Are ushers and ticket takers tips tax deductible in 2026?
Yes — ushers and ticket takers are on the IRS tipped occupation list (code 210). Tips in this job are deductible for 2026, up to $25,000, if the customer chose the amount and could have declined.
Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 210 · Entertainment and events · official title: Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers
How tipping works in this job
Tipping is light and concentrated in premium seating: an usher who walks a party to a box, wipes down seats at a ballpark, or finds a better sightline is the one who gets handed something. In most theatres and cinemas it barely happens at all. Where a venue runs a front-of-house pool, ushers may share in it.
The regulations say: Assist patrons at entertainment events by performing duties, such as collecting admission tickets and passes from patrons, assisting in finding seats, searching for lost articles, and helping patrons locate such facilities as restrooms and telephones. Examples given: Ticket collector, theater usher.
The thing most likely to disqualify your tips
Venue facility fees and “seat service” charges printed on a ticket are the promoter’s revenue. They can be described to patrons as covering staff, and they still are not tips, because the patron had no choice and no say in the amount.
Check your own numbers
Pre-filled for ushers and ticket takers. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Step 1 — your occupation
Checking for Ushers and ticket takers (Treasury code 210). This occupation is on the list.
Step 2 — is it actually a tip?
Answer for the money you are asking about. If some of your income is tips and some is service charges, run them separately.
Step 3 — your tips and income
The phase-out runs on modified AGI, which for most people is the same as AGI.
3 questions left to answer.
OBBBA Deductions · obbbadeductions.com
Tips deduction worksheet — tax year 2026
The three tests, as answered
- Does the customer decide the amount? not answered
- Can the customer decline to pay it? not answered
- Is it a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity? not answered
Answer the 3 remaining questions above for a result.
Watch out for this in your job: Venue facility fees and “seat service” charges printed on a ticket are the promoter’s revenue. They can be described to patrons as covering staff, and they still are not tips, because the patron had no choice and no say in the amount.
Educational estimate only, not tax advice. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. The deduction is scheduled to expire after tax year 2028.
How this applies to ushers and ticket takers
Tipping in this occupation lives almost entirely in premium seating. An usher working general admission at a cinema will go a whole season without being handed anything; an usher assigned to boxes, suites or a club level at an arena is in a job where guests routinely offer cash for small courtesies. The code covers both, and an annual figure depends far more on which part of the building you are assigned to than on how long you work.
Ballparks have their own convention. After rain, ushers who arrive with towels and dry a party’s seats are tipped for it, reliably and repeatedly, and on a wet weekend that adds up. Walking a group to a hard-to-find section, sorting out a seating conflict, or finding a better sightline for someone who cannot see over a railing all produce the same response. It is small, cash, and given at the moment of the favour.
In theatres the pattern is thinner and more likely to arrive through a pool. Some houses run a front-of-house pool shared across ushers, ticket takers and lobby staff; where that exists it is the documented part of your income and it arrives through payroll. Merchandise commission, where you sell programmes or souvenirs, is compensation for a sale rather than a gratuity.
The line to hold is that nothing printed on the ticket is yours. Venue facility fees, service charges, premium seat charges and convenience fees are the promoter’s or the ticketing platform’s revenue. They are sometimes described to patrons in language suggesting they cover staffing, and patrons occasionally cite them as a reason not to tip. Either way none of it reaches you as a qualifying tip.
The three tests, whatever your job
Paid voluntarily
The customer sets the amount and can decline to pay it.
Paid in cash or a cash equivalent
Card payments and mobile payments count.
Received directly or through a tip pool
Both routes qualify.
Questions
- Are ushers and ticket takers on the IRS tipped occupation list?
- Yes. Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers is Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 210, in the entertainment and events category. The regulations describe it as: Assist patrons at entertainment events by performing duties, such as collecting admission tickets and passes from patrons, assisting in finding seats, searching for lost articles, and helping patrons locate such facilities as restrooms and telephones.
- What is the most common reason ushers and ticket takers lose the deduction?
- Venue facility fees and “seat service” charges printed on a ticket are the promoter’s revenue. They can be described to patrons as covering staff, and they still are not tips, because the patron had no choice and no say in the amount.
- How much of my tips can I deduct?
- Up to $25,000 per return, whatever your filing status. The cap applies first, then the amount is reduced by $100 for every $1,000 of modified adjusted gross income above the threshold for your filing status.
- Does a mandatory service charge count as a tip?
- No. A mandatory service charge or automatic gratuity is not a qualifying tip, and the final regulations confirmed this explicitly. It does not qualify even when the customer cannot decline it — a qualifying tip has to be an amount the customer chose to give.
Related occupations in entertainment and events
- 211
Coatroom and locker room attendants
You run a coat check, a locker room or a washroom, handing patrons what they need.
- 201
Gambling dealers
You deal or run a table game — blackjack, craps, poker, roulette — and handle the chips and payouts.
- 202
Gambling change persons and booth cashiers
You handle change, chips and payouts on the casino floor or from a booth.
Occupation data transcribed from T.D. 10044 — final regulations on occupations that customarily and regularly received tips, Treas. Reg. § 1.224-1(h) table 1, last verified 2026-09-08. Read the regulations.