$2.13 Is the Tipping Point -- America's Food Servers Are Grossly Underpaid

[Ms. Toad]

29. On those dead nights,

your employer is violating the law by requiring you to declare tips you have not earned - and your employer is required to pay you the difference. Whether you rock that particular boat as an employee is a difficult decision - but as a former employee (based on your verb tense and current social security), if you are still within the statute of limitations and you have kept good records, you might consider making a formal report of the violation of labor laws in order to make life better for those who are still being illegally required to report tips they are not earning..

As for reporting tips you actually take home, you have the power to remedy that. You are correct - it will mean a lower social security check in the long run - an issue your fellow waiters who are not reporting all of their tips often don't think about. My sister - a hair stylist - who has never reported all of her tips is living paycheck to paycheck recently due to a scuzzy ex who left her with debts. She will have to work well into retirement in part because her social security income will be based on reported income rather than the amount she was actually earning.

But, as to the remedy, the form you (or anyone in that situation) needs is Form 407A (http://www.sfs-md.com/images/form-4070-tips1.pdf)

I did taxes for a number of years - and never encountered a single tip earning taxpayer who tracked and reported on their tips beyond what was allocated to them by their employer.

(You also seem to be responding - in part - to someone other than me. I didn't come up with the $15.00/hour figure, or say anything about GMs. My contention was only that your employer was violating the law by requiring you to report tips you did not earn.)