Tip-credit make-up is the wage an employer must add when a tipped worker’s tips plus the reduced cash wage fall below the full minimum wage for the period — the employer “makes up” the difference. It’s easy to get wrong because it depends on hours, tips, and the applicable minimum, calculated per workweek. Getting it right matters legally and financially; getting it wrong means underpaying staff or overpaying the house. In a tipped house the tip pool effectively is payroll, so the math has to reconcile to the penny. (OpslyIQ computes this as an estimate for planning and CPA review, not a wage determination.)

Related: fully-loaded labor cost

→ How OpslyIQ computes it (as an estimate): payroll