Business Days Calculator

What this tool is used for

• Counting working days between two dates for a delivery estimate.
• Working out a deadline expressed in business days.
• Checking a notice period stated in working days.
• Counting working days remaining in a month.
• Confirming a working-day count a supplier or a contract quoted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are weekends always Saturday and Sunday?

Not everywhere, which is why they are selectable. Much of the Middle East runs a Friday–Saturday weekend; Israel uses Friday–Saturday; Nepal has a single-day Saturday weekend. Contract deadlines counted in business days follow local practice, so the default two-day assumption can quietly shift a date.

How is Easter calculated?

With the Meeus/Jones/Butcher algorithm for the Gregorian calendar — a closed-form computation that needs no lookup table. Easter anchors several bank holidays, so Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension and Whit Monday all move with it, which is why those dates differ by up to a month year to year.

Does it apply observed holidays?

No, and this is the main caveat. US federal holidays falling on a Saturday are observed the preceding Friday and Sunday ones the following Monday — Independence Day 2026 lands on a Saturday, for instance. Here the holiday is only counted on its actual date, so an observed weekday still counts as a working day.

Does the start date count as day one?

It does by default, and the checkbox turns that off. The distinction is exactly the ambiguity in "within 5 business days": counted inclusively that is four days later, exclusively it is five. Legal and shipping deadlines usually exclude the start day, so check the wording before trusting either number.

Why are the holiday lists only approximate?

Because public holidays are set nationally and often regionally — German states differ, UK nations differ, and the EU has no common statutory set at all. The lists here cover the widely-observed dates for each region; anything company-specific or state-specific has to be handled by hand.

Common errors and gotchas

• Ignoring public holidays, which a weekday count cannot know about.
• Assuming Monday to Friday everywhere, when working weeks differ by country.
• Assuming a five-day week, when some regions and contracts count six.
• Using calendar days when the contract says business days, or the reverse.
• Overlooking that a holiday falling at a weekend may be observed on a weekday.