4-4-5 fiscal calendar generator
Choose the month your fiscal year ends and the week pattern. You get all twelve periods with week numbers and dates on one printable page.
Build a fiscal year
Your dates on the calendar 0
Or add one by hand:
Print at 100% / Actual size for the margins shown. Vector PDF, so it stays sharp at any size.
How the 4-4-5 fiscal year works
Every week runs Sunday to Saturday. Quarters are 13 weeks, split into periods of four, four and five weeks. Because every period is whole weeks, a Tuesday in period 3 this year compares with a Tuesday in period 3 last year, which a calendar-month comparison can't promise.
The trade-off is that periods are not months. Period 1 of a year ending in December starts at the very end of the previous December, and a period can include days from two calendar months.
Who uses it
- Retailers, usually on the NRF 4-5-4 calendar ending on the Saturday nearest January 31.
- Manufacturers and restaurant groups on 4-4-5 for payroll and production planning.
- Anyone filing on a 52-53-week tax year, which the IRS allows under section 441(f).
The 364-day year and the 53rd week
Twelve periods of 4, 4 and 5 weeks add up to 52 weeks: 364 days. The calendar year is 365 or 366, so the year-end date drifts, and every five or six years a 53rd week is added to pull it back.
- FY2024ends Dec 28, 202452 wk
- FY2025ends Dec 27, 202552 wk
- FY2026ends Dec 26, 202652 wk
- FY2027ends Dec 25, 202752 wk
- FY2028ends Dec 30, 202853 wk
- FY2029ends Dec 29, 202952 wk
- FY2030ends Dec 28, 203052 wk
- FY2031ends Dec 27, 203152 wk
- FY2032ends Dec 25, 203252 wk
Highlighted rows are 53-week years: in those, the last period is 4-4-6, and year-on-year comparisons need adjusting for the extra week.
Questions people ask
What is a 4-4-5 calendar?
A fiscal calendar used in retail and manufacturing that splits each quarter into three periods of 4, 4 and 5 weeks. Every period ends on the same weekday, so weeks and periods compare cleanly year on year.
What is the difference between 4-4-5, 4-5-4 and 5-4-4?
Only which period in each quarter gets the fifth week. The National Retail Federation’s retail calendar uses 4-5-4; many manufacturers use 4-4-5.
What does "last Saturday" versus "nearest Saturday" mean?
It sets where the fiscal year ends. "Last Saturday" ends it on the final Saturday of the chosen month; "nearest Saturday" ends it on the Saturday closest to the month end, which can fall a few days into the next month. The US tax code calls this a 52-53-week tax year.
Why do some fiscal years have 53 weeks?
Fifty-two weeks is 364 days, one or two days short of a calendar year. The shortfall builds up, and about every five or six years a 53rd week is added, usually to the last period.