Timecard Calculator with Lunch Break
Clock in, clock out, minus lunch — daily and weekly totals in hours-and-minutes AND the decimal hours payroll actually multiplies.
The short answer
Formula. Decimal hours = hours + minutes ÷ 60; the weekly total sums each day's (clock-out − clock-in − unpaid break).
Example. Five 9-to-5 days with a 30-minute lunch is 37 h 30 m on the timesheet — 37.50 decimal hours for payroll.
Your week
| Day | Clock in | Clock out | Break (min) |
|---|
Time format: HH:MM (12-hour with AM/PM, like "9:00 am", also works). Overnight shifts: enter 10:00 pm → 6:00 am and the math crosses midnight.
How this calculator works
Each day is minutes between two clock readings, minus the break. 9:00 to 17:00 is 480 minutes; a 30-minute lunch leaves 450 paid minutes. The week is just the sum — shown two ways because the two worlds speak different units: hours-and-minutes (37:30) is how people read a timesheet, and decimal hours (37.50) is what payroll systems multiply by your rate. The conversion is minutes ÷ 60: 45 minutes is 0.75 hours, not 0.45 — the single most common timesheet error, and the reason this page refuses to show one format without the other.
Overnight shifts are handled by treating an out-time earlier than the in-time as next-day: 22:00 to 06:00 spans 480 minutes without any special data entry. Breaks are assumed unpaid and deducted as you enter them — 30 is the common lunch, and paid breaks should simply be left out of the break column (or entered as 0) since they are already inside the span. The math never rounds per day; it totals exact minutes and converts once at the end, which matches how fair payroll systems behave and avoids the nickel-and-dime drift of daily rounding.
Overtime applies the standard US-style rule: hours beyond 40 in a workweek at 1.5× the regular rate, so a 45-hour week at $20.00 pays 40 × $20 + 5 × $30 = $950.00. Toggle it off where the rule differs — some jurisdictions daily overtime (California pays it after 8 h/day), some contracts use comp time instead — and use the daily column values to apply those rules by hand. What this tool deliberately does not do: track unpaid meal-period violations, paid-time-off hours, or shift differentials; it is the arithmetic layer under those decisions.
Sources & review date
- The decimal conversion is exact arithmetic (minutes ÷ 60).
- Overtime at 1.5× after 40 hours follows the standard US FLSA workweek; other jurisdictions differ — the overtime toggle covers both.
Last reviewed: October 2026. Numbers that drift (fees, prices, densities) are editable inputs on this page.
Timecard FAQs
What is 8 hours minus a 30 minute lunch in decimal?
7.5 hours. The 30-minute break is 0.5 decimal hours; 8 − 0.5 = 7.5. In hours-and-minutes that is 7:30.
How do I enter times without AM/PM?
Use 24-hour clock: 9:00 for 9 AM, 17:00 for 5 PM. If you type "9:00 am" or "5:30 pm" the calculator understands those too. A day with either field blank is skipped.
Why does my payroll show different decimal hours?
Rounding policies: many employers round each punch to the nearest 15 minutes (the "7-minute rule"), and some round daily before totaling. This calculator is exact to the minute; compare against an unrounded payroll export before assuming a discrepancy is an error.
Is a lunch break required by law?
It depends on jurisdiction, shift length, and sometimes industry — there is no single US federal meal-break rule for adults, while many states and provinces do mandate them. This tool only does arithmetic; check your local labor standards for the rules.