Business days calculator for Australia

Pick a start date, then either add a number of business days or count the business days up to an end date. Choose whether a day is lost to a public holiday in any state or territory, which is the ATO's Payday Super rule, or only to the public holidays of one state or territory.

How the count works

The start date is day 0 and is never counted. The calculator steps forward from the next day and treats each day as a business day unless it is:

• a Saturday or Sunday, or
• a public holiday under the rule you chose.

In add mode it stops on the day the count reaches your number. In count mode it returns the number of business days after the start date, up to and including the end date. The two modes agree: adding the counted number to the start date gives the end date, as long as the end date is itself a business day.

The result lists any weekday public holidays it skipped, so you can see why a date moved.

The two rules

Whole of any state or territory

For Payday Super, the ATO defines a business day as any day other than a Saturday or Sunday, or a day that is a public holiday for the whole of any Australian state or territory. A holiday in one state therefore pushes the deadline back for every employer in Australia, even one that has no staff there. A holiday in only part of a state, such as Royal Hobart Show Day, is still a business day.

The ATO's own example: an employer first pays a new employee on 9 July 2026. That contribution has a 20 business day deadline and is due on 7 August 2026. The next regular payday is 30 July 2026, and 7 business days later is 11 August 2026. Both dates include an extra day because Picnic Day in the Northern Territory (Monday 3 August 2026) is not a business day. The calculator reproduces both dates.

One state or territory

Choose a single state or territory when a document or a law refers to business days in that place. Only that jurisdiction's statewide public holidays are skipped. Using the same dates as the ATO example, 7 business days after 30 July 2026 on NSW holidays is Monday 10 August 2026, one day earlier, because Picnic Day is not a NSW holiday and the NSW Bank Holiday on the same Monday is not a public holiday.

Check the definition that applies to you. Many Commonwealth Acts define business day by reference to the place concerned, and contracts often define it their own way. The calculator does not decide which rule applies.

What it leaves out

Day type	Treated as	Why
Part-state holidays (Royal Hobart Show Day and other Tasmanian regional days, the Brisbane Ekka show day, NT regional show days)	Business day	The ATO names Royal Hobart Show Day as still a business day
Part-day holidays (Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve evenings in some states)	Business day	The ATO page does not deal with them. Treating them as business days gives the earlier, safer date
NSW Bank Holiday (first Monday in August)	Business day	Not a declared public holiday in NSW
Tasmanian Easter Tuesday	Business day	Applies to the Tasmanian Public Service, not a general public holiday
Melbourne Cup Day	Holiday (VIC)	Business Victoria lists it, but notes some non-metropolitan councils substitute a local holiday
Western Australia King's Birthday	Holiday (WA)	Karratha and Port Hedland observe a different day. If a deadline depends on it, act a day earlier

Date range

The holiday data is confirmed from 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2027. The calculator:

• refuses a start date before 1 July 2026
• refuses a count that runs past 31 December 2027 on the NSW or WA rule, because neither had published 2028 holidays when checked
• gives a result with a warning between 1 January and 30 June 2028 on the other rules, because a NSW or WA holiday could be missing from the "any state" count
• refuses anything that runs past 30 June 2028
• warns when a count on the "any state" or Victorian rule crosses September 2027, because Victoria's Friday before the AFL Grand Final for 2027 depends on the AFL fixture and is not included

Limits

This is a counting tool. It does not apply rules that move a deadline when it lands on a weekend or holiday, such as section 36(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, and it does not decide when a period starts. For Payday Super deadlines, including the 20 business day cases and out-of-cycle payments, use the Payday Super due date calculator. For tax objection deadlines, use the checker in the ATO objection guide.

Questions

What counts as a business day for Payday Super?

Any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday or a day that is a public holiday for the whole of any Australian state or territory. A holiday in only part of a state, such as Royal Hobart Show Day, is still a business day.

Is the start date counted?

No. The start date is day 0 and the count begins the next day, which matches the ATO's approach for Payday Super.

Why does Picnic Day affect employers outside the Northern Territory?

Because the Payday Super definition excludes a public holiday for the whole of any state or territory. Picnic Day covers the whole Northern Territory, so it is not a business day anywhere for Payday Super.

How far ahead does the calculator work?

Holiday data is confirmed to 31 December 2027. Results from 1 January to 30 June 2028 carry a warning, and NSW and WA counts stop at 31 December 2027 because those states had not published 2028 holidays when checked.

Sources

• ATO, Payment deadlines for Payday Super
• NSW public holidays (2026, 2027)
• VIC public holidays (2026)
• VIC public holidays (2027)
• QLD public holidays (2026 to June 2028)
• WA public holidays (2026, 2027)
• SA public holidays 2025-2028 (SafeWork SA)
• TAS public holidays (2026-2028)
• ACT public holidays (2026 to June 2028)
• NT public holidays (2026 to June 2028)