I am a tiped employee. can my employer claim my tips for me, can they force me to claim 100%???

Dear Bartender: The IRS advises employers do the following: "Tips your employees receive from customers are generally subject to withholding. Employees are required to claim all tip income received. This includes tips you paid over to the employee for charge customers and tips the employee received directly from customers. Employers must collect income tax, employee social security tax and employee Medicare tax on tips reported by employees. You can collect these taxes from an employee's wages or from other funds he or she makes available. As an employer, you must ensure that the total tip income reported to you during any pay period is, at a minimum, equal to 8% of your total receipts for that period." The IRS advises employees do the following: "Employees must report tip income on Form 4070, Employee's Report of Tips to Employer, (PDF) or on a similar statement. This report is due on the 10th day of the month after the month the tips are received. This statement must be signed by the employee and must show the following: * The employee's name, address, and SSN. * Your name and address. * The month or period the report covers. * The total tips received. No report is required from an employee for months when tips are less than $20." Look here for more specific rules as to the 8% rule and rules for large employers: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/industries/article/0,,id=98401,00.html NOTE: The answer above provides information generally available and applicable and should not be confused with legal advice. To obtain specific legal advice designed for your particular circumstance, you should consult an attorney in your state or District of Columbia and enter an attorney-client relationship with all the privileges that relationship provides. I am licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania, and am not purporting to give any advice other than in accordance with that status, not purporting to practice law in any other jurisdiction, nor purporting to provide advise to any person already represented by counsel. I hope this is helpful information, Regards