# Why does Excel show 1/0/1900 instead of a blank?

The formula reads an empty cell as 0, which a date format shows as 1/0/1900. Test for the blank first: =IF(B2="","",B2+14).

**Excel:** `=IF(B2="","",B2+14)` (Every current version)

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

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Invoice | Sent on | Follow up on |
| INV-81 | 2026-10-02 |  |
| INV-82 |  |  |
| INV-83 | 2026-10-09 |  |
| INV-84 |  |  |
| INV-85 | 2026-10-15 |  |

Formula in C2, filled to C6: `=IF(B2="","",B2+14)`

Result: 10/16/2026; ; 10/23/2026; ; 10/29/2026

## How it works

An empty cell counts as 0 in arithmetic, so `=B2+14` on a blank row returns 14, and a date format shows serial numbers that small as dates in January 1900 (0 itself as 1/0/1900). Checking for the blank first returns "" until a date is entered. Google Sheets shows the same values as dates in December 1899.

## Other ways

- `=IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",B2+14)`: ISBLANK works here because the blank cells are truly empty.
- `=IF(B2,B2+14,"")`: An empty cell counts as 0, which IF treats as FALSE.

## Common mistakes

- A custom format like `m/d/yyyy;;` hides 0 but not 14, so the blank test is the real fix.
- The "" result is text: a formula that subtracts from it returns #VALUE!. Test for blanks there too.

## Questions

**Why 1900?**

Excel counts dates from January 1, 1900, so small numbers land in early 1900.

**How do I hide 1/0/1900 from a lookup that returns a date?**

Test the result: `=LET(d,XLOOKUP(…),IF(d="","",d))`.

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/date-formula-shows-1-0-1900