Payroll for restaurants? Easy as pie.
Your days are long enough as it is. And we know you’d rather be out on the floor than stuck in the back office. With Gusto’s integrated time-tracking and built-in compliance for tipped minimum wage workers, you can let us handle the hard stuff while you stay on top of running your restaurant.
How Gusto worksCreate account
Complex compliance made easy
Don’t let FICA and FLSA get you down. From state taxes to tip credits, Gusto’s here to handle the nitty-gritty of restaurant payroll so you don’t have to.
Time-tracking with restaurants in mind
Supporting multiple pay rates, schedules, and locations, Gusto’s integrated time-tracking tools have everything you need to make payroll a breeze.
Take onboarding off your plate
Gusto’s self-managed HR solutions put your employees in the driver’s seat. From new hire paperwork to W2s come tax time, restaurant HR just got a whole lot easier.
“Our state has special Labor & Industries taxes that other systems we looked at couldn’t handle. Gusto files new hire paperwork and makes onboarding super easy.”
Worry-free restaurant compliance
From tipped wages to tax credits—we’ve got you covered.
Keeping up with ever-changing regulations in the hospitality industry is no picnic. Lucky for you, complex minimum wage calculations, workers’ comp, and federal, state, and local taxes are all taken care of by Gusto. And we don’t just calculate your taxes, we file them with the right government agencies every time you run payroll. No more costly errors or piles of paperwork come tax time.
Valuable payroll insights
Take time tracking to a whole new level.
Gusto’s powerful time-tracking tools support multiple pay rates and locations per employee alongside fully integrated overtime, tip tracking, and wage reporting—that all seamlessly syncs with payroll. Plus we already play nice with your favorite POS and time-tracking software like 7Shifts and Upserve. And the cherry on top? Gusto’s built-in reporting provides insight into labor costs to help boost your bottom line.
Empower your employees
Spend more time on the floor where you belong.
With Gusto, your team members can self-manage everything from onboarding paperwork to tip reporting and time-off requests. Put your employees in charge while taking time-consuming admin off your plate for good. Our mobile-friendly platform keeps the back office in your front pocket—so you can be there for your customers and staff no matter what the day is throwing your way.
Frequently Asked Questions
They sure do. Tips are treated the same as income for your employees, so employers are responsible for paying Social Security and Medicare taxes, as well as unemployment tax, based on their employees’ earned wages and total reported tips.
Tipped employees get special treatment when it comes to minimum wage. Employers are allowed to pay them an hourly rate that’s below the federal minimum—so long as the employee’s tips make up the difference. This is known as a tip credit, and it’s calculated by subtracting the minimum cash wage from the federal minimum wage.
If employees don’t earn enough tips to reach the minimum wage, the employer is required to pay them the difference. These laws can vary by state and locality, but Gusto will calculate this automatically and let you know if you need to make up the difference before running payroll.
An employer can receive a FICA tip credit for any Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on their employees’ tip income that is not used to meet the federal hourly minimum wage rate of $5.15. Wait, isn’t the minimum wage $7.25? It is, but for now, the FICA tip credit is still based on the previous rate. Once your employees meet that threshold, you can get a credit back for taxes paid on any tips above that amount.
Form 8027 tracks the total amount of tips brought in by large food or beverage establishments during the year. A large food or beverage establishment is any business that employs more than 10 employees in a typical business day. Gusto doesn’t automatically file this form for you, but we can help you fill it out and make sure you’re meeting any annual deadlines set by the IRS.
Certainly the usual suspects such as servers and bartenders, but anyone who regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips is considered a tipped employee. This could also include hostesses, baristas, hair stylists, valets, casino employees, and taxicab drivers.
No matter which type of tipped employee you’re paying, any employee who exceeds the $30 per month threshold has to report those earnings to their employer.
In short, no. Service charges are gratuities that are automatically added to a bill by a restaurant. Sometimes service charges are added to every bill, or certain restaurants may only apply them to larger parties. Since the customer cannot adjust these charges, they’re considered non-tips and are taxed as regular wages instead.
Whatever scheduling tools you’re using, it’s essential they integrate with your payroll to save you time and avoid errors come payday. Gusto’s built-in time-tracking tool can make it easy for your staff to log hours. But once you’ve chosen the restaurant payroll software that works best for you, there are some best practices for shift scheduling you can follow to keep your team happy and avoid costly turnover.
Gusto offers fully integrated HR, payroll, and benefits so you can access everything you need to manage your team all in one place. Whether it’s onboarding paperwork for new hires or employee happiness surveys to decrease turnover, Gusto is a one-stop-shop for your restaurant HR needs.
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