Being a waitress, 15% of my check is taken to pay bus people, can i claim this on my taxes and get it back?

Question

would it be possible to get the 15% back in my taxes? this is extra money taken out besides state and federal taxes.

Answer 1

That 15% is probably already included in your w-2. If you are claiming $10,000 in tipped income in a year (before tip-out), your employer has probably already withheld 15% ($1,500) throughout the year. That means that you will only have $8,500 of taxable income. That means that the 15% has already been reflected in your income, so you would not be able to get any further benefits.

Answer 2

You can subtract the amount you pay to tip out bus people from your total tips. You should be reporting total tips to your employer. If they are automatically deducting the 15%, then they should be handling the math and just showing on your W-2 what you actually get.

Answer 3

You have to account for tip-outs on your monthly tip report to your employer. Only the net tips are taxable to you. The tip-outs must show who the tip-outs were paid to.

What your employer is doing may be illegal, especially if it's being deducted from your pay after tax. It is also illegal if it reduces your wages to anything below the minimum wage for tipped employees. Contact your State Labor Board on that issue.