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Net it out, then pay. Add every trip cost, work out each person's share, then subtract what that person already paid. In the $1,050.00 example below, three travellers each owe $350.00: B pays A $20.00, C pays A $254.00, and that settles the whole trip. Costs that only part of the group joined are shared only among those people. The example amounts are set by this page.
A trip is not one bill. It is a stack of them - lodging, a rental car, groceries, fuel, tickets - each paid by somebody different, and each sometimes shared by only part of the group. Add the costs, work out what each person owes, then subtract what that person already laid out. The result is a short list of payments that settles the whole trip.
| Cost | Paid by | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Lodging | A | $540.00 |
| Car rental | B | $180.00 |
| Groceries | C | $96.00 |
| Fuel | A | $84.00 |
| Tickets | B | $150.00 |
| Total | — | $1,050.00 |
A paid $540.00 + $84.00 = $624.00; B paid $180.00 + $150.00 = $330.00; C paid $96.00. The three amounts add back to $1,050.00. These are example values set by this page.
When all three travellers joined every item, divide the trip total by three: $1,050.00 / 3 = $350.00 each. Compare that share with what each person already paid.
| Person | Already paid | Fair share | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | $624.00 | $350.00 | +$274.00 |
| B | $330.00 | $350.00 | −$20.00 |
| C | $96.00 | $350.00 | −$254.00 |
| Total | $1,050.00 | $1,050.00 | $0.00 |
Net = already paid − fair share. A is up $274.00, B is down $20.00, C is down $254.00, and the three nets sum to zero. Two payments settle it: B pays A $20.00, C pays A $254.00. Nobody else owes anything.
Now four people travel. Two of the four costs belong only to part of the group, so those costs are divided only among the people who joined them. Divide each cost by its own headcount before adding anyone's share.
| Cost | Amount | Shared by |
|---|---|---|
| Lodging | $600.00 | A, B, C, D |
| Car rental | $160.00 | A, B only |
| Groceries | $120.00 | A, B, C, D |
| Ferry tickets | $80.00 | C, D only |
| Total | $960.00 | — |
Per cost: lodging $600.00 / 4 = $150.00 each; car $160.00 / 2 = $80.00 each for A and B; groceries $120.00 / 4 = $30.00 each; ferry $80.00 / 2 = $40.00 each for C and D. These are example values set by this page.
| Person | Lodging | Car | Groceries | Ferry | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | $150.00 | $80.00 | $30.00 | — | $260.00 |
| B | $150.00 | $80.00 | $30.00 | — | $260.00 |
| C | $150.00 | — | $30.00 | $40.00 | $220.00 |
| D | $150.00 | — | $30.00 | $40.00 | $220.00 |
| Total | $600.00 | $160.00 | $120.00 | $80.00 | $960.00 |
A paid the lodging and the car ($760.00), B paid the groceries ($120.00), C paid the ferry ($80.00), and D paid nothing up front. Subtract each share from what that person paid.
| Person | Already paid | Share | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | $760.00 | $260.00 | +$500.00 |
| B | $120.00 | $260.00 | −$140.00 |
| C | $80.00 | $220.00 | −$140.00 |
| D | $0.00 | $220.00 | −$220.00 |
| Total | $960.00 | $960.00 | $0.00 |
Three payments settle it: B pays A $140.00, C pays A $140.00, D pays A $220.00. A receives $500.00, which is exactly the $760.00 laid out minus the $260.00 share. The nets again sum to zero, so nothing is left over or double counted.
For each cost, divide its amount by the number of people who joined that cost. Add those per-cost figures for each person to get that person's share. Net = already paid − share. Because the shares add up to the costs and the payments add up to the costs too, the nets always add up to zero; people with a negative net pay people with a positive net.
Each amount on this page is an example value set by this page. There is no source to cite for them, and none is quoted: they are worked arithmetic, not measurements. For a real trip the amounts come from your own receipts, booking confirmations and card statements, and who joined each cost is something the group agrees rather than a published figure. This page reports no average trip cost, no tax rate, no fuel price and no official rate of any kind - no single published figure applies to every trip, so none is quoted here.
Cost Splitter starts from one shared cost and the amounts people already paid on it; this page starts from several costs, each with its own payer and its own list of people. Split Hotel Bill Calculator divides one hotel bill between guests; this page covers the whole trip, of which the hotel is only one line. Split a Bill Line by Line works down a single receipt; this page works across several receipts at once.
This page is a worked method with two examples. It is not an expense tracker, does not connect to a bank or card, does not move money, stores nothing, and does not quote any price, tax rate or average. It also does not decide who ought to have joined a cost - the group settles that before the arithmetic starts.