Time Card Calculator 2026

Your Timesheet Says 43 Hours. Your Paycheck Disagrees.

You clocked in at 8:47, skipped half your lunch to cover the phones, and stayed until 6:15 on Thursday. Your gut says the week was about 43 hours. Then the paycheck shows 41.5, and you cannot tell whether payroll rounded something, forgot a break deduction, or just got it wrong. Most people never check, because doing time card math by hand means converting clock times to decimals, subtracting breaks, and remembering which hours count as overtime.

That is exactly what the calculator above does. Punch in each day's start and end times plus your unpaid break, set your hourly rate, and it totals the week, splits regular from overtime hours, and shows your gross pay with every step of the math visible. It handles overnight shifts, split shifts, and the stricter California daily overtime rules too.

How to Calculate Hours From a Time Card

The core formula never changes, no matter whose timesheet you are reading:

• Daily hours = (Clock-out time - Clock-in time) - Unpaid break minutes
• Decimal hours = Worked minutes / 60
• Weekly total = Sum of all daily decimal hours
• Overtime hours = Weekly total - 40 (if positive)
• Gross pay = (Regular hours x Rate) + (Overtime hours x Rate x 1.5)

Worked example: five 9-to-5 days with 30-minute lunches at $20 per hour

Notice the decimal conversion: 7 hours 30 minutes is 7.50 hours, not 7.30. Mixing up base-60 clock time with decimal payroll time is the single most common time card mistake, and it silently costs people money in both directions.

Federal vs California Overtime Rules

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime is simple: anything over 40 hours in a single workweek gets time and a half. A long Tuesday does not create overtime by itself. Only the weekly total matters. California plays by tougher rules that can generate overtime even in a short week:

The same 10-hour day pays very differently under each system. At $20 per hour, federal rules see 10 regular hours ($200), while California sees 8 regular hours plus 2 overtime hours ($160 + $60 = $220). Use the rule selector in the calculator to match your state. If you only need the overtime portion broken out in detail, our overtime pay calculator goes deeper on time-and-a-half and double-time math.

Time Card Mistakes That Quietly Cost You Money

Rounding that only goes one way. Many employers round clock times to the nearest 15 minutes, which is legal only if it averages out neutrally over time. If your 8:53 start always becomes 9:00 but your 5:07 finish never becomes 5:00, the rounding favors the house. The calculator's rounding option lets you test both versions.

Breaks deducted twice. Some timesheets auto-deduct a 30-minute lunch even on days you worked through it. Compare the break column against reality before you sign off on the week.

Overnight shifts split across days. A 10 PM to 6 AM shift belongs to one workday for payroll purposes, but sloppy timesheets sometimes credit hours to the wrong day and push overtime across the weekly boundary. The calculator treats any clock-out earlier than clock-in as the next day automatically.

Forgetting the weekly boundary. Overtime resets every workweek, not every pay period. A 50-hour week followed by a 30-hour week is 10 overtime hours, not an 80-hour average with zero overtime.

Turn Your Hours Into a Paycheck Check

Here is the routine that catches payroll errors: run your week through the calculator above, write down the gross pay it shows, and compare it line by line with your pay stub. Regular hours, overtime hours, and rate should all match. If they do not, you now have the exact step-by-step math to bring to your manager or HR.

Gross pay is before taxes, so the number on your stub will be lower after federal, state, and FICA withholding. To see what actually lands in your bank account, run the gross through our paycheck calculator for the full take-home breakdown with 2026 tax figures.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I calculate my total work hours from clock in and clock out?

Subtract your clock-in time from your clock-out time, then subtract unpaid break minutes. For example, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM is 8 hours; minus a 30-minute lunch leaves 7.5 hours. Repeat for each day and add the daily totals. The time card calculator above does this for the whole week automatically.

How many hours is 9 to 5 with a 30 minute lunch?

7.5 hours. From 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM is 8 hours, and subtracting a 30-minute unpaid lunch leaves 7 hours 30 minutes, which is 7.50 decimal hours for payroll.

How is overtime calculated on a time card?

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, hours over 40 in a single workweek are overtime at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate. So 45 hours at $20 per hour means 40 x $20 ($800) plus 5 x $30 ($150), for $950 gross pay.

Do lunch breaks count as work hours?

Unpaid lunch breaks do not count and should be subtracted from your total. Short paid rest breaks, usually 20 minutes or less, do count as work time under federal rules and should not be deducted.

How do you convert minutes to decimal hours for payroll?

Divide the minutes by 60. 15 minutes is 0.25 hours, 30 minutes is 0.50 hours, and 45 minutes is 0.75 hours. Payroll systems use decimal hours, so 7 hours 30 minutes is entered as 7.50 hours, never 7.30.

Does this time card calculator handle overnight shifts?

Yes. If your clock-out time is earlier than your clock-in time, the calculator treats it as an overnight shift ending the next day. For example, 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM counts as 8 hours before any break deduction.

Last updated: 2026 | For estimation only. Overtime eligibility depends on federal and state law and your exemption status.