Work Date Calculator Australia — Add or Subtract Business Days

How to calculate working days in Australia (excluding public holidays)

A working day in Australia is any Monday to Friday that is not a public holiday. Calculating business days manually is straightforward for a single week, but quickly becomes error-prone across months because public holiday dates shift each year and differ significantly between states. The AFL Grand Final Friday applies only in Victoria. The Queen's Birthday falls in June in most states but in September in Queensland and on a different date in WA. Show Days are unique to individual Queensland cities.

Calculating a notice period end date in working days — Fair Work Act rules

Notice periods under the Fair Work Act 2009 are defined in weeks, not business days — but public holidays within the notice period extend the period and are not counted. If you give notice and a public holiday falls before your last day, your employment continues for one additional working day beyond the nominal end date.

To find your notice period end date: enter your last working day, select "Add business days," enter your required notice period in working days (1 week = 5 business days), and select your state. The calculator will return your correct final day, skipping any public holidays that fall within the period.

Calculating invoice payment due dates and contract deadlines in business days

Many Australian contracts, invoices and legal documents state timeframes in business days: "payment within 14 business days," "respond within 5 business days," "settlement in 30 business days." Converting these to a calendar date requires knowing which days fall on weekends or public holidays within that period.

• Net 14 (14 business days): Not 14 calendar days — if the period spans the Easter long weekend or a public holiday, the due date is later than a simple +14 calendar day calculation would suggest.
• Legal timeframes: Court deadlines and ASIC filing periods stated in business days exclude public holidays in the relevant jurisdiction.
• Conveyancing settlement: Property settlement periods in Australia are typically quoted in business days, making the public holiday exclusion material — particularly around Christmas and Easter when multiple holidays cluster.

Australian public holidays by state — what's excluded from the business day count

The calculator excludes all of the following for each state. National public holidays apply everywhere; state-specific holidays apply in the selected state only.

State-specific holidays include the King's Birthday (different dates in VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, ACT and NT), AFL Grand Final Friday (VIC only), Melbourne Cup Day (VIC only), Adelaide Cup (SA), Eight Hours Day / Labour Day (varies), and Queensland Show Days for individual cities.

How many working days are in a year in Australia?

A standard Australian calendar year contains 260 to 262 weekdays. After deducting the 8 national public holidays plus state-specific holidays (typically 2 to 6 additional days depending on the state), most employees work between 250 and 254 business days per year. Victoria and Queensland tend to have slightly fewer working days than NSW due to additional state holidays. Use "Count days" mode and enter 1 January to 31 December to get the exact count for your state and year.

Common use cases for the Australian work date calculator

• Notice period end date: Find the exact last working day after submitting resignation, accounting for any public holidays within the notice period.
• Probation end date: Calculate when a 3-month or 6-month probation period expires in business days from an employment start date.
• Invoice payment due date: Convert "Net 14 business days" or "Net 30 business days" to a specific calendar date.
• Redundancy payment timing: Employers must pay all final entitlements by the next pay day or within 7 days of termination — check the exact date.
• Annual leave end date: If taking a block of annual leave measured in working days, find the exact return-to-work date.
• Legal filing deadlines: Court documents, ASIC filings and ATO deadlines stated in business days require public holiday exclusions for the relevant jurisdiction.

For further information on what constitutes a working day in Australian employment law, see the Fair Work Ombudsman public holidays guide. For penalty rates applying to work performed on public holidays, use the Public Holiday Rate Calculator.