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Customise and apply automatic gratuity

Who is this article for?
  • Account owners or team members with the account and settings permission to configure checkout settings. Set permissions in Square Dashboard.
  • Square for Restaurants Plus or Premium subscribers.
  • About automatic gratuity

    Automatic gratuity is a fixed percentage tip you can apply to bills manually, automatically, or based on party size. Examples of common service charges include:

    • Large dining party automatic gratuity

    • Banquet event fee

    • Cruise trip package fee

    • Bottle service charge (nightclubs, restaurants)

    Generally, service charges are reported as non-tip wages paid to the employee and some employers keep a portion of the service charges. Only the amounts distributed to employees are non-tip wages.

    Automatic gratuity may be considered a taxable service charge. For specific tax questions related to your business, be sure to consult with a tax professional.

    Before you begin 

    • You create automatic and fixed gratuity from your service settings in your Square Dashboard and apply them from your Square Restaurant POS app.

    • You can only create and apply one automatic gratuity.

    Step 1: Enable and customise automatic gratuity

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Settings > Device management.

    2. Select Service settings > Automatic gratuity.

    3. Select the location where you want to use automatic gratuity.

    4. Toggle on Allow automatic gratuity

    5. Enter the Gratuity amount and select how you want to Apply automatic gratuity.

      • If you select On a per-bill basis, you can manually add the auto-gratuity to the bill during service.

      • If you select To all bills or Based on party size, the automatic gratuity percentage applies automatically. 

    6. Select if you want to Tax automatic gratuity and the Taxes or Tax calculation.

    7. Select Save.

    Step 2: Apply automatic gratuity per bill

    If you select to apply automatic gratuity on a per-bill basis, you can select the order during service and apply auto-gratuity before payment.

    1. Open your Restaurant POS app and select Actions > Auto-Gratuity.

    2. Toggle on the automatic gratuity you want to apply to the bill.

    3. Tap Save.

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