Customise and apply service charge
About service charge
Service charge is a fixed percentage tip you can apply to bills manually, automatically or based on group size.
Before you begin
Service charge may be considered taxable. For specific tax questions related to your business, make sure you consult with a tax professional.
You create a service charge from your service settings in your Square Dashboard and apply them from your Square Restaurant POS app.
You can set up multiple service charge rates – for example, one rate for large groups and another for private events – and choose whether each rate is calculated before or after discounts are applied.
Step 1: Enable and customise service charge
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Settings > Restaurant settings > Service settings > Automatic gratuity.
Select the location where you want to use service charge.
Toggle Allow service charge on.
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Enter the Tip amount and select how you want to Apply service charge.
If you select On a per-bill basis, you can manually add the service charge to the bill during service.
If you select To all bills or Based on group size, the service charge percentage applies automatically.
Select whether the tip should be calculated before discount (pre-discount) or after discount (post-discount).
Select if you want to Tax Service Charge and the Taxes or Tax Calculation.
Select Save.
To add another service charge rate, repeat the steps above. You can configure multiple rates with different percentages and application methods.
Step 2: Apply service charge per bill
If you select to apply service charge on a per-bill basis, you can select the order during service and apply service charge before payment. From your Square Point of Sale app with full-service, quick-service or bar mode enabled or from the Square Restaurant POS app:
Open your Point of Sale app and select Actions > Service charge.
Toggle on the service charge you want to apply to the bill. If you have multiple rates configured, select the rate you want to use.
Tap Save.