Who built Qualified Tips, and how we keep it honest.
Federal tax guidance is a YMYL category — "your money or your life." That means you should know exactly who is writing this, what they've reviewed, and what they're not claiming. This page exists to answer that, in plain English.
Founder
Hieu N.
Hieu is the builder behind Qualified Tips (TipTax). He's a software engineer with a decade of mobile and web work, and the impetus for the app was watching tipped workers in his own family struggle with the gap between the "No Tax on Tips" headlines and the IRS substantiation rules nobody was explaining.
Qualified Tips is built for tipped workers, not tax professionals. Every page on this site is written to be readable by a server on break — not by an accountant. The technical accuracy comes from the source documents we cite below; the plain-English translation is the value we add.
What Hieu does on this site
- Writes and updates the eligibility, tracking, and filing guides
- Maintains the Treasury Tipped Occupation Code list inside the app
- Reads every IRS update on §224 and updates the site within 7 days
- Responds to email at hello@qualifiedtips.app
What Hieu does not do
- File tax returns or prepare your specific Schedule 1-A
- Give individual tax advice — that's a CPA or Enrolled Agent's job
- Audit your past returns or comment on prior under-reporting
Editorial process
How we keep every page accurate.
- Source-first drafting. Every claim on this site traces to a primary IRS document or the statutory text of OBBBA §224. We don't paraphrase tax-blog summaries — we read the underlying regulation.
- Tax-professional review. Before publishing any page that affects how you'd file a return, the draft is sent to a licensed CPA or Enrolled Agent for review. Reviewer initials appear in the footer when applicable.
- Date-stamped updates. Every guide carries a visible "Last updated" date. When the IRS updates §224 guidance or a state changes its conformity status, the affected pages are updated within 7 days and the date is bumped.
- Correction policy. If you find an error, email us. We log corrections at the bottom of the affected page and credit the person who reported it (or keep them anonymous on request).
What we cite
The primary sources behind every guide.
We align to U.S. federal tax law and IRS guidance only. Every number, threshold, and form reference on this site traces back to one of these:
- IRC §224 — the "No Tax on Tips" deduction, enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), July 2025.
- IRS §224 Final Regulations (TD 10044) — published April 2026. The Treasury Tipped Occupation Code (TTOC) list lives here.
- IRS Publication 1244 — Employee's Daily Record of Tips and Report to Employer (Forms 4070 and 4070A).
- IRS Form 4137 — Social Security and Medicare Tax on Unreported Tip Income.
- IRS Schedule 1-A (new) — the form for claiming the §224 deduction.
- State revenue-department guidance for each of the 50 states + DC, refreshed before every quarterly update.
Disclosures
What this site is — and isn't.
- This is not tax advice. We're a record-keeping tool plus a plain-English reference. For your specific filing, talk to a CPA or Enrolled Agent.
- We don't sell your data. The app is offline-first; the marketing site uses privacy-friendly analytics (Plausible, no cookies).
- We don't take affiliate kickbacks from tax software. No referral links, no sponsorships baked into recommendations.
- We're not affiliated with the IRS or Treasury. "Qualified Tips" (capitalized) is our product name; "qualified tips" (lowercase) is the IRS statutory term.
Start with the basics
Most workers start here.
The eligibility checklist, the occupations list, and a free 20-second deduction estimate.