Quarter of the Year Calculator

1. Enter a date, or leave it blank to use today.
2. Choose when your fiscal year starts: January, April, July or October.
3. Read the calendar quarter, the fiscal quarter, the quarter's start and end dates, and how many days have elapsed and remain.

A quarter is a three-month period used for reporting and planning. A year splits into four equal quarters, each about 91 days, so a quarter calculator maps any date to its quarter.

The calendar quarters are fixed: Q1 is January to March, Q2 April to June, Q3 July to September and Q4 October to December. Businesses report revenue, taxes and targets by quarter, and schools and sports often use the same blocks.

A fiscal quarter uses the same three-month blocks but numbers them from the start of a fiscal year, which need not be January. The U.S. federal government starts its fiscal year on October 1, so its first quarter is October to December. See the date and time calculators hub for related date tools.

The calculator reads the month of your date, maps it to a three-month block, and numbers that block two ways.

1. Find the calendar quarter from the month number: January to March is 1, and so on.
2. Count months from the fiscal-year start to get the fiscal quarter number.
3. Set the quarter start to the first day of its first month, and the quarter end to the last day of its third month.
4. Days elapsed counts from the start day through your date; days remaining counts the rest of the quarter.

Why the Dates Match for Both Framings

Every fiscal-year start offered here (January, April, July, October) is itself a quarter boundary. So a fiscal quarter covers exactly the same calendar dates as one calendar quarter. Only the number changes: October to December is calendar Q4 but U.S. fiscal Q1.

Take October 6, 2026 under the U.S. federal fiscal year (October start).

Calendar quarter: October is month 10, and floor((10 - 1) / 3) + 1 = 4, so Q4 (October to December).

Fiscal quarter: counting from October, October is the first fiscal month, so fiscal Q1.

Dates: the quarter runs October 1 to December 31, which is 92 days. From October 1 through October 6 is 6 days elapsed, leaving 86 days remaining (6 + 86 = 92). The fiscal year runs October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, which the government calls FY2027.

Two things decide the answer: the month of your date and the fiscal-year start you pick. The day of the month only affects days elapsed and remaining, not which quarter.

The Fiscal-year Start

A January start makes fiscal and calendar quarters identical. An April, July or October start shifts the fiscal numbers by one, two or three quarters.

The Length of Each Quarter

Q1 has 90 days (91 in a leap year), Q2 has 91, and Q3 and Q4 have 92. That is why days remaining differs between quarters even for the same day of the month.

Leap Years

In a leap year February adds a day, so a first quarter that holds February 29 has 91 days instead of 90. The tool counts real calendar days, so this is automatic.

The blocks are the same; the numbering and the year label differ. This table shows how common fiscal starts line up.

Naming the Fiscal Year

A fiscal year that does not start in January is usually named for the year it ends. The U.S. fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 is FY2027. The UK tax year starting April 6 is written as a span, such as 2026 to 2027. This tool uses October 1 for simplicity; the UK personal tax year actually starts on April 6, which is a separate convention.

Business Reporting

Finance and sales teams tag revenue, expenses and targets by quarter. Knowing the exact start and end dates keeps reports consistent.

Tax and Compliance Deadlines

Estimated taxes and many filings fall on a quarterly schedule. Check which quarter a date sits in and how many days remain before a cutoff.

Project and OKR Planning

Quarterly goals need clear boundaries. Use days elapsed and remaining to see how far through a quarter a project is. For day counts between dates, try the date calculator or the business days calculator.

1. Assuming the Fiscal Quarter Equals the Calendar Quarter

They match only for a January start. A U.S. fiscal Q1 is the calendar Q4.

2. Treating Every Quarter as 90 or 91 Days

Quarter lengths run 90 to 92 days, and the first quarter gains a day in a leap year.

3. Mislabeling the Fiscal Year

A fiscal year is named for the year it ends when it does not start in January, so October 2026 is in FY2027, not FY2026.

4. Off-by-one on Days Elapsed

Days elapsed here counts both the quarter start and your date, so the first day of a quarter shows 1, not 0.

5. Forgetting the Leap Day

Dividing a year into four equal 91-day blocks drops the leap day. Always count real calendar days.

The quarter and day math is exact for any Gregorian calendar date. The only choice is which fiscal-year start applies to you.

October is in the fourth calendar quarter, Q4, which runs October to December. Under the U.S. federal fiscal year it is the first fiscal quarter, Q1.

Q1 is January to March, Q2 is April to June, Q3 is July to September and Q4 is October to December. Each quarter is three months.

They cover the same three-month blocks but are numbered differently. Fiscal quarters count from the fiscal-year start, so a U.S. fiscal Q1 is the calendar Q4.

The U.S. federal fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends September 30. It is named for the year it ends, so October 1, 2026 begins FY2027.

Between 90 and 92 days. Q1 has 90 days, or 91 in a leap year, Q2 has 91, and Q3 and Q4 have 92 days each.

Enter the date and the tool returns the calendar quarter and the fiscal quarter, plus the start and end dates and days remaining.

The United Kingdom government, India and Japan use an April start. The tool uses April 1; the UK personal tax year starts on April 6.

No. The month alone sets the quarter. The day only changes how many days have elapsed and how many remain in that quarter.

Days elapsed counts from the quarter start through your date, including both. Days remaining counts the rest of the quarter, so the two add up to the quarter length.

No. The date is processed in your browser and is not sent to us.

• U.S. GAO, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process (fiscal year) (U.S. Government Accountability Office; the federal fiscal year runs October 1 to September 30).
• U.S. Treasury Fiscal Service, fiscal year definition (Bureau of the Fiscal Service; federal fiscal-year dates).
• ISO 8601 date and time format (International Organization for Standardization; the YYYY-MM-DD order).