dollar and call the extra part of the tip.

Using Tip & Split to split a bill

coolca.lc's Tip & Split Solver handles splitting, with or without a tip. It has four slots: Bill, Tip %, People and Pay.

1. Open Tip & Split.
2. Type the bill total, such as 126, and tap Bill.
3. Type the number of people, such as 4, and tap People.
4. For a tip, type the percentage and tap Tip %. Leave it empty if the tip is already included, or for a shared expense that isn't a meal.
5. Tap Pay, which shows SOLVE. The display shows each person's share, and the line above spells out the tip and the total.

Someone leaving early? Change People and tap it again, and the share updates. For an uneven split, run it once per person: put their own subtotal in Bill, leave People empty, and add the tip percentage.

Working backward

Tip & Split can also tell you what tip a round amount leaves. If four people each put in $40 on a $126 bill, store 40 in Pay and 4 in People, hold Bill to store 126 there (a hold stores your number even when a slot shows SOLVE), then tap Tip %: that's a 26.98% tip.

Questions