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Guides on bill splitting and shared expenses
Practical guides from HarnDuay on splitting bills, sharing food costs, handling tax and service charge, and settling up with friends fairly.
Choose a guide for your bill
For uneven restaurant orders, start with the food splitting guide. Read the VAT and service charge guide if those charges appear on the receipt. For buffets, the shabu guide separates add-ons from the per-person price.
If several people pay during a trip or over a month, use the travel or group expense guide. Both explain net balances and how to check that the settlement agrees with the receipts.
How to split food costs with friends fairlyA complete guide to splitting food costs with friends: equal vs itemized splits, handling VAT and service charge, with a worked example.How to calculate VAT 7% and service charge 10% on a billUnderstand how VAT and service charge work on Thai restaurant bills: the calculation order, formulas, and a worked example, plus how to split it.Splitting shabu fairly when some order extras and drinksHow to split a shabu buffet fairly: separate the per-head price, premium add-ons, drinks, and service charge, with a worked example.Splitting a whole trip with friends, from lodging to fuelHow to split travel costs with friends when there are many expenses and people take turns paying, plus how to minimise transfers, with an example.How to split group expenses systematically, from roommates to teamsA guide to managing recurring group expenses — roommates, teams, friend groups — with the net-balance principle and fewer transfers.How much to tip at a Thai restaurant, and how to split itWhether to tip on top of a 10% service charge, whether to calculate the tip before or after VAT, and how to divide the tip across a group fairly.Splitting fuel and tolls on a road trip without shortchanging the driverThe formula for fuel cost from distance and fuel economy, how to divide tolls and parking, and the question groups argue about most: does the driver pay too?