# How to calculate the fiscal quarter from a date in Excel

Count the months since the fiscal year started, then divide by 3: `="Q"&INT(MOD(MONTH(A2)-$E$1,12)/3)+1`, with the start month in E1.

**Excel:** `="Q"&INT(MOD(MONTH(A2)-$E$1,12)/3)+1` (Every current version)

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

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C | D | E |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Date | Fiscal quarter |  | FY starts in month | 7 |
| 2026-07-01 |  |  |  |  |
| 2026-09-30 |  |  |  |  |
| 2026-10-15 |  |  |  |  |
| 2027-01-04 |  |  |  |  |
| 2027-04-30 |  |  |  |  |
| 2027-06-30 |  |  |  |  |
| 2026-03-12 |  |  |  |  |

Formula in B2, filled to B8: `="Q"&INT(MOD(MONTH(A2)-$E$1,12)/3)+1`

Result: Q1; Q1; Q2; Q3; Q4; Q4; Q3

## How it works

`MOD(MONTH(A2)-$E$1,12)` counts the months since the fiscal year began: 0 for July, 6 for January, 11 for June. Dividing by 3 and adding 1 turns months 0 to 2 into Q1, 3 to 5 into Q2, and so on. Change E1 for other fiscal years, like 10 for an October start.

## Other ways

- `="Q"&ROUNDUP((MOD(MONTH(A2)-$E$1,12)+1)/3,0)`: The same with ROUNDUP on the fiscal month number.
- `="Q"&CHOOSE(MONTH(A2),3,3,3,4,4,4,1,1,1,2,2,2)`: A lookup by calendar month. Easy to read, but fixed to a July start.

## Common mistakes

- `MONTH(A2)-7` is negative from January to June. MOD wraps it to 6 to 11; without MOD the quarter comes out as 0 or less.
- The quarter alone doesn't say which fiscal year it is. Show the fiscal year next to it.

## Questions

**How do I get the fiscal year too?**

For a fiscal year named by the year it ends in: `=YEAR(A2)+(MONTH(A2)>=$E$1)`.

**What about the US federal fiscal year?**

It starts in October, so put 10 in E1. October 15, 2026 is then Q1 of fiscal 2027.

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/fiscal-quarter-from-a-date