diff --git a/t/t0006-date.sh b/t/t0006-date.sh
index fded9dbd68..4b789c00f1 100755
--- a/t/t0006-date.sh
+++ b/t/t0006-date.sh
@@ -31,9 +31,11 @@ check_show () {
 	format=$1
 	time=$2
 	expect=$3
-	test_expect_success $4 "show date ($format:$time)" '
+	prereqs=$4
+	zone=$5
+	test_expect_success $prereqs "show date ($format:$time)" '
 		echo "$time -> $expect" >expect &&
-		test-date show:$format "$time" >actual &&
+		TZ=${zone:-$TZ} test-date show:"$format" "$time" >actual &&
 		test_cmp expect actual
 	'
 }
@@ -57,6 +59,9 @@ check_show 'format:%Z' "$TIME" ''
 check_show 'format:%%z' "$TIME" '%z'
 check_show 'format-local:%%z' "$TIME" '%z'
 
+check_show 'format:%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S' "$TIME" '2016-06-15 16:13:20'
+check_show 'format-local:%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S' "$TIME" '2016-06-15 09:13:20' '' EST5
+
 # arbitrary time absurdly far in the future
 FUTURE="5758122296 -0400"
 check_show iso       "$FUTURE" "2152-06-19 18:24:56 -0400" LONG_IS_64BIT