A time card calculator adds up your hours worked from clock-in and clock-out times, subtracts unpaid breaks, applies overtime rules, and totals your pay period in both h:mm and decimal hours — the format payroll software expects. Enter your times above; totals update instantly and nothing you type leaves your browser.
How to use this time card calculator
- Choose weekly or bi-weekly as your pay period.
- Enter clock-in and clock-out times for each day. Any common format works:
9:00 AM,9am,17:30(or17.30), or military time like0930. - Enter unpaid break minutes (a 30-minute unpaid lunch =
30). Paid breaks should not be entered — they count as time worked. - Worked a split shift? Click + split to add a second in/out pair to the same day.
- Optionally set your hourly rate to see gross pay, and overtime thresholds to split regular, overtime, and double-time hours.
- Print the finished card or save it as a named template for next period.
How do I calculate hours worked on a time card?
To calculate hours worked on a time card by hand, follow five steps:
- Convert every clock-in and clock-out to 24-hour time (5:30 PM → 17:30).
- Subtract the clock-in from the clock-out for each in/out pair to get that segment's length.
- Add the segments for the day, then subtract any unpaid break minutes.
- Convert the leftover minutes to decimal hours by dividing by 60 (45 minutes ÷ 60 = 0.75).
- Add up the days, then multiply by the hourly rate for gross pay.
For each day, the calculator computes (clock out − clock in) for every in/out
pair, sums the pairs, then subtracts unpaid break minutes. If a clock-out time is
earlier than the clock-in time, the shift is treated as crossing midnight — so an
overnight shift from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM correctly counts 8
hours. Daily totals are then split into regular, overtime, and double-time buckets
according to your thresholds, with weekly overtime applied to each workweek separately
on bi-weekly cards.
Under the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees must be paid overtime at no less than 1.5× their regular rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek (U.S. Department of Labor). Some states also apply daily thresholds — the daily OT and double-time fields let you mirror whatever policy applies to you. Check your own state rules or employment agreement; this tool applies exactly the thresholds you give it.
Worked example
Maria earns $20/hour with overtime after 40 hours per week. Her week: Monday–Thursday
she works 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM with a 30-minute unpaid lunch (8.5 hours/day),
and Friday 8:00 AM – 6:30 PM with a 30-minute lunch (10 hours).
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Mon–Thu daily hours | (17:00 − 8:00) − 0:30 | 8:30 each (8.50) |
| Friday hours | (18:30 − 8:00) − 0:30 | 10:00 (10.00) |
| Week total | 4 × 8.50 + 10.00 | 44.00 hours |
| Regular / overtime | 40 regular, 4 overtime | 40.00 + 4.00 OT |
| Gross pay | 40 × $20 + 4 × $30 | $920.00 |
Minutes to decimal hours
Payroll systems use decimal hours, not minutes. Divide minutes by 60: 30 minutes = 0.50 hours, 45 minutes = 0.75 hours. The most common conversions:
| Minutes | Decimal | Minutes | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0.08 | 35 | 0.58 |
| 10 | 0.17 | 40 | 0.67 |
| 15 | 0.25 | 45 | 0.75 |
| 20 | 0.33 | 50 | 0.83 |
| 25 | 0.42 | 55 | 0.92 |
| 30 | 0.50 | 60 | 1.00 |
Timesheet rounding and the 7-minute rule
U.S. federal regulation 29 CFR § 785.48 permits employers to round punch times to the nearest quarter hour, provided the rounding doesn't consistently shortchange employees over time. Rounding to the nearest 15 minutes produces the well-known 7-minute rule: punches 1–7 minutes past the quarter round down, 8–14 minutes round up. So 8:07 becomes 8:00, while 8:08 becomes 8:15. This calculator supports 5-, 6-, and 15-minute rounding in nearest, always-up, and always-down modes so you can match your employer's policy exactly — roughly 55% of U.S. wage and salary workers are paid hourly (Bureau of Labor Statistics), and rounding policy directly affects most of those paychecks.
Add this calculator to your own website
Run an HR blog, small-business site, or payroll guide? You can embed this time card calculator for free with one line of HTML — no signup, no cost, and it keeps working entirely in the visitor's browser.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate hours worked on a time card?
Subtract the clock-in time from the clock-out time for each work segment, add the segments up, then subtract unpaid breaks. Convert the result to decimal hours (minutes ÷ 60) before multiplying by an hourly rate. This calculator does all four steps automatically as you type.
What is the 7-minute rule?
When rounding to 15-minute increments, the first 7 minutes round down and the last 7 round up: 9:07 → 9:00, but 9:08 → 9:15. It comes from the federal quarter-hour rounding regulation (29 CFR § 785.48).
Does it handle overnight shifts?
Yes. If your clock-out is earlier than your clock-in, the shift is assumed to cross midnight — 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM counts as 8 hours.
Is anything I enter uploaded or stored on a server?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Autosave and templates use your browser's local storage on your own device; clearing your browser data removes them.
Should I enter paid breaks?
No — only unpaid breaks reduce hours worked. Short paid rest breaks count as work time, so leave them in your in/out span.
Can I calculate California-style daily overtime?
Set Daily OT after to 8 and Daily double time after to 12, and the calculator will split each day's hours accordingly before applying the weekly threshold. Always confirm the rules that apply to your situation — thresholds vary by state and agreement.
How do I keep my timesheet for next week?
Your current entries autosave in this browser. To reuse a typical week, click Save as template, give it a name, and load it from the dropdown next pay period — then just adjust the days that changed.