Time Card Calculator
Enter clock-in and clock-out times for each day, with unpaid break minutes. The time card calculator totals the week in hours and minutes and decimal hours, splits regular and overtime hours, and works out gross pay.
- Daily hours = clock-out − clock-in − unpaid break.
- 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a 1-hour lunch = 8 hours.
- Payroll uses decimal hours: 7 h 45 min = 7.75.
- Overtime is usually hours over 40 in the week.
How to calculate hours on a time card
- Convert each time to 24-hour5:30 PM = 17:30. Midnight = 0:00. The military time converter helps if your system prints 24-hour times.
- Subtract clock-in from clock-out17:30 − 8:00 = 9 h 30 min. If the shift ends after midnight, add 24 hours to the end time first.
- Take off unpaid breaks9 h 30 min − 30 min lunch = 9 h.
- Convert to decimal hoursMinutes ÷ 60: 45 min = 0.75, so 7 h 45 min = 7.75 hours. The decimal time converter has a full table.
- Add up the week and split out overtimeHours over 40 are overtime under US federal law. Multiply regular and overtime hours by their rates for gross pay.
How to use the Time Card calculator
Type times in whatever format you use — 8:00 AM, 8am, 17:30 or 1730 — then press Calculate. Leave days you did not work empty.
- Hourly rate
- Overtime after — starts at 40; replace it with your own figure.
- Overtime rate — choose from: 1.5×, 2×.
Change any value and press Calculate again to compare scenarios. All figures are estimates for planning; check them against your own policy, contract and local rules before using them for payroll.
Minutes to decimal hours for time cards
Payroll systems multiply decimal hours by the rate, so minutes have to be converted. Here are common values:
| Minutes | Decimal | Minutes | Decimal | Minutes | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0.08 | 25 | 0.42 | 45 | 0.75 |
| 10 | 0.17 | 30 | 0.50 | 50 | 0.83 |
| 15 | 0.25 | 35 | 0.58 | 55 | 0.92 |
| 20 | 0.33 | 40 | 0.67 | 60 | 1.00 |
A common error is writing 7 h 30 min as “7.30” — that is 7 hours 18 minutes. The correct figure is 7.50.
Time card quick answers
How many hours is 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a 60-minute break?
8 h 0 min (8.00 decimal hours).
How many hours is 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM with a 30-minute break?
8 h 0 min (8.00 decimal hours).
How many hours is 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a 30-minute break?
7 h 30 min (7.50 decimal hours).
How many hours is 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM with a 30-minute break?
8 h 0 min (8.00 decimal hours).
How many hours is 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM with a 60-minute break?
8 h 0 min (8.00 decimal hours).
How many hours is 6:00 AM to 2:45 PM with a 45-minute break?
8 h 0 min (8.00 decimal hours).
How many hours is 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM with a 30-minute break?
8 h 0 min (8.00 decimal hours).
How many hours is 7:30 AM to 4:15 PM with a 30-minute break?
8 h 15 min (8.25 decimal hours).
How many hours is 8:15 AM to 5:45 PM with a 45-minute break?
8 h 45 min (8.75 decimal hours).
How many hours is 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM with a 30-minute break?
7 h 30 min (7.50 decimal hours).
Lunch and break rules
Whether a break is deducted depends on its length and on the law where you work:
- Under US federal rules, short rest breaks (usually 5–20 minutes) are paid work time and should not be deducted.
- Bona fide meal periods — typically 30 minutes or more, fully relieved of duty — can be unpaid.
- Some states require meal or rest breaks; California, for instance, requires a 30-minute meal period for shifts over 5 hours, with limited waivers.
- An automatic lunch deduction is risky if people often work through lunch; record actual breaks instead.
The break time calculator checks paid time for a single shift and flags California meal and rest counts.
Worked examples
Real-world scenarios, worked through step by step.
Standard office week
Mon–Fri 8:00 AM–4:30 PM with 30-minute lunches: 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, no overtime.
Overtime week
Five 9.5-hour days after lunch = 47.5 hours: 40 regular + 7.5 overtime. At $20 that is $800 + $225 = $1,025.
Night shift
10:00 PM to 6:30 AM with a 30-minute meal = 8 hours, even though the shift crosses midnight.
Odd minutes
8:07 AM to 4:52 PM minus 30 minutes = 8 h 15 min, or 8.25 decimal hours.
Overnight shifts and midnight
A shift from 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM crosses midnight, so simple subtraction gives a negative number. Add 24 hours to the end time: 30:30 − 22:00 = 8 h 30 min. This calculator does that automatically when the clock-out time is earlier than the clock-in time.
Under US federal rules, a shift that crosses into a new workweek is split at the workweek boundary for overtime purposes. If you pay a night differential, the hours inside the night window are paid at the higher rate — see the shift differential calculator.
Rounding time card punches
Many employers round punches to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes. US federal rules allow it only if it is neutral — it must not favor the employer over time. The quarter-hour “7-minute rule” rounds 1–7 minutes down and 8–14 minutes up. California courts have restricted rounding, particularly for meal periods. Check a punch with the time card rounding calculator.
Time card records employers must keep
For non-exempt employees, US employers must record hours worked each workday and each workweek and keep the records. Federal rules require payroll records for at least three years and time cards for at least two years; some states require longer.
Paper and spreadsheet time cards are easy to lose, hard to audit and slow to total. Online timesheets capture clock-ins as they happen, total them automatically and keep an audit trail — see why teams are switching from paper timesheets.
Common time card mistakes
- Writing minutes as decimals. 8 h 20 min is 8.33, not 8.20.
- Missing AM/PM. “4:00 to 12:30” could be 8.5 hours or 20.5 hours. Use AM/PM or 24-hour time.
- Deducting paid breaks. Short rest breaks are paid work time in the US.
- Averaging overtime. A 45-hour week followed by a 35-hour week still includes 5 overtime hours.
- Filling in the card at the end of the week. Memory rounds hours to neat numbers; record times daily.
- Editing without approval. Any change to a submitted time card should be approved and logged.
Approving time cards: a manager checklist
- Check missing punches and impossible times first.
- Compare totals with the schedule and ask about big differences.
- Confirm overtime was worked (and pay it even if it was not pre-approved).
- Make sure meal breaks were actually taken where the law requires them.
- Lock the approved period so later edits go through a correction process.
An approval step is built into StaffTiming timesheets, and the attendance tracking guide covers how to roll it out to a team.
Do it in Excel or Google Sheets
Format clock-in (B) and clock-out (C) cells as times, and put unpaid break minutes in D.
- Daily hours, including overnight shifts
=MOD(C2-B2,1)*24-D2/60 - Weekly total (Monday–Sunday in rows 2–8)
=SUM(E2:E8) - Overtime hours
=MAX(0,E9-40) - Gross pay with the rate in G1
=(E9-F9)*G1+F9*G1*1.5
MOD(…,1) is the trick that handles shifts past midnight: it wraps a negative time difference into the next day.
Who uses the Time Card calculator — and why
- Hourly employees checking a paycheck against their own record.
- Small businesses totaling paper time cards for payroll.
- Supervisors approving weekly timesheets.
- Contractors preparing hours for an invoice.
- Payroll teams checking overtime splits.
- Night-shift workers whose shifts cross midnight.
How we calculate
- Daily hours = clock-out − clock-in − unpaid break; if clock-out is earlier than clock-in, 24 hours are added (overnight shift).
- Overtime = weekly hours above your threshold; pay = regular hours × rate + overtime hours × rate × multiplier.
- Recordkeeping: 29 CFR Part 516 — payroll records kept at least 3 years, time cards at least 2 years.
- Rest and meal breaks: 29 CFR 785.18–785.19.
- All calculations run in your browser; nothing you type is sent to StaffTiming or stored.
Formulas checked against the sources above. Last reviewed: October 2026. This tool gives estimates for planning, not legal, tax or payroll advice.
Key terms explained
- Time card
- A record of when an employee starts and stops work each day.
- Clock in / clock out
- The recorded start and end of a work period.
- Punch
- A single clock-in or clock-out record.
- Unpaid meal break
- A bona fide meal period, usually 30+ minutes, that can be deducted.
- Decimal hours
- Hours expressed as a decimal for payroll: 7.75 = 7 h 45 min.
- Workweek
- The fixed 7-day period used for overtime.
- Gross pay
- Earnings before tax.
- Timesheet
- A summary of hours, often by project or pay period, built from time card data.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate hours worked on a time card?
Subtract the clock-in time from the clock-out time, deduct unpaid breaks, and convert the minutes to decimal hours.
How do I calculate hours that go past midnight?
Add 24 hours to the clock-out time before subtracting. 10 PM to 6 AM = 30:00 − 22:00 = 8 hours.
Should lunch breaks be deducted?
Bona fide meal breaks of about 30 minutes or more where the employee is fully relieved of duty can be unpaid. Short breaks are paid.
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60. 15 minutes = 0.25, 30 = 0.5, 45 = 0.75.
Is 7.30 hours the same as 7 hours 30 minutes?
No. 7 h 30 min is 7.50 decimal hours; 7.30 decimal hours is 7 h 18 min.
When does overtime start on a time card?
Under US federal law, after 40 hours in the workweek. Some states also count daily overtime.
Can my employer round my time?
US federal rules allow neutral rounding to 5, 6 or 15 minutes. Rounding that always favors the employer is not allowed.
How long should time cards be kept?
At least two years under US federal rules; payroll records at least three.
Does this calculator store my data?
No. Calculations happen in your browser.
Can I use it for more than one week?
Calculate each week separately — overtime is counted per workweek.
What is the difference between a time card and a timesheet?
A time card records clock-in and clock-out times; a timesheet summarizes hours for a pay period, often by project or task.
Can I print my time card?
Use your browser’s print function after calculating, or keep timesheets in a time tracking app with export.
How do I calculate a time card with two lunches?
Add both unpaid meal periods together and enter the total break minutes for that day.
How do I calculate hours from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM?
8 hours 30 minutes, or 8 hours after a 30-minute unpaid lunch.
How do I calculate a time card with clock times in 24-hour format?
Subtract the start from the end: 17:15 − 08:45 = 8 h 30 min. The calculator accepts 24-hour and military times directly.
How many hours is 9 to 5 with a lunch break?
8 hours span; 7.5 paid hours with a 30-minute unpaid lunch, or 7 hours with a 1-hour lunch.
How do I fix a missed punch on a time card?
Record the correct time with a note and have the manager approve the edit. Keep both the original and corrected entries for the audit trail.
Can I calculate pay for different rates on different days?
Calculate the hours per day here, then multiply each day’s hours by its rate. For night premiums use the shift differential calculator.
Replace paper time cards with automatic timesheets.
StaffTiming records hours as they happen and turns them into payroll-ready timesheets, so you never re-type a calculation.