7-Minute Rule Time Card Calculator

Rounds every punch to the nearest quarter hour, 1 to 7 minutes down and 8 to 14 up, and shows the time you punched next to the time you're paid.

Runs in your browser: nothing is uploaded
free · no sign-up
Embed on your site

Settings Weekly · Federal (FLSA) · no rounding

Pay periodWeeklyBiweeklySemi-monthly

Week starting

Overtime rulesRoundingHourly rate (optional)

Overtime at 1.5× after 40 hours in each workweek. Every workweek stands on its own (29 CFR 778.104), so a biweekly or semi-monthly card is figured one workweek at a time. Sources

More settings: workweek, time format, names

Workweek starts onWorkday starts atTime formatDaylight saving timeEmployee name, for printingCompany or supervisor, for printing

Type times like 9 9:30 930p or 21:30. Enter moves to the next box, ↑ ↓ to the same box on the next or previous day. An Out earlier than its In ends the next day.

Totals for the pay period

Total hours0:000.00 hours

No tax on overtime: qualified overtime premium

Overtime the FLSA requires on this card (over 40 hours in a workweek): 0:00. Its half-time premium: enter your rate.

Qualified overtime premium already paid to you this year (optional)

Information, not tax advice. For 2025 through 2028 the federal deduction covers only the half-time part of overtime the FLSA requires, figured per workweek as hours over 40 × ½ × your regular rate (IRS fact sheet FS-2026-13, August 2026). California daily overtime and the extra half of double time don’t count. The deduction is capped at $12,500 ($25,000 on a joint return) and shrinks by $100 for each $1,000 of modified AGI over $150,000 ($300,000 joint). From 2026 your employer reports the amount on Form W-2, box 12, code TT. Sources

Your card is saved in this browser as you type and never uploaded. Share result puts this card’s times, breaks and rate in the link itself (never your name, company or tax figure), so anyone with the link can see them.

Overtime rules, conditions and sources

Federal (FLSA)

What the calculator does: 1.5× the hourly rate for hours over 40 in each fixed 168-hour workweek, each workweek on its own, also inside biweekly and semi-monthly periods. Hours worked after the workweek boundary belong to the next workweek.

Conditions: Non-exempt employees. The rate you enter is used as the regular rate; bonuses and shift differentials can raise the FLSA regular rate. An employer may pay a whole boundary shift in the week it began only if that never lowers overtime.

29 CFR 778.103–778.107 (eCFR, current to Sep 23, 2026)
DOL opinion letter FLSA2005-17 (shifts across the workweek boundary) (May 27, 2005)

California

What the calculator does: Per workday: 1.5× over 8 hours, 2× over 12. Per workweek: 1.5× once 40 regular hours are reached (daily overtime hours are not counted again). Seventh day: only when all seven days of the workweek are worked; 1.5× for its first 8 hours, 2× after.

Conditions: Non-exempt employees. Not for alternative workweek schedules (Labor Code 511) or union contracts with their own overtime terms. Unless the employer set others, the workday starts at midnight and the workweek at midnight Sunday. With rounding on, only the day’s first In and last Out are rounded: meal-period punches may not be rounded in California.

Labor Code 510 and 500 (in effect since Jan 1, 2000)
DLSE, Understanding AB 60 (seventh day, no pyramiding) (Dec 23, 1999)
Mendoza v. Nordstrom, S224611 (May 8, 2017)
Donohue v. AMN Services, S253677 (no rounding of meal-period punches) (Feb 25, 2021)

Alaska

What the calculator does: 1.5× over 8 hours in a fixed 24-hour workday, and over 40 hours a week counted without the daily overtime hours. Optional 10-hour daily limit for a voluntary flexible work hour plan.

Conditions: Employers with 4 or more employees. Exemptions include agriculture, seamen, some hospital and transport work. A flexible plan must be signed and filed with the Department of Labor.

AS 23.10.060 (Alaska Statutes 2025)
8 AAC 15.102 and 15.910 (checked Sep 25, 2026)

Nevada

What the calculator does: 1.5× over 40 hours a week, and over 8 hours in a workday that starts when you begin work and lasts 24 hours, if you earn less than $18.00 an hour. Daily and weekly overtime don’t stack: the greater applies.

Conditions: Daily overtime needs pay under 1.5× the minimum wage ($12.00 since July 1, 2024) and no mutually agreed 4 × 10 schedule. Many exemptions, including businesses with gross sales under $250,000 a year.

NRS 608.018, 608.0123, 608.0126 (rev. Sep 9, 2026)
Nevada Labor Commissioner, 2026 minimum wage bulletin (June 29, 2026)
Advisory Opinion AO-2025-05 (daily or weekly overtime) (June 25, 2025)
Advisory Opinion AO-2025-07 (interpretation of workday) (2025)

Colorado

What the calculator does: 1.5× over 40 hours a workweek, over 12 hours a workday, or over 12 consecutive hours across midnight, whichever pays more. An unpaid gap of 30 to 60 minutes between punches is treated as a meal period (left out of the 12 hours); a shorter gap counts toward them, and a longer one ends the stretch.

Conditions: All employers, no size threshold; exempt employees and some industries are excluded (Rule 2). Meal periods may be subtracted from the 12 consecutive hours only if they meet Rule 5.1: duty-free and at least 30 minutes (Rule 4.1.5). The calculator assumes gaps of 30 minutes or more are such meal periods. Rule 4.1.1(C) as published leaves out the number; Rules 4.1.5 and 4.2 say 12 consecutive hours.

COMPS Order #40, 7 CCR 1103-1 (effective Feb 1, 2026)

Rounding

What the calculator does: Rounds every punch to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes and shows punched against paid time. With 15 minutes, 1–7 minutes round down and 8–14 round up (the 7-minute rule); with 6 minutes, 3 rounds up.

Conditions: Allowed only if, over time, it doesn’t underpay employees for time actually worked. Your employer’s policy decides whether and how punches are rounded. In California, meal-period punches may not be rounded (Donohue, 2021), and whether an employer that records exact times may round at all is before the California Supreme Court in Camp v. Home Depot, still pending on the court’s April 24, 2026 list.

29 CFR 785.48(b) (eCFR, current to Sep 23, 2026)
Camp v. Home Depot U.S.A., S277518 (review granted Feb 1, 2023) (pending, Apr 24, 2026 list)

Breaks

What the calculator does: The unpaid break box takes minutes out of the middle of the day’s worked time, and warns about breaks under 20 minutes or a break on a day without punches. Enter only unpaid meal breaks; short rest breaks are paid time.

Conditions: Rest breaks of 5 to about 20 minutes count as hours worked; a bona fide meal period (ordinarily 30 minutes or more, fully relieved of duty) does not. State break rules vary.

29 CFR 785.18 and 785.19 (part 785) (eCFR, current to Sep 23, 2026)

Daylight saving time

What the calculator does: With US rules on, a shift over the November change counts the repeated hour (10 PM to 6 AM is 9 hours) and a shift over the March change loses one (7 hours).

Conditions: Arizona (outside the Navajo Nation), Hawaii and the territories don’t observe DST: choose None.

15 U.S.C. 260a (rules since 2007)
DOL FLSA Hours Worked Advisor (checked Sep 25, 2026)

No tax on overtime

What the calculator does: Tallies the qualified overtime premium: hours over 40 in each workweek × ½ × the hourly rate, whatever state rule applies.

Conditions: Tax years 2025–2028. Deduction up to $12,500 ($25,000 joint), reduced by $100 per $1,000 of modified AGI over $150,000 ($300,000 joint). State-only overtime and pay above time-and-a-half don’t qualify. Valid SSN needed; married couples must file jointly.

26 U.S.C. 225 (Pub. L. 119-21) (July 4, 2025)
IRS fact sheet FS-2026-13 (FAQs) (August 2026)
IRS Notice 2025-69 (IRB 2025-50)

Rules and sources checked on September 25, 2026. The calculator states the rules and does the arithmetic; it isn’t legal or tax advice. Exemptions, union contracts and your employer’s written policies can change what applies to you.

Minutes to decimal hours (hundredths)

Minutes	Hours
1	.02
2	.03
3	.05
4	.07
5	.08
6	.10
7	.12
8	.13
9	.15
10	.17
11	.18
12	.20
13	.22
14	.23
15	.25

Minutes	Hours
16	.27
17	.28
18	.30
19	.32
20	.33
21	.35
22	.37
23	.38
24	.40
25	.42
26	.43
27	.45
28	.47
29	.48
30	.50

Minutes	Hours
31	.52
32	.53
33	.55
34	.57
35	.58
36	.60
37	.62
38	.63
39	.65
40	.67
41	.68
42	.70
43	.72
44	.73
45	.75

Minutes	Hours
46	.77
47	.78
48	.80
49	.82
50	.83
51	.85
52	.87
53	.88
54	.90
55	.92
56	.93
57	.95
58	.97
59	.98
60	1.00

Decimal hours = minutes ÷ 60, rounded to two places. So 8 hours 20 minutes is 8.33 hours, and 7:45 is 7.75.

What this page sets up

The calculator opens with quarter-hour rounding on. Each punch is moved to the nearest quarter hour before the hours are added up, using the 7-minute rule: 1 to 7 minutes past rounds down, 8 to 14 rounds up. Every day shows the rounded hours with the punched hours next to them, and the results show both totals and the difference, so you can see exactly what rounding did to this card.

Enter your punches exactly as the time clock recorded them, not already rounded. The example card has five days of punches a few minutes either side of the hour. Punched, the week is 42 hours 14 minutes. Rounded, it’s 42:00, so this week the rounding cost the employee 14 minutes. Another week it might add time. That’s the test federal rules apply (29 CFR 785.48(b)): rounding must average out over time, not always favor the employer.

Checking a rounding policy

Keep a few weeks of your own punch times and enter each week here. If the paid total keeps coming out below the punched total, the rounding may not be neutral in practice, especially if you’re told to clock in no earlier than a set time but can clock out late. Save or print each week as a record: the PDF shows both the punched and the rounded times. Share result sends the week as a link: it shows the paid totals, and Open this card brings back the punched and rounded times.

Other increments

Some employers round to the nearest 5 or 6 minutes (a tenth of an hour) instead. Change the rounding setting and the card recalculates. With 6 minutes, a punch 3 minutes past rounds up.

The example card, worked out

This is what the example button above fills in on the card for Sep 20 – 26, 2026, calculated by the tool, with punches rounded to the nearest 15 minutes.

Day	In – Out	Unpaid break	Hours	Overtime
Mon	8:07 AM – 5:08 PM	30 min	8:45 (punched 8:31)
Tue	7:53 AM – 5:07 PM	30 min	8:30 (punched 8:44)
Wed	8:08 AM – 4:52 PM	30 min	8:00 (punched 8:14)
Thu	7:58 AM – 4:36 PM	30 min	8:00 (punched 8:08)
Fri	8:04 AM – 5:11 PM	30 min	8:45 (punched 8:37)	2:00

Pay period total: 42:00 (42.00 hours): 40:00 regular, 2:00 overtime. Punched time: 42:14.

Where each minute rounds

Minutes past the quarter hour	Rounds	Example
0	rounds down	8:00 → 8:00
1	rounds down	8:01 → 8:00
2	rounds down	8:02 → 8:00
3	rounds down	8:03 → 8:00
4	rounds down	8:04 → 8:00
5	rounds down	8:05 → 8:00
6	rounds down	8:06 → 8:00
7	rounds down	8:07 → 8:00
8	rounds up	8:08 → 8:15
9	rounds up	8:09 → 8:15
10	rounds up	8:10 → 8:15
11	rounds up	8:11 → 8:15
12	rounds up	8:12 → 8:15
13	rounds up	8:13 → 8:15
14	rounds up	8:14 → 8:15

Frequently asked questions

What is the 7-minute rule?

A way of rounding time punches to the nearest quarter hour. A punch 1 to 7 minutes past a quarter hour rounds back to it, and 8 to 14 minutes past rounds forward to the next one. Clocking in at 8:07 counts as 8:00 and at 8:08 as 8:15. Federal rules accept rounding to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth or quarter of an hour only if it averages out and doesn't underpay employees over time (29 CFR 785.48(b)).

Is the 7-minute rule legal?

Federal rules allow it as long as it is neutral in practice: over time employees must be paid for all the time they actually worked. Rounding that only ever rounds in the employer's favor, or combined with a policy that stops people clocking in early, can underpay. California doesn't allow rounding of meal-break punches (Donohue v. AMN Services, 2021), and whether it allows rounding at all is before its Supreme Court.

Does the 7-minute rule apply to clocking in and out for lunch?

Under federal rules rounding applies to recorded start and stop times generally. In California it can't be used on meal-period punches. Switch the overtime rules to California and only the day's first In and last Out are rounded.

How do I know if rounding shortchanged me?

Compare punched and paid time over several weeks. The calculator shows both for every day and for the period, with the difference in hours and, if you enter a rate, in dollars. A neutral policy moves the total up about as often as down.

Minutes	Hours
1	.02
2	.03
3	.05
4	.07
5	.08
6	.10
7	.12
8	.13
9	.15
10	.17
11	.18
12	.20
13	.22
14	.23
15	.25

Minutes	Hours
16	.27
17	.28
18	.30
19	.32
20	.33
21	.35
22	.37
23	.38
24	.40
25	.42
26	.43
27	.45
28	.47
29	.48
30	.50

Minutes	Hours
31	.52
32	.53
33	.55
34	.57
35	.58
36	.60
37	.62
38	.63
39	.65
40	.67
41	.68
42	.70
43	.72
44	.73
45	.75

Minutes	Hours
1	.02
2	.03
3	.05
4	.07
5	.08
6	.10
7	.12
8	.13
9	.15
10	.17
11	.18
12	.20
13	.22
14	.23
15	.25

Minutes	Hours
16	.27
17	.28
18	.30
19	.32
20	.33
21	.35
22	.37
23	.38
24	.40
25	.42
26	.43
27	.45
28	.47
29	.48
30	.50

Minutes	Hours
31	.52
32	.53
33	.55
34	.57
35	.58
36	.60
37	.62
38	.63
39	.65
40	.67
41	.68
42	.70
43	.72
44	.73
45	.75