Splitting Bills in Spanish: ITBIS, IVA, Propina
If you've ever tried to split a receipt from a restaurant in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, or anywhere in Latin America, you know the tax and tip lines don't look like what you're used to in the US.
Instead of "Sales Tax" you see ITBIS. Instead of "Tip" you see Propina or Servicio. And the percentages are different. Most US bill-splitting tools don't recognize these terms, which means they either skip the tax entirely or lump it into the wrong category.
Here's what each term means and how it affects your split.
ITBIS (Dominican Republic)
ITBIS stands for Impuesto sobre Transferencias de Bienes Industrializados y Servicios. It's the Dominican Republic's value-added tax, currently 18% on most goods and services. On a restaurant receipt, you'll see it as a separate line item, usually labeled "ITBIS" or "ITBIS 18%."
Some Dominican restaurants also add a 10% service charge (Propina Legal or Ley 10%), which functions like an automatic gratuity. This is legally mandated in many establishments, so it's not optional.
On a Dominican receipt, you might see: Subtotal, ITBIS (18%), Propina Legal (10%), and then the total. Both the ITBIS and the Propina should be split proportionally if you're dividing by item.
IVA (Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Argentina, and others)
IVA (Impuesto al Valor Agregado) is the value-added tax used across most of Latin America and Spain. The rate varies by country: 16% in Mexico, 19% in Colombia, 21% in Spain and Argentina.
On Mexican receipts, you'll often see the IVA broken out separately, sometimes with additional local taxes. Colombian receipts may include IVA plus an "Impoconsumo" (consumption tax of 8% on restaurant meals).
Propina, Servicio, and Ley
"Propina" means tip or gratuity. "Servicio" is a service charge. "Ley" or "Propina Legal" refers to a legally mandated service charge. These show up differently across countries:
In the Dominican Republic, the 10% Propina Legal is standard at sit-down restaurants. In Mexico, "Propina Sugerida" (suggested tip) sometimes appears printed on the receipt but isn't charged automatically. In Colombia, "Propina Voluntaria" (voluntary tip) is often added but you can ask to have it removed.
The important thing for splitting: if it's on the receipt and included in the total, it should be divided proportionally along with the food.
Why this matters for splitting
Most bill-splitting tools are built for US receipts. They look for "Tax" and "Tip" in English. When they scan a Dominican receipt and see "ITBIS" and "Propina Legal," they either ignore those lines (undertaxing everyone), misparse them as food items (inflating the subtotal), or crash.
This is especially common in cities like Miami, where Dominican, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Mexican restaurants print receipts in Spanish with local tax terminology.
How Divvi handles it
Divvi recognizes ITBIS, IVA, IGV (Peru), ISV (Honduras), Propina, Propina Legal, Servicio, Impuesto al Consumo, and other Latin American tax and tip terms automatically. The receipt scanner extracts them correctly regardless of language. Tax gets split as tax. Tip gets split as tip. The math stays accurate.
The entire app also works in Spanish. It auto-detects your phone's language setting, so if your phone is set to Spanish, Divvi shows everything in Spanish. No switching, no settings to change.