How quarters are worked out
A quarter is three months, so a year has four. In a calendar year Q1 starts on 1 January. In a financial year, Q1 starts on the first day of the month you pick, and each quarter after it starts three months later. The calculator finds the quarter that holds your date, then counts the days to its first and last day.
For example, 15 November 2026 is in Q4 of a calendar year, which runs from 1 October to 31 December and has 92 days. In a financial year that starts in April, the same date is in Q3, which runs from 1 October to 31 December as well.
Calendar quarters and their lengths
| Quarter | Dates | Days in 2026 | Days in 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 1 January to 31 March | 90 | 91 |
| Q2 | 1 April to 30 June | 91 | 91 |
| Q3 | 1 July to 30 September | 92 | 92 |
| Q4 | 1 October to 31 December | 92 | 92 |
Financial year quarters by start month
| Year starts | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Jan to Mar | Apr to Jun | Jul to Sep | Oct to Dec |
| April | Apr to Jun | Jul to Sep | Oct to Dec | Jan to Mar |
| July | Jul to Sep | Oct to Dec | Jan to Mar | Apr to Jun |
| October | Oct to Dec | Jan to Mar | Apr to Jun | Jul to Sep |
Common questions
What quarter are we in now?
The calculator opens on today's date and shows the quarter straight away. For a calendar year, the fourth quarter runs from 1 October to 31 December, so any date in those months, such as 15 November 2026, is in Q4.
What are the four calendar quarters?
Q1 is January to March, Q2 is April to June, Q3 is July to September and Q4 is October to December. Each quarter covers three whole months, so quarters always start on the first day of a month.
How many days are in each quarter?
In 2026 the quarters have 90, 91, 92 and 92 days. Q1 is the shortest because February has only 28 days, and it has 91 days in a leap year such as 2028. The table above shows both.
What is a fiscal quarter?
A fiscal quarter is a three month slice of a company's financial year, which does not always begin in January. Choose the month the financial year starts in, and the calculator numbers the quarters from that month. Q1 is then the first three months of that financial year.
Which months do fiscal years commonly start in?
January is the calendar year. Many organisations in the United Kingdom and India start in April, Australia's government year starts in July, and the United States federal government starts in October. Companies can choose any month, so check your own policy.
Is the fiscal year named after the year it starts or ends?
It depends on the organisation. The United States federal government names its year after the calendar year in which it ends, so the year starting 1 October 2026 is called fiscal 2027. Others use the starting year. This calculator shows the dates, so you can apply your own naming.
How many weeks are in a quarter?
A quarter lasts 13 weeks, give or take a day: 90 to 92 days is 12 weeks and 6 days to 13 weeks and 1 day. Because of that, quarters rarely line up exactly with ISO weeks. Use the week number calculator for week based planning.
Can I check the quarter for a past or future date?
Yes. Pick any date and the calculator shows its quarter, the dates the quarter runs and how far through it you are. To count the days between two dates, use the date difference calculator.