Enable split billing

Overview

Split billing allows you to divide a bill among multiple payers, making it easier to handle group dining and shared purchases. This feature enhances the group dining experience, speeds up table turnover, and eliminates manual calculation errors by providing visual tracking of the remaining balance throughout the payment process.

Split billing supports two division methods:

• Equal split: Divide the bill equally among a specified number of payers. For example, split a £120 bill equally among 4 people (£30 each).

• Custom split: Divide the bill by custom amounts, allowing different payers to contribute different amounts. The device tracks the remaining balance and notifies you when the full bill has been paid.

Split billing also supports different payment methods, giving your customers flexibility in how they pay their portion of the bill.

Split billing with gratuity and service charges

When using split billing, you can include mandatory service charges or gratuity with the bill. The tip or service charge is included in the total amount to be split among payers. Gratuity amounts are tracked separately from the bill in the dashboard for easy reconciliation.

Split billing is only available for purchase transactions—it's not supported for refunds, authorisations, or other transaction types.

Before you can use split billing, you need to enable it in the Unity Portal and configure your POS devices.

Enable split billing for your site

Before devices can use split billing, the feature must be enabled at the site level. This ensures all devices at a location can offer split billing functionality.

1. In the Unity Portal, go to Merchant groups > Sites.
2. Select the site where you want to enable split billing.
3. In the Services tab, find the Pos service and click Edit.
4. Click General POS service settings.
5. In the Split billing section, toggle Split billing to On.
6. Click Save in the top right.

Split billing is now enabled for all devices associated with this site. You can disable it at the device level if needed. See Enable or disable split billing on a device.

Enable or disable split billing on a device

Once split billing is enabled at the site level, it's enabled for all devices under the site.

To disable or enable it at the device level:

1. In the Unity Portal, go to Merchant setup > Sites.
2. Select the site associated with the device.
3. In the Services tab, find the Pos service and click Edit.
4. Click on the device that you want to manage the feature for.
5. Click Feature settings.
6. In the General section, toggle the Split billing switch.
7. Click Save in the top right.

The device will automatically download the updated configuration during its next sync.

Using split billing

When processing a split bill transaction, the device provides visual tracking of the payment progress, showing the number of payments completed or the amount remaining. Once the full bill has been paid, the device notifies you that the transaction is complete.

For detailed step-by-step instructions on processing split bill transactions, see Process a split bill purchase.

Verify your configuration

After enabling split billing, test your configuration:

1. Process a test purchase transaction with split billing.
2. Choose equal split and verify the bill divides correctly among the specified number of payers.
3. Process each payment and confirm the device tracks the remaining balance.
4. Verify the device notifies you when the full bill has been paid.
5. Test a custom split amount to ensure you can divide bills by different amounts.
6. If using gratuity or service charges, verify they're included in the total amount to be split.

Reporting

Split billing transactions are captured in your standard reporting tools:

• Transaction reports: The Unity Portal includes all split billing transactions in your standard reports. See our Reporting section for more information.
• Gratuity tracking: When gratuity or mandatory service charges are used with split bills, these amounts are tracked separately from the bill amount in the dashboard for easy reconciliation.
• End of day reports: EOD summaries include all split billing transactions processed during the day.

Troubleshooting