IRS Personal Services (TTOC)
Do wedding planners qualify for the No Tax on Tips deduction?
Wedding planners and event coordinators appear on the IRS Treasury Tipped Occupation Code list for tip-customary roles. The honest framing: most planner income is the planning fee — a contracted service price that never qualifies. What does qualify is the thank-you tip, and in this industry it is real: couples routinely hand the planner $100-500 (sometimes far more) after a flawless wedding day. Day-of coordinators at venues see smaller but more frequent tips. Vendor commissions — the quiet 10% from the florist — are business income and a disclosure issue, never tips.
Short answer
Yes, for genuine tips. Wedding planners and event coordinators are TTOC-listed for tip-customary work. Voluntary thank-you tips from couples and families qualify for the federal No Tax on Tips deduction, up to $25,000 per year. Planning fees, day-of-coordination packages, and vendor referral commissions are business income and never qualify.
How much could you save?
Typical tip income for wedding planners.
Wedding planners typically report $1,000-$8,000 in annual tip income. Full-service planners doing 15-25 weddings a year see end-of-night envelopes at perhaps half of them, commonly $100-500. Venue-employed day-of coordinators see smaller, more frequent tips. The planning fee dwarfs tips for most planners — but the tips are the only §224-deductible part.
For wedding planners specifically
What counts as a qualified tip — and what doesn't.
✓ Qualifies
- End-of-night thank-you envelopes from couples
- Voluntary tips from the couple's parents
- Post-honeymoon thank-you checks or Venmo from couples
- Day-of coordination tips at venue-run events
✗ Does not qualify
- Planning fees, package prices, or day-of coordination rates (contract revenue)
- Vendor referral commissions (florist, photographer, DJ kickbacks — business income)
- 'Coordination fee' line items on venue contracts
- Gratuities the couple designates for OTHER vendors that pass through your hands
- Non-monetary thanks (spa days, gift baskets, wine)
A worked example
Camille, a real-world wedding planner.
Camille is a independent wedding planner, ~20 weddings/year, Schedule C, married filing jointly, MAGI $110,000. For the tax year, she logged $4,800 in qualified tips (end-of-night envelopes at roughly half her weddings). She sits in the 22% federal marginal bracket.
- Deduction allowed: Full $4,800 deduction (net SE income far above it)
- Estimated savings: About $1,056 off federal income tax
This is an illustrative example, not a guarantee. Your actual savings depend on your filing status, total income, state, and other deductions.
Questions specific to wedding planners
What other wedding planners ask.
The couple handed me $300 at the end of the night. Qualified?
Yes — a voluntary thank-you tip on top of your contracted fee is exactly what §224 covers. Log it that night (you will not remember which wedding in April).
The couple gave me envelopes for the DJ, caterer, and me. What do I log?
Only your own envelope. The others are pass-through gratuities you are delivering — they are the DJ's and caterer's tip income, not yours. Never log money you handed on.
My contract has a 15% "coordination gratuity" line. Qualified?
No. A gratuity written into the contract is mandatory at source — a service charge, not a tip, no matter the label. Only voluntary extras beyond the contract qualify.
Florists pay me 10% for referrals. Since it is thank-you money, is it a tip?
No. Vendor commissions are business-to-business payments — Schedule C income, never tips. (Separately: undisclosed vendor commissions are an ethics/disclosure issue in this industry. Disclose them to clients; report them as income.)
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Track every shift
The deduction is real money — if you can prove your tips.
Qualified Tips logs each shift the moment it ends — timestamped, exportable, IRS-aligned.