How to use the time card calculator
The calculator starts with a sample Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–5:30 PM week with a 30-minute lunch (40 hours) so you can see how it works. Overwrite the times with your own or press Clear all.
- Pick the period: choose Weekly or Biweekly and set the first day of your workweek (many employers use Sunday, some use Monday). The dates next to each day follow automatically.
- Type times quickly: 9, 930, 9:30 and 9:30a all work. Out times choose AM or PM for you — after a 9:00 AM start, “5:30” becomes 5:30 PM, and after a 10:00 PM start, “6” becomes 6:00 AM. Tap the AM/PM button to override, or switch to 24-hour time.
- Lunch and breaks: enter unpaid break minutes for each day, or set a value in Unpaid lunch and press Apply to all days. If you actually clock out for lunch, press + to add a second in/out punch instead; the time between punches is not counted.
- Overtime and pay: enter your hourly rate and pick an overtime rule. Days with overtime are tagged OT, and the summary splits regular, overtime and (for California) double-time hours with the pay for each.
- Rounding and display: choose time clock rounding if your employer rounds punches, and show hours as decimals (8.50) or hours and minutes (8:30).
- Save and share: print a clean timesheet with signature lines or save it as PDF, download a CSV for a spreadsheet, or copy a text summary. Save a schedule you work every week and load it next time.
How time card hours are calculated
For each punch pair the calculator takes the time between in and out. If the out time is earlier than the in time, the shift crossed midnight and 24 hours are added. Unpaid break minutes are then subtracted, and the day total is converted to decimal hours by dividing the minutes by 60.
Example: in at 8:52 AM, out at 5:07 PM is 8 hours 15 minutes. Subtract a 30-minute unpaid lunch and you get 7 hours 45 minutes, which is 7.75 hours (45 ÷ 60 = 0.75). At $18.00 an hour that day pays $139.50.
Decimal hours are what most payroll systems use. Be careful not to read 7:45 as 7.45 — 7.45 hours is only 7 hours 27 minutes. The Hours Calculator has a full minutes-to-decimal chart.
Overtime under federal law (FLSA)
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, covered employees who are not exempt must get overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, at a rate of at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay (DOL Fact Sheet #23). A workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods — and it does not have to match the calendar week.
Biweekly time cards: each workweek stands alone, and the Department of Labor states that averaging hours over two or more weeks is not permitted. If you work 50 hours in week 1 and 30 hours in week 2, you are owed 10 overtime hours for week 1 even though the two-week total is 80. That is why this calculator always splits a biweekly period into two separate weeks.
Federal law does not require overtime just because you worked a weekend, a holiday or a long single day. The regular rate also includes all pay for employment except certain payments the Act excludes (such as discretionary bonuses and gifts), so some bonuses or commissions can make your real overtime rate higher than 1.5× your base wage. This calculator uses the hourly rate you enter.
California daily overtime
California is stricter than federal law. According to the state’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, nonexempt employees must be paid:
- 1.5× the regular rate for hours over 8 in a workday, up to and including 12 hours
- 2× the regular rate for hours over 12 in a workday
- 1.5× for hours over 40 in the workweek
- on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek: 1.5× for the first 8 hours and 2× after 8 hours
How California daily and weekly overtime combine
Hours already paid as daily overtime are not counted again toward the 40-hour weekly limit. In a DLSE opinion letter, someone who works 10 hours a day for five days is owed 10 overtime hours, not 20. Working 9 hours Monday–Thursday and 4 hours Friday (40 hours) still earns 4 hours of daily overtime, and working 7 hours a day for six days (42 hours) earns 2 hours of weekly overtime. Choose California as the overtime rule and the calculator applies these rules, including the seventh-day rule when you work all seven days of the workweek. It does not model alternative workweek schedules or industry exemptions.
Lunch breaks and short breaks
Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. When an employer does offer short breaks, usually about 5 to 20 minutes, they count as hours worked and must be paid. Bona fide meal periods, typically 30 minutes or more, do not count as work time as long as you are completely relieved from duty (DOL: Breaks and Meal Periods, Fact Sheet #22). Many states have their own meal and rest break rules.
So enter only unpaid meal breaks in the break column. Paid 10- or 15-minute rest breaks should not be subtracted.
Time clock rounding (5, 6 or 15 minutes)
Federal rules accept the common practice of recording start and stop times to the nearest 5 minutes, or to the nearest tenth or quarter of an hour, as long as it averages out over time so that employees are paid for all the time they actually work (29 CFR 785.48(b)). With quarter-hour rounding, a punch 1–7 minutes after the quarter rounds down and 8–14 minutes after rounds up — so 8:07 becomes 8:00 and 8:08 becomes 8:15.
Pick the same rounding your employer uses to check your paycheck. When rounding changes a day’s total, the calculator also shows the exact, unrounded hours.
“No tax on overtime” and your time card
For tax years 2025 through 2028, the IRS describes a federal income tax deduction for qualified overtime pay: the pay above the regular rate that the FLSA requires — such as the “half” of time-and-a-half — up to $12,500 a year ($25,000 for joint filers), phasing out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income ($300,000 joint) (IRS). When you enter a rate, the summary shows this FLSA overtime premium for the period as an estimate. Overtime that only state law requires, such as California daily overtime, is not part of that FLSA amount. Check the IRS guidance or a tax professional before you file.
Keep your own records
Employers must keep records of the hours worked each day and the total hours each workweek, and must keep time cards for two years; they may use any timekeeping method as long as it is complete and accurate (DOL Fact Sheet #21). Keeping your own copy — a printed timesheet, a PDF or the CSV from this calculator — makes it easy to compare against your pay stub.
FAQ
How do I calculate my time card with a lunch break?
Enter your in and out times for each day and put the unpaid lunch minutes in the break column (or use Apply to all days). If you clock out and back in for lunch, press + to add a second in/out punch instead — the gap between punches is not counted. Paid short breaks should not be subtracted.
How is overtime calculated on a biweekly time card?
Under federal law, week by week. Overtime is due for hours over 40 in each workweek, and hours may not be averaged over two weeks. 50 hours in week 1 and 30 in week 2 means 10 overtime hours, even though the total is 80.
Do I get overtime after 8 hours in a day?
Not under federal law, which only looks at hours over 40 in a workweek. Some states have daily overtime — California, for example, requires 1.5× after 8 hours and 2× after 12 hours in a workday. Choose the California rule in the calculator to apply it.
Is a 15-minute break paid?
Under federal law, short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes that an employer offers count as hours worked and are paid. Meal periods of typically 30 minutes or more, when you are completely relieved from duty, can be unpaid.
Can my employer round my clock-in time?
Federal rules allow rounding to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth of an hour or quarter hour if it averages out so you are paid for all the time you actually work over time. Use the rounding setting to see how much your employer’s rounding changes your hours.
How do I enter a shift that goes past midnight?
Just type the times — 10:00 PM in and 6:30 AM out. Because the out time is earlier, the calculator counts it as the next morning and tags the day as Overnight. The shift is counted on the day it started.
What does 7.5 hours mean on my timesheet?
It means 7 hours 30 minutes. Decimal hours divide the minutes by 60: 15 minutes is 0.25, 30 minutes is 0.5 and 45 minutes is 0.75. Switch “Show hours as” to see either format.
Where are my times stored?
Only in this browser’s local storage, so they are still here next time you open the page. Nothing is sent to a server, and clearing your browser data deletes them — download a CSV or PDF if you need a permanent copy.