Bill splitter and tip calculator
Type the bill, choose a tip if you want to leave one, and see what each person pays. Split it evenly, or by what each person had: you can even scan the receipt.
Take or choose a photo of the bill. It is read on your device and never uploaded. The first scan downloads about 9 MB of text-reading files.
Names are optional.
Items on the billTap the people who had each item. An item nobody is tapped on is shared by everyone. Fix any name or price the scan got wrong.
Shared in proportion to what each person had, like the VAT and the tip.
Prices shown to customers in the UAE must include VAT, so most bills already do. Choose "add 5%" only if the menu or bill says prices exclude VAT.
Tipping in the UAE is not required by law. It is a thank-you, and the amount is up to you. The tip is worked out on the bill including VAT.
Runs on your phone. Nothing you type or scan is uploaded or saved.
Good to know before you pay
No law in the UAE says you must tip. Many people leave around 10% for good service, some round up or leave a few dirhams, and some leave nothing. All of these are fine.
In Dubai, ordinary restaurants are not allowed to add a separate service charge. Restaurants in hotels, and in some special zones, may add a fee, often 10%. If it is already on the bill, a tip on top is up to you.
Shops and restaurants must show prices that include the 5% VAT. If a menu says "prices exclude VAT", add it, and you can ask why the price was not shown in full.
100 AED split three ways is 33.333… so one person pays 33.34 and two pay 33.33. That way the shares add up to the bill exactly.
Sources: Gulf News, "To tip or not to tip in UAE" (19 March 2019: tipping is not required by law; a service charge on food bills goes against consumer protection rules, except at restaurants in hotels or special zones, which can charge 10%); Gulf News, "10% service fee in some Dubai restaurants legal" (15 September 2018, quoting Dubai's Department of Economic Development: a service charge is not allowed unless the restaurant is in a hotel; free zones such as the DIFC have their own fee); Argaam (June 2018): Dubai cut the municipality fee on hotel and restaurant sales from 10% to 7%; Gulf News (March 2020) on the Federal Tax Authority: businesses must display prices including VAT, or face a fine of 15,000 AED; Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on VAT (standard rate 5%). Rules differ between emirates and can change: the itemised bill is what counts. Receipt scanning uses the open-source Tesseract OCR engine (tesseract.js, Apache-2.0) running on your device. This is a calculator, not legal or tax advice.