Let’s say you and three friends just got back from a trip to Spiti Valley. The trip was beautiful, with changing landscapes, monastries, endless cups of chai, and, of course, mounting costs. A friend paid Rs 20,000 for a resort. Someone else paid a Rs 12,000 hotel bill. The rental car was paid for by someone else. Everyone shared food at restaurants and dhabas, and each person got to eat. Because, well, you were on vacation, no one really kept track. After that, you get back home, unpack, and check your bank account. At that point, the math starts. Friend 1 has Rs 12,000 to pay you. Friend 2 has Rs 1,200 to pay you. You owe Friend 3 Rs 4,500. Someone is due money for gas. All of a sudden, a perfectly lovely vacation turned into a brain-breaking financial task.
The dos and don’ts of splitting
There is also an etiquette to splitting bills, and it changes with the relationship. With friends on a trip, it is usually best to agree upfront that shared costs will be split and then record expenses as you go. For restaurants, splitting equally works when everyone has ordered roughly the same, if one person has had cocktails and another only had a main course, itemised splitting is fairer. Don’t insist on a 50:50 split when the difference is obvious.
In dating, the rules are less straightforward. On a first date, there is no universal obligation for either person to pay, but making an assumption can create unnecessary awkwardness. If you want to split, say so casually when the bill arrives rather than announcing it after the other person has already paid. If one person has invited the other to an expensive restaurant, offering to split is courteous, even if the host ultimately chooses to pay. As a relationship progresses, couples can settle into whatever works for them, taking turns, splitting 50:50 or contributing according to income.
Sunaina Kumar (name changed on request), a 31-year-old marketing officer at a finance company, remembers how she split the bill while dating. “The Rs 370 ki biryani is a kind of situation you don’t want to be in. Just GooglePay the guy or go dutch right there,” she says.
At work, however, the etiquette can be different. If a senior colleague invites the team for lunch, it may be better not to turn the table into a collection counter unless everyone has agreed beforehand. But for informal team outings where colleagues are paying their own way, splitting can avoid the awkward situation where the most senior person repeatedly ends up picking up the bill.
Let an app take over
Fortunately, using an app rather than opening an Excel page is the simplest solution. Splitwise has become one of the most popular ways to split household bills, plan group vacations, and keep track of long-term debts. Tricount works in a pretty straightforward way, and you don’t have to sign up to use it. Splid is designed to be used while travelling because it can work offline and supports various currencies. Splitkaro is another choice in India, and PhonePe already has a Split Bill tool built in.
“Splitwise might be a good choice, but it doesn’t have a way to request payment.” Nishant Baweja, who works for an MNC in Gurugram, says, “It keeps track of how much each person owes and lets you make a group and add expenses, telling it how to split each one.”