Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or financial advice. Tax rules change periodically, always check current IRS/state guidance or consult a professional.
Tip Tracker (Server44)
Quick Answer: What Is the No Tax on Tips Deduction?
Starting with tax year 2025, qualifying W-2 employees in tipped occupations can deduct up to $25,000 in cash and charged tips from their federal taxable income. The deduction is claimed on the new Schedule 1-A attached to Form 1040. It is an above-the-line deduction, so you benefit whether you itemize or take the standard deduction.
The provision was enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21, Title VII) and applies to tax years 2025 through 2028. A phase-out begins at $75,000 AGI for single filers and $150,000 for married filing jointly.
Key Takeaways
- Up to $25,000 in tips can be deducted. The deduction covers both cash tips and charged tips reported through your employer.
- It's above the line. You claim it on Schedule 1-A regardless of whether you itemize or take the standard deduction.
- Only W-2 employees qualify. Self-employed and 1099 independent contractors are excluded from this deduction.
- 70+ occupations are eligible. Servers, bartenders, hairstylists, delivery drivers, hotel staff, and other occupations that customarily receive tips.
- Phase-out applies at higher incomes. The deduction begins phasing out at $75,000 AGI (single) or $150,000 AGI (married filing jointly).
- Accurate records are required. The IRS expects digital or written tip logs. Paper Form 4070A was discontinued in 2024.
What Is the No Tax on Tips Deduction?
The "No Tax on Tips" provision is a new above-the-line deduction created by Title VII of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21), signed into law in 2025. It allows qualifying tipped employees to subtract up to $25,000 in reported tips from their adjusted gross income when filing their federal return.
How it works
When you file your 2025 federal tax return (due April 2026), you attach the new Schedule 1-A to your Form 1040. On that schedule, you report the total tips shown in Box 7 of your W-2 ("Social Security tips") and Box 8 ("Allocated tips"), then claim the deduction. The IRS subtracts the deductible amount before calculating your tax, which lowers your overall bill.
Because this is an above-the-line deduction, it reduces your adjusted gross income (AGI) directly. So you do not need to itemize to benefit. A lower AGI can also help you qualify for other credits and deductions that phase out at higher income levels.
Effective dates
The deduction applies to tax years 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028. Congress may extend it, but as written the provision sunsets after TY 2028. Tips earned in 2024 or earlier do not qualify, regardless of when you file your return.
What counts as a tip?
The deduction covers:
- Cash tips received directly from customers
- Charged tips added to credit or debit card transactions
- Tip-pool or tip-share distributions received from your employer
Mandatory service charges that your employer adds to a bill and then pays to you are not tips under IRS rules. They are regular wages and do not qualify.
Who Qualifies for the Tip Deduction?
Not every worker who receives tips can claim this. You need to meet all three of these requirements.
1. You must be a W-2 employee
You need a Form W-2 from your employer. Independent contractors, gig workers paid on a 1099-NEC, and sole proprietors are out. If you drive for a rideshare platform as a contractor, for example, your tips do not qualify even though you receive them from customers.
2. Your occupation must customarily receive tips
The IRS has identified more than 70 qualifying occupations. Here are some of the most common:
- Restaurant servers, bussers, and hosts
- Bartenders and barbacks
- Hairstylists, barbers, and nail technicians
- Hotel bellhops, concierges, and housekeepers
- Delivery drivers (employed by a restaurant or delivery company)
- Valet parking attendants
- Casino dealers
- Tattoo artists
- Tour guides and ski instructors
If your occupation is not on the IRS list, you cannot claim the deduction even if customers occasionally leave you tips.
3. Your AGI must be below the phase-out threshold
The full $25,000 deduction is available when your adjusted gross income stays under:
- $75,000 (Single, Head of Household, or Married Filing Separately)
- $150,000 (Married Filing Jointly)
Above those thresholds, the deduction phases out gradually and can drop to zero. The exact phase-out formula will be in the Schedule 1-A instructions when the IRS releases them.
How to Claim the Deduction on Your Tax Return
Four steps, about 15 minutes if your records are already in order.
Step 1: Gather your W-2(s)
Your employer reports your tip income in several W-2 boxes. Box 1 (wages, tips, other compensation) includes your tips in total wages. Box 7 shows Social Security tips, and Box 8 shows allocated tips if your employer participates in tip allocation. You will need these numbers to complete Schedule 1-A.
Step 2: Verify your tip records
Compare the W-2 amounts against your own daily tip log. If you kept a running record in an app or notebook, check that the totals match. If the numbers don't match, that could mean unreported tips on your end (which you are still legally required to report) or an employer error worth fixing before you file.
Step 3: Complete Schedule 1-A
Schedule 1-A is a new form for TY 2025. On it you will enter your total qualifying tip income, apply the $25,000 cap if your tips exceeded that amount, and calculate any phase-out reduction based on your AGI. The result flows to Schedule 1, line 26 (or the designated line in the 2025 version), reducing your AGI.
Step 4: Attach to Form 1040 and file
Include Schedule 1-A with your Form 1040 when you file electronically or by mail. Major tax software (TurboTax, H&R Block, FreeTaxUSA) is expected to support the new form for the 2025 filing season. If you file by hand, download the form from IRS.gov.
Important: tips must already be reported to your employer
This deduction does not let you skip reporting tips to your employer. You must still report tips of $20 or more in a calendar month using Form 4070 or whatever electronic method your employer accepts. Unreported tips are still taxable, and failing to report them can trigger penalties.
What Tip Records Does the IRS Expect?
The IRS has long required tipped workers to keep a daily tip log. What changed in 2024 is the format: the IRS officially discontinued paper Form 4070A (Employee's Daily Record of Tips) and now expects workers to track tips digitally.
What to record each shift
Your daily tip log should capture:
- Date of each shift
- Cash tips received directly from customers
- Charged tips from credit and debit card slips
- Tips paid out to other employees through tip pools or tip sharing
- Net tips you kept after tip-outs
Why digital records matter now
With Form 4070A gone, the IRS expects workers to maintain equivalent records through other means. A tip-tracking app on your phone is one option: you enter your totals after each shift, and the app stores a date-stamped record with running totals. A spreadsheet or even a notes app works too, as long as each entry is recorded close to when you earned the tips.
If you are audited, the IRS will want to see contemporaneous records (records created at or near the time you earned the tips, not reconstructed months later at tax time). A daily log in an app satisfies this because each entry is time-stamped when you create it.
How long to keep records
The IRS generally recommends keeping tax records for three years from the date you filed the return (or the due date, whichever is later). For the tip deduction, this means your 2025 tip logs should be retained until at least April 2029.
Reporting tips to your employer
Federal law requires you to report tips of $20 or more in a calendar month to your employer by the 10th of the following month. You can use Form 4070 (which is still active, unlike 4070A) or any written or electronic statement your employer accepts. Many restaurants and hotels now have digital systems where you enter tips at the end of each shift.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The tip deduction is brand new, so mistakes are expected in the first filing season. Here are the ones most likely to cause problems.
1. Claiming the deduction as a 1099 contractor
Expect this to be the single most common mistake. Gig workers, freelance stylists who rent a booth, and independent delivery drivers paid via 1099-NEC do not qualify. The law limits the deduction to W-2 employees. If you receive both a W-2 and a 1099 from different jobs, only the tips from the W-2 position qualify.
2. Forgetting to attach Schedule 1-A
The deduction requires the new Schedule 1-A. Writing a number on Schedule 1 without the supporting form will delay processing or trigger a notice. Double-check that your tax software includes it, or that you printed it if filing on paper.
3. Exceeding the $25,000 cap without adjustment
If you earned $30,000 in tips during 2025, you can only deduct $25,000. Some workers with multiple tipped jobs may not realize their combined total exceeds the cap. Add up tips from all W-2s before completing the schedule.
4. Ignoring the AGI phase-out
A bartender earning $52,000 in base wages plus $22,000 in tips has a combined AGI of $74,000 before any other income. Add a side gig or investment gains and you are over $75,000 fast. Run your numbers through tax software or a professional before assuming you get the full benefit.
5. Not keeping daily records
Without a contemporaneous tip log, the IRS can disallow the entire deduction in an audit. Start logging today, even if you missed earlier months. Partial records are better than none.
6. Confusing service charges with tips
Mandatory service charges (the automatic 18% on large parties, for instance) are wages, not tips, even if they feel like tips. They show up in Box 1 of your W-2 as regular wages and do not qualify for the deduction.
2025 Tip Deduction Examples
Here is what the deduction looks like at different income levels. Your numbers will differ depending on filing status, AGI, and state tax rules.
- Base wages: $18,000/year (hourly at a casual dining restaurant)
- Tip income: $20,000 (cash and charged tips reported to employer)
- Total AGI before deduction: $38,000
- Filing status: Single
- Phase-out? No. AGI is below $75,000
- Tip deduction on Schedule 1-A: $20,000 (full amount, under $25,000 cap)
- Adjusted AGI after deduction: $18,000
- Estimated federal tax savings: ~$2,200 (assuming 10-12% effective rate on the deducted amount)
Every dollar of this server's tip income comes off the top. Their AGI drops to $18,000, just the base wages. At that level, the standard deduction ($15,700 for single filers in 2025) wipes out nearly all remaining taxable income.
- Base wages: $52,000/year (full-time at a high-volume bar)
- Tip income: $28,000 (charged and cash tips)
- Total AGI before deduction: $80,000
- Filing status: Single
- Phase-out? Yes. AGI exceeds the $75,000 single-filer threshold
- Eligible tip amount: $25,000 (capped, since $28,000 exceeds the limit)
- Phase-out reduction: Partial; the deduction is reduced because AGI is $5,000 above threshold
- Approximate deduction after phase-out: ~$19,000 to $22,000 (exact formula per IRS instructions)
- Estimated federal tax savings: ~$4,200 to $4,800 (22% bracket on deducted amount)
Even with the phase-out, the savings run into the thousands. Log every tip so you can claim the full amount you are owed. The $3,000 in tips above the $25,000 cap remains fully taxable regardless of AGI.
- W-2 salon wages: $30,000/year (employed Tuesday to Friday)
- W-2 tip income: $15,000 (tips from salon clients)
- 1099 booth-rental income: $12,000 (independent work on weekends)
- 1099 tips from booth-rental clients: $6,000
- Total income: $63,000
- Filing status: Single
What qualifies: Only the $15,000 in tips earned as a W-2 employee at the salon. The $6,000 in tips from the booth-rental side business does not qualify because that work is self-employed/1099 income.
- Tip deduction on Schedule 1-A: $15,000
- AGI after deduction: $48,000 (below the $75,000 phase-out)
- Estimated federal tax savings: ~$1,800 to $2,400 (12 to 22% bracket range)
Same stylist, same $50 tip from a client, but the tax treatment depends entirely on whether she earned it as an employee or as an independent contractor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Troubleshooting and Tips
- Start logging tips now. If you haven't been tracking tips daily, begin today. Even partial-year records give you something to show the IRS if they question your deduction.
- Separate cash tips from charged tips. Your W-2 will show charged tips that flowed through payroll, but cash tips are often self-reported. Keeping them separate in your log makes reconciliation easier at tax time.
- Check your W-2 Box 7 and Box 8 carefully. Box 7 (Social Security tips) and Box 8 (Allocated tips) drive the Schedule 1-A calculation. If the numbers look wrong, ask your employer for a corrected W-2 before the filing deadline.
- Run your numbers before filing. Check whether the AGI phase-out affects you. Sometimes a larger pre-tax 401(k) contribution is enough to bring your AGI below the threshold and unlock the full deduction.
- Keep records for at least three years. The IRS can audit a return for up to three years after filing (six years if income is substantially understated). Store your tip logs, W-2s, and a copy of Schedule 1-A together.
- Do not confuse mandatory service charges with tips. Automatic gratuities that your employer adds to checks are wages, not tips. They will not appear in the tip boxes on your W-2 and do not qualify for the deduction.
References
- One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21), Title VII — Full text of the legislation creating the above-the-line tip deduction for tax years 2025 through 2028.
- IRS Publication 531 (Reporting Tip Income) — IRS guidance on how to report tip income, including cash and charged tips.
- IRS Form 4070 (Employee's Report of Tips to Employer) — The form used to report monthly tips of $20 or more to your employer.
- IRS Topic 761: Tips: Withholding and Reporting — Overview of employer and employee responsibilities for tip income reporting and tax withholding.
- IRS Announcement: Discontinuation of Form 4070A — Notice regarding the retirement of the paper daily tip record form, effective 2024.