How to split a bill with tip
✓ Verified in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 ✓ Verified in Google Sheets (2026-08-30)Add the tip and divide by people — the dinner-table classic, made exact.
The formula
| App | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | =ROUND(A2*(1+B2)/C2,2) | A2=bill, B2=tip rate (20% stored as 0.2), C2=people. |
| Google Sheets | =ROUND(A2*(1+B2)/C2,2) | Identical. |
| LibreOffice Calc | =ROUND(A2*(1+B2)/C2,2) | Identical. |
How it works
Bill times (1 + tip) is the grand total; dividing by headcount gives each share: $85 with 20% is $102, split four ways is $25.50 each. Tip on the pre-tax amount instead by applying the rate to a subtotal cell. One rounding subtlety: rounding each share can make the shares not exactly sum to the total (4 × 25.50 works here, but $100/3 → 33.33×3 = 99.99); when the cents must reconcile, compute one person's share as total minus the others.
Verified, not just documented
We ran =ROUND(A2*(1+B2)/C2,2) in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 (headless, with forced recalculation) and it returned 25.5 — exactly the expected result. We then ran the same formulas in Google Sheets, executed 2026-08-30: a formula-only workbook goes into Google Drive, which converts it to a Sheet and recalculates every formula with Google’s own engine, and comes back out as .xlsx carrying the values Google computed. It returned 25.5 for the worked example, the same value LibreOffice produced. Both engines’ numbers on this page are executed results. The Excel formula follows Microsoft’s official documented syntax — we do not run desktop Excel.
Functions used
ROUND — see full Excel, Google Sheets & LibreOffice compatibility for each.
Related recipes
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- How to use ROUND (and ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN)
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