Can Uber or Lyft Keep Part of My Tips?

No. In New York City, Uber and Lyft must pass on the entire tip a passenger gives you. TLC rule 59D-17(b) says a High-Volume For-Hire Service "must remit to the Driver the entirety of anything designated as a tip or gratuity". A company that keeps any part of it faces a $500 fine (TLC chapter 59). The same rule says the app must give passengers a way to tip you.

Who else can't touch your tips

The base and lessor rules carry a $500 fine for a first violation and $1,000 and/or up to 30 days' suspension after that, and the hearing officer must order restitution to you.

How tips show up in the data

In TLC's trip records, tips are their own field. The driver pay field is defined as pay "not including tolls or tips" (TLC data dictionary). That is how the rules want your statement to read too: trip pay on one line, tips on another.

About one app trip in five had a tip in the 12 months of TLC records. When riders did tip, the average was $6.46. Yellow and green cab riders tipped on more than nine in ten card trips, but taxi tips are counted only for card payments (cash tips are not recorded), so the two are not a fair comparison. Monthly trends are on what riders pay vs what drivers get.

How to check your tips

1. Open each trip in your app and note the tip shown for it.
2. Add them up for the week and compare with the tips total on your weekly statement. They should match exactly.
3. Check that tips are not mixed into trip pay. TLC's data measures driver pay without tips, and tips must be shown and passed on in full. What the rules say about tips and the minimum is in do tips count toward the TLC minimum pay?
4. Keep screenshots of any trip where a rider told you they tipped but nothing appears.

If the numbers don't match, ask the company in the app and save the reply. Then contact TLC's Driver Protection Unit: (718) 391-5539 or driverprotection@tlc.nyc.gov. How to read each line is in how to read an Uber or Lyft pay statement.

Related rules and exceptions

• You can't ask for a tip. Rule 80-17(a)(6) says a driver must not ask a passenger for a tip or indicate that one is expected ($50 fine, TLC chapter 80).
• Tolls are separate too. The company must pay you back the entire toll you paid on a dispatched trip (§59D-17(c)).
• Tax note. Tips are income. For tax years 2025 through 2028, a new federal deduction lets employees and self-employed people in listed occupations deduct qualified tips up to $25,000 a year; for the self-employed it can't exceed the net income of that business, and it phases out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income ($300,000 joint) (IRS). The IRS occupation list includes "Taxi and rideshare drivers and chauffeurs" (code 802), including "platform/app-based" rideshare drivers (IRS list). This is not tax advice; ask a tax preparer how it fits your return.

These protections come from your status as a driver for a high-volume for-hire service. The full set of pay rules is on Uber and Lyft minimum pay and the apps hub.