# How to check if a date is later than another date in Excel

Compare the dates directly: `=IF(C2="","Open",IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time"))`. A later date is a larger number.

**Excel:** `=IF(C2="","Open",IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time"))` (Excel 2019 and later, including Microsoft 365)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C | D |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Order | Promised | Delivered | Status |
| SO-301 | 2026-06-05 | 2026-06-04 |  |
| SO-302 | 2026-06-08 | 2026-06-10 |  |
| SO-303 | 2026-06-12 | 2026-06-12 |  |
| SO-304 | 2026-06-15 |  |  |
| SO-305 | 2026-06-18 | 2026-06-25 |  |
| SO-306 | 2026-06-22 | 2026-06-19 |  |

Formula in D2, filled to D7: `=IF(C2="","Open",IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time"))`

Result: On time; Late; On time; Open; Late; On time

## How it works

Dates are numbers, so a later date is a larger number and `C2>B2` is TRUE when the order arrived after the promised date. The blank test comes first, because an empty cell counts as 0 and would look early.

## Other ways

- `=IFS(C2="","Open",C2>B2,"Late",TRUE,"On time")`: The same with IFS.
- `=IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time")`: Without the blank check. (SO-304, not yet delivered, shows On time.)

## Common mistakes

- Text dates break the comparison: Excel ranks any text above any number, so a text date always looks later.
- A delivery timestamp at 3:00 PM on the promised day is larger than the plain date. Compare `INT(C2)>B2`.

## Questions

**How many days late was it?**

`=MAX(0,C2-B2)`.

**How do I calculate the on-time rate?**

`=COUNTIF(D2:D7,"On time")/COUNTIF(D2:D7,"<>Open")`.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/check-if-a-date-is-later-than-another-date