I had a look at the sourcecode of plotaxis.[h,cpp] source code. The required formula is actually much simpler JULIAN_DATE = EXCEL_DATE + 2415018.5 or JD18991230 = 2415018.5 // Julian Date of 30-Dec-1899 00:00:00 GMT JULIAN_DATE = EXCEL_DATE + JD1899_12_30 Thanks Ralph Paul