To add up a time card, subtract each day's clock in time from its clock out time, take off the unpaid lunch, add the days in hours and minutes and convert the week's total to decimal once. This time card calculator does it as you type: a week of 42:10 shows as 42.17 decimal hours for payroll. Add an hourly rate and it splits regular hours from overtime and shows gross pay. It is free and needs no sign up.
How to use the calculator
- Check the week. The time card opens on the current week. The workweek starts on Monday unless you change "Workweek starts on" under "Overtime, breaks and pay". Set it to the day your employer's workweek starts, because overtime is counted per workweek.
- Type the In and Out times. 9:30, 930 and 9:30 PM all work, on a 12 hour or a 24 hour clock. If Out is earlier than In, the shift ends the next day and counts on the day it started.
- Enter the unpaid lunch in the Break column, as minutes (30) or hours and minutes (0:45). Or turn on the automatic lunch deduction, for example 30 minutes on every shift longer than 6 hours. It only fills days where you left the break empty.
- Same hours every day? Fill in Monday and use "Copy Monday to empty weekdays".
- Open "Overtime, breaks and pay" for clock time rounding, the overtime rule, your hourly rate and currency.
- Download the time card as a PDF timesheet with signature lines for the employee and the supervisor, or as a CSV file.
Hours already written down can go in with Import, with a preview before any day is filled in.
Worked example: one week for payroll
An hourly employee paid $18 an hour, U.S. federal overtime rule, workweek starting Monday:
| Day | In | Out | Lunch | Hours | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 8:00 AM | 4:30 PM | 30 min | 8:00 | 8.00 |
| Tue | 7:40 AM | 4:30 PM | 30 min | 8:20 | 8.33 |
| Wed | 8:00 AM | 5:15 PM | 45 min | 8:30 | 8.50 |
| Thu | 8:10 AM | 4:30 PM | 30 min | 7:50 | 7.83 |
| Fri | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM | 30 min | 9:30 | 9.50 |
| Week | 2:45 | 42:10 | 42.17 |
Monday to Thursday add up to 32:40, so Friday reaches 40 hours after 7:20 of work. The remaining 2:10 is overtime.
| Hours | Rate | Pay | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | 40:00 | $18.00 | $720.00 |
| Overtime (1.5x) | 2:10 | $27.00 | $58.50 |
| Gross pay | 42:10 | $778.50 |
2:10 is 130 minutes, and 130 / 60 x $27.00 = $58.50.
How a time card is added up
- Each day: Out minus In, minus the unpaid break: 4:30 PM minus 7:40 AM is 8:50, minus 30 minutes is 8:20.
- The week: the calculator adds minutes first and converts at the end. 42:10 is 2,530 minutes, and 2,530 / 60 = 42.1667, shown as 42.17. If you add the rounded daily decimals from the table instead, you get 42.16. That small drift is why payroll should use the week's total, not a sum of rounded days.
- Decimal hours are minutes divided by 60, rounded half up to two places: 8:20 becomes 8.33. The hours and minutes stay exact. More on the math on the hours to decimal converter.
- Pay is worked out from exact minutes and rounded to the cent once, at the end.
Lunch breaks, rounding and the federal rules
Lunch. Under the federal rules, coffee and snack breaks are rest periods of about 5 to 20 minutes and count as paid work time (29 CFR 785.18). A bona fide meal period, ordinarily 30 minutes or more, is not work time, but only if the employee is completely relieved from duty. Eating at the desk while working counts as work time (29 CFR 785.19(a)). So enter only a meal break during which the employee was fully off duty. With the automatic deduction set to 30 minutes after 6 hours:
| Shift | Break field | Deducted | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM | left blank | none (exactly 6:00) | 6:00 |
| 9:00 AM to 3:15 PM | left blank | 30 min | 5:45 |
| 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM | left blank | 30 min | 8:00 |
| 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM | 45 | 45 min (typed wins) | 7:45 |
Rounding. Federal rules accept rounding punch times to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth of an hour or quarter hour, provided it is not used in a way that, over time, fails to pay employees for all the time they actually worked (29 CFR 785.48(b)). In plain terms: rounding has to even out over time and must not shortchange employees. The calculator rounds In and Out to the nearest step before it calculates, and a time exactly halfway rounds up. With quarter hours, 7 minutes past rounds down and 8 minutes past rounds up. For a punch at 8:07 AM and 4:53 PM with a 30 minute lunch:
| Rounding | In | Out | Hours | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | 8:07 AM | 4:53 PM | 8:16 | 8.27 |
| 5 minutes | 8:05 AM | 4:55 PM | 8:20 | 8.33 |
| 6 minutes | 8:06 AM | 4:54 PM | 8:18 | 8.30 |
| 15 minutes | 8:00 AM | 5:00 PM | 8:30 | 8.50 |
Overtime. The default rule is the federal one: hours over 40 in a workweek at 1.5 times the regular rate (29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1)), with no daily overtime. There are presets for California, Alaska, Nevada and Colorado; other states can have their own rules, and you can also set your own thresholds. The overtime calculator explains each preset with examples.
In the UK, the calculator opens with the 24 hour clock, pounds and the UK preset. There is no statutory overtime premium, so overtime is time above your contract hours. The preset flags a break shorter than 20 minutes when you work more than 6 hours (Working Time Regulations 1998, reg. 12) and less than 11 hours of rest between shifts (reg. 10).
This is a calculation, not legal advice.
For one shift, two weeks or a whole team
Only need one shift? The work hours calculator opens on a single day. Paid every two weeks? The biweekly timesheet calculator shows 14 days with overtime counted for each week on its own.
If you do hours for several people, a free account keeps one person's weeks. The team plan adds more people, a monthly timesheet PDF per person and one payroll CSV for everyone. Your employees don't need to install anything.
FAQ
How do I calculate the hours on a time card?
For each day, subtract the In time from the Out time and take off the unpaid lunch. Then add the days up in hours and minutes and convert the total to decimal once, at the end. The calculator does all of this as you type.
Does the time card calculator deduct lunch automatically?
Yes, if you turn it on. You set the minutes and the shift length it applies after, for example 30 minutes on shifts longer than 6 hours. A break you type on a day always replaces the automatic one.
How do I convert time card hours to decimal for payroll?
Divide the minutes by 60 and add them to the hours: 42:10 is 42 + 10 / 60 = 42.17 hours. The calculator shows both formats for every day and for the week. A full chart is on the hours to decimal page.
What day does the workweek start?
On whatever day your employer fixed. Federal rules define the workweek as a fixed, recurring period of 168 hours that can begin on any day (29 CFR 778.105). Set the same start day in the calculator so overtime lands in the right week.
Can I calculate two weeks or a month?
Yes. Switch the period at the top to 2 weeks or Month. Overtime is still counted for each workweek separately, and the summary lists every week with its own total.
Can I import hours from Excel or a message?
Yes. Use Import to paste lines like "Mon 9-5 lunch 30" from notes or a text, paste cells copied from Excel or Google Sheets, or pick a CSV or .xlsx file. A preview shows what was read before any day is filled in.
Is my time card saved?
It is saved in this browser only, so it is still there when you come back on the same device. Download the PDF or CSV to keep a copy, or save the week in a free account.