The IRS is taking away restaurants automatic gratuity starting January 2013. Servers who get tipped generally give a percentage of their tips to the other restaurant employees, ie. bussers, bartenders, hostesses, chefs, etc. Without this auto gratuity on large parties servers could be could be subjected to tipping out more than received. Therefore the server could pay out of pocket just by receiving a below 10 percent tip through no fault of their own.