How to split a bill with friends (when someone ate less, or one friend paid)

Short answer: write down the total and who paid. If everyone had about the same, divide the total by the number of people. If someone had much less, give them their own amount first and divide the rest between everyone else. Then send each friend their share in writing the same evening, and cross people off as they pay.

How to split a bill at a restaurant, in four steps

1. Write the total and who paid. The restaurant bill was $120, Ali paid. Everything else follows from these two facts.
2. Split it equally if that is fair. Four friends, $120: $30 each.
3. Take out anyone who had much less. Sara only had a $15 salad. She pays $15, and the other $105 is split three ways: $35 each.
4. Send each friend their share in writing. One short message each, that evening, with the amount and how to pay.

If nobody wrote down who paid, or the share was only said out loud at the table, people can remember different numbers later.

Split equally or unevenly?

Split equally when everyone ordered about the same. It is quick, and nobody has to read the bill line by line. Pay for what you had when one person ordered far less, or did not drink, or arrived for dessert only. A middle way: start equal, and adjust only for the person whose order was clearly different.

	Equal split	Pay for what you had
Best when	Everyone had about the same	One or two orders were very different
Work at the table	One division	Read the bill, add up each order
$120 dinner, 4 people, one $15 salad	$30 each	Sara $15, the other three $35 each
Shared dishes, tax and tip	Already inside each share	Add an equal part to each order, or share in proportion

Agree the method before the bill comes, or at least before anyone pays. "Shall we split it equally, and Sara just pays for her salad?" is easier to say at the start than at the end.

When the total doesn't divide evenly

A PKR 4,800 pizza order for 7 people is 685.71 rupees each, which nobody wants to count out in cash. Round each share down to a whole amount, and give the few rupees left over to one person, usually whoever is keeping track. Here, six friends pay 685 and your own share is 690. The shares then add up to exactly 4,800, so nobody ends up short.

If you use an app, check that its shares add up to the total. The one described below works in whole rupees or cents and puts the leftover on your share.

What if one friend paid for everyone?

Then each person owes that friend their own share. On the $120 dinner Ali paid, Sara owes Ali $15, and you and Hamza each owe him $35.

It gets messy when it happens more than once. Say Sara pays for a $60 lunch next week, split equally between the same four. Now Ali owes Sara $15, and Sara still owes Ali $15 from dinner. Net it out: those two cancel, and nobody has to send anything for that pair. Working out the net amount between each pair of friends means fewer, smaller payments.

What to send each friend

Keep it to the amount, what it was for, and how to pay, in a friendly tone.

Hi Hamza, your share of Saturday's dinner is $35 (total $120, Sara had only the salad). You can send it to me by bank transfer or cash next time. Thanks!

When someone pays, cross them off the same day. Keep friend money apart from your work money.

Splitting a bill in Inbill

Inbill is an invoice and expense app, and it has a Friends page for this kind of money. Tap Split a bill, enter what it was for and the amount, choose who was there and who paid. Shares start equal; tap Change amounts to give Sara her $15, and the form tells you when the shares add up to the bill. Any leftover from rounding goes on your share.

Each friend gets a private link to a page with their share and how to pay you. They don't need an account. They can tap "I've paid", and nothing changes until you confirm the money arrived. If a friend paid the bill, what the others owe them shows under Friends paying each other, already netted. Friend money is never counted in your business totals, and Inbill never moves money itself. More on the split bill page.