CashoutTipped minimum wage / Virginia
Virginia tipped minimum wage
What employers must pay
In Virginia, the minimum wage is $12.77 an hour. An employer can pay a tipped employee as little as $2.13 an hour in cash, as long as tips bring the total to at least $12.77. The difference, $10.64, is the tip credit.
Who counts as a tipped employee: more than $30 a month in tips.
If your cash wage plus tips comes up short of $12.77 an hour in a workweek, your employer has to make up the difference.
What changes next
On January 1, 2027, the minimum wage goes to $13.75, and the tipped cash wage stays at $2.13. Under a 2026 law the minimum rises to $15.00 on January 1, 2028, then goes up with inflation starting in 2029.
Tip pooling and service charges
No state tip pooling rule; federal rules apply: employers, managers and supervisors may not keep tips, and a mandatory pool may include only customarily tipped workers when a tip credit is taken (back of house may be included only if the full minimum wage is paid).
Overtime
Virginia adopts the federal overtime rules: 1.5 times the regular rate after 40 hours a week, no daily overtime. For tipped workers overtime is figured on the full $12.77, not the cash wage.
Taxes on your tips
Virginia taxes wage income, and tips are wages, so its income tax applies to your tips. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply. The federal tip deduction can cut the income tax part: see how the No Tax on Tips deduction works.
Check a week's pay
Enter one workweek to see whether your cash wage plus tips reached Virginia's minimum of $12.77 an hour.
You reached the minimum this week.
You came up short. Your employer owes you at least
If you are underpaid
Start by comparing your pay stubs with your own record of hours and tips. If the numbers don't add up, you can file a complaint with the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, Labor and Employment Law Division: how to file. You can also call the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, at 1-866-487-9243.
