RESTAURANT TEAM MEMBER HANDBOOK - EthicsPoint

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• Reports of alleged violations may be made to the Company Team Member Hotline at 1-877-510-0257, which is available at all times, including during non-business hours, or to the Team Member Relations Department. You may also submit a complaint online at www.bjsteammemberhotline.com. Team Member Assistance Program Team member assistance for personal problems is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. This benefit is administered through the CIGNA Life Assistance program and can be reached by calling 1-800- 538-3543 or at www.cignabehavioral.com/cgi. Please contact the Benefits Department for additional information regarding this valuable benefit. Tip Reporting Every tipped team member is responsible for claiming the entire amount of tips received during each shift. This is a requirement of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). BJ’s participates in the TRAC (Tip Reporting Alternative Commitment) program in conjunction with the IRS. What this means is that the restaurant agrees to assume greater responsibility for getting team members to report their tips. In return, the IRS will not bill the restaurant for FICA taxes on allegedly unreported tips unless it has first audited the team members. That means that the restaurant and the IRS are in partnership to get you to report 100% of your tips and pay taxes on them. Tipped team members must understand their responsibilities regarding tips and must comply with the following: Understand that 100% of your tips are taxable. All tips are income that you owe taxes on. This includes cash tips, charge tips and any tips you get from other team members, minus what you “tip out” to others. Thus, you must declare 100% of your tips. You need to declare the combination of cash and credit card tips and subtract the tips that you “tip out” to other positions. The IRS requires you to report 100% of your tips. If your tips total more than $20 a month, the law requires that you report all tips each shift. At the end of each shift the computer will prompt you to report the amount of cash tips you made after “tipping out” and/or how much tips you received from another team member. Each paycheck period you will be required to sign the payroll sheet report, which will show the amount of reported tips during that period. Confidential and Proprietary 48 January 2012
Keep a daily log. This can be a book that is provided by the IRS or a calendar or notebook that you maintain. This will be extremely critical if the IRS should ever audit you. The daily record log must show your cash tips, your charge tips and the amount of tips you get from other team members and/or amount you “tip out” to other team members (which helps prove that you don’t owe taxes on these tips). In your records of “tip outs,” it is important to write down the first and last names of the persons whom you tipped so that you can prove that you don’t owe money on those tips. The law requires you, and all taxpayers, to keep sufficient records to determine income. The records may be your ONLY defense in the case of being audited. Understand the benefits of reporting your tips. By reporting your tips, you do the following: • Comply with the law which requires you to report 100% of your tips • Increase the Social Security earnings for which you should ultimately be eligible • Trigger higher unemployment benefits if you become unemployed • Improve your credit rating based off your higher income • Increase your chances of qualifying for car or home loans based on your higher income • Avoid penalties that occur for not correctly reporting • Avoid back taxes on unreported income and FICA • Avoid 50% FICA penalty for late reporting • Avoid potential 20% income tax penalty for failure to report • Avoid interest on money owed to the IRS • Avoid estimated tax penalties Understand how the IRS estimates what tips you received. The IRS can take an estimate from the average tips of credit cards and “assume” the cash tips to be equal. We are required to give the IRS information on total restaurant sales, a total tip team member report and total tips left on charges. If our charge tips show 16% and the cash tips show 5%, the IRS may have good reason to think you are under reporting. In addition, the IRS is also allowed to interview team members, observe customers’ tipping habits, and look at team member records to reconstruct tips. Understand what happens if your paycheck is not big enough to cover all the taxes that should be withheld. This can happen. When BJ’s withholds taxes from your wages, the withholding is based on both your hourly wages and your reported tips. Sometimes your pay may not be enough to cover all the necessary taxes and deductions. In these cases it’s most important to be aware that you may owe more taxes that you expected when you file your tax returns. Some tip- Confidential and Proprietary 49 January 2012
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Page 6 and 7: At BJ’s, we also feel strongly ab
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Page 18 and 19: applicant in compliance with state
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