Is it normal for a boss to take tips?

I am a 26f and work at a dog boarding facility. I've been there for almost a year and really love it. There's just one thing that bothers me. Our tip situation. Our clients give us nice tips, like sometimes $100. All tips go into the till and sits there. When the tips add up to over $200, the owner takes it and "sets it aside for us", whatever that means. As for the tips in the till, we are allowed to get coffee or lunch with it, but we have to write down the date/how much you took/and why. It just seems... odd. I lot of my coworkers don't feel comfortable just taking money from our tips and so most of that money just sits there and eventually gets taken by the owner. I don't really understand why it isn't split between the team and given to us that way...? And where the hell does all our excess tip money go? Is this normal? ​It just seems shady and inconvenient for us to be tracking what we do with what is supposed to be OUR money.