PlateDiary.
Menu
Get PlateDiary
  1. PlateDiary
  2. Split bill calculator
  3. Philippines bill calculator

Philippines · Restaurant bill calculator

Senior and PWD discount, worked out for the whole table.

Type the bill, how many of you ate and how many have a senior citizen or PWD ID. The calculator takes the 12% VAT off their share, then 20%, adds the service charge, and tells each person what to pay.

Everything the table ordered, before any service charge or discount.

How the food was ordered

Shared plates: the bill is divided by the number of diners, and each ID holder’s share is discounted. Their own orders: only what they ordered is discounted.

Service charge

Receipts differ. Check yours: if 10% of the menu total matches the service charge line, pick the menu prices.

This calculator runs on JavaScript, which looks switched off. The sum is short enough to do by hand: divide the bill by the number of diners for each person’s share. For each senior or PWD, divide their share by 1.12 to take off the VAT, then take off 20%. Everyone else pays their share as it is. A worked example is below.

In short

To compute a senior citizen or PWD discount at a Philippine restaurant, take the 12% VAT off their share (divide by 1.12), then take 20% off that. If the food was shared, their share is the bill divided by the number of diners. A share of 1,120 becomes 1,000 without VAT and 800 after the discount. Service charge is added on its own line.

Checked

The formula

VAT off first, then 20% off.

Republic Act 9994 gives senior citizens a 20% discount and an exemption from VAT on restaurant meals for their own use, and Republic Act 10754 gives persons with disability the same. The BIR’s rules say the 20% is worked out on the price without VAT, so the order is fixed:

  1. Their shareWhat the senior or PWD ordered. If the food was shared, the bill divided by the number of diners, once for each ID holder.
  2. Take off the VATMenu prices include 12% VAT, so divide their share by 1.12.
  3. Take off 20%Multiply what’s left by 0.8. That is what they pay for their food.
  4. Everyone elsePays their share at menu prices, VAT included.
One bill of 5,600 at menu prices, with a 10% service charge on the prices before VAT
At the tableVAT and 20% offThe billEach ID holder paysEveryone else pays
5 diners, nobody with an ID—6,100.00—1,220.00
5 diners, 1 senior, shared plates320.005,780.00900.001,220.00
5 diners, 2 seniors, shared plates640.005,460.00900.001,220.00
5 diners, 2 seniors who ordered 1,500 between them428.575,671.43602.681,488.69
5 diners, all seniors or PWDs1,600.004,500.00900.00—

The shared-plates row is the BIR’s rule for food that can’t be told apart: the bill without VAT, divided by the number of diners, gives each senior’s share, and 20% comes off that.

Groups

When only some of you are seniors or PWDs.

  • The discount follows the person, not the table. It covers what the senior or PWD eats, not the whole group’s order. The BIR asks restaurants to ring up a senior’s own order separately from companions’ orders.
  • Shared plates. When nobody can say who ate what, the bill is divided by the number of diners and each ID holder’s share is discounted. Pick Shared plates above.
  • Their own orders. If the seniors or PWDs ordered their own dishes, only those are discounted. Pick Their own orders and type what those dishes came to.
  • A whole table of seniors. When every diner has an ID, the whole bill is VAT-exempt and 20% off.
  • A group meal for one PWD. In 2024 the Department of Justice said a group meal is discounted in full only when it is clearly for the PWD alone; otherwise the discount does not reach the whole group order.
  • Not on packages. Pre-arranged party packages and bulk orders are outside the discount, under the BIR’s rules.

Each line on the bill

Service charge and VAT.

  • VAT (12%). Already in the menu prices. The senior’s or PWD’s share is billed without it.
  • Service charge (often 10%). Set by the restaurant. Under Republic Act 11360 it goes in full to the staff, managers excluded. Receipts differ on whether the 10% is taken on the prices before VAT or on the menu prices, so the calculator lets you pick.
  • Service charge and the discount. The law doesn’t spell out how the two meet, and restaurants differ. This calculator works the service charge out on the whole bill before the discount and shares it by each person’s food. If your receipt does it another way, the difference is a few pesos.
  • A tip. Not required when there’s a service charge. If you leave one, it sits outside the bill and outside the discount.

By hand

Five at dinner, two of them seniors.

The bill is 5,600 at menu prices, the plates were shared, and there is a 10% service charge on the prices before VAT.

  1. Each share5,600 ÷ 5 = 1,120 a person. The two seniors’ shares come to 2,240.00.
  2. VAT off2,240.00 ÷ 1.12 = 2,000.00, so 240.00 of VAT comes off.
  3. 20% off20% of 2,000.00 is 400.00. The seniors’ food comes to 1,600.00, or 800.00 each.
  4. Service charge10% of the bill before VAT (5,600 ÷ 1.12 = 5,000) is 500.00, or 100 a person.
  5. Who pays whatEach senior pays 900.00; each of the other three pays 1,120 + 100 = 1,220.00. The bill: 5,460.00, and the discount took 640.00 off it.

After the bill

Split it here. Remember it in PlateDiary.

Straight answer first: the PlateDiary app doesn’t split bills. It’s a food memory app for eating out. One photo of the table turns every dish into a save, kept under the place and the people you ate with, and the bill can go with it.

  • The bill, kept. Add an optional price to any dish and a “What was the bill?” total to the night.
  • Receipt scan. Point the camera at the receipt and it fills in the prices. It’s read on your phone, and the photo is deleted right after.
  • Prices as you paid them. Pesos stay pesos, with no conversion, so a trip reads the way it happened.

Months later, when the family asks where Grandma’s birthday lunch was and what it came to, it’s next to every dish and everyone who was there. Entering prices and scanning receipts is free.

Get PlateDiary How the bill and receipt scan work

Sources

Where the rules come from

  1. Republic Act No. 9994, the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 — The LawPhil Project
  2. Republic Act No. 10754 (the PWD discount and VAT exemption) — The LawPhil Project
  3. BIR Revenue Regulations No. 7-2010: discount on the price net of VAT, separate orders, groups of seniors, packages — Lawyerly
  4. Clarifications on the tax privileges of senior citizens (BIR RMC No. 38-2012, the group-meal formula, summarised)
  5. DOJ: PWDs can claim full discount on group meals if for personal consumption (October 2024) — The Philippine Star
  6. Senior citizen discounts in the Philippines: rules and sample computation — Respicio & Co.
  7. Republic Act No. 11360 (service charges go to the staff) — The LawPhil Project

Questions

Questions people ask.

How to compute senior citizen discount in a restaurant?

Divide the senior’s share of the bill by 1.12 to take off the 12% VAT, then take 20% off what’s left. A meal of 560 at menu prices becomes 500 without VAT, and the senior pays 400.

How is the senior discount computed when the food is shared?

Divide the bill by the number of diners to get each person’s share. Each senior or PWD with an ID gets their share without VAT and less 20%; everyone else pays their share as it is.

Is the PWD discount the same as the senior citizen discount?

At restaurants, yes: RA 10754 gives persons with disability the same 20% discount and VAT exemption that RA 9994 gives senior citizens, on food for their own use.

Does the senior or PWD discount apply to the whole group’s bill?

No. It covers what the senior or PWD eats. A 2024 DOJ opinion said a group meal is discounted in full only when it is clearly for the PWD alone.

Is the service charge discounted too?

The law doesn’t spell it out, and restaurants differ. This calculator works the service charge out on the bill before the discount, and lets you choose whether it is taken on the prices before VAT or on the menu prices.