Spreadsheet Practice

How to get the first day of the quarter in Excel

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=DATE(YEAR(A2),ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)*3-2,1)

Find the quarter's first month and build the date: =DATE(YEAR(A2),ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)*3-2,1).

Result on the example
one result per row in B2, filled down to B6
Works in
Every current version
Google Sheets
Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in B2, filled down to B6. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0) is the quarter number, and times 3 minus 2 is its first month: 1, 4, 7 or 10. DATE builds the 1st of that month in the same year.

=DATE(YEAR(A2),ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)*3-2,1)

Result1/1/2026 (46023)

  1. A21/15/2026

    The value in A2.

  2. YEAR(A2)2026

    YEAR: Year of a date.

    • serial_numberA21/15/2026
  3. MONTH(A2)1

    MONTH: Month of a date, 1–12.

    • serial_numberA21/15/2026
  4. MONTH(A2)/30.3333333333

    The / operator divides.

  5. ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)1

    ROUNDUP: Rounds away from zero.

    • numberMONTH(A2)/30.3333333333
    • num_digits0
  6. ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)*33

    The * operator multiplies.

  7. ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)*3-21

    The - operator subtracts.

  8. DATE(YEAR(A2),ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)*3-2,1)1/1/2026 (46023)

    DATE: Builds a date from parts.

    • yearYEAR(A2)2026
    • monthROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)*3-21
    • day1

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =DATE(YEAR(A2),ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)*3-2,1). We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns the same results.

Other ways to do it

Each one was run on the same example sheet.

FormulaResultWhen to use it
=EOMONTH(A2,-1-MOD(MONTH(A2)-1,3))+11/1/2026, 1/1/2026, 4/1/2026…Steps back to the end of the previous quarter and adds a day.

Common mistakes

  • The result is a date serial; format it as a date.
  • For fiscal quarters, shift the month first: the quarter starts MOD(MONTH(A2)-start,3) months before the date's month.

Try it yourself

Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.

Get the first day of the quarter

In B2, return the first day of the calendar quarter of the date in A2, and fill down to B6.

Questions

How do I calculate quarter-to-date sales?

=SUMIFS(amounts,dates,">="&DATE(YEAR(F1),ROUNDUP(MONTH(F1)/3,0)*3-2,1),dates,"<="&F1).

How do I get the quarter end?

=EOMONTH(A2,MOD(3-MONTH(A2),3)).

Checked by running on 2026-10-30: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.