diff --git a/src/uu/date/src/date.rs b/src/uu/date/src/date.rs
index cfb01e71fa..9d029e3a6f 100644
--- a/src/uu/date/src/date.rs
+++ b/src/uu/date/src/date.rs
@@ -497,25 +497,13 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
 
             let date = if is_empty_or_whitespace || input == "-" || is_military_j {
                 // Treat empty string, single hyphen, or 'J' as midnight today in local time
-                let date_part =
-                    strtime::format("%F", &now).unwrap_or_else(|_| String::from("1970-01-01"));
-                let offset = if settings.utc {
-                    String::from("+00:00")
-                } else {
-                    strtime::format("%:z", &now).unwrap_or_default()
-                };
-                let composed = if offset.is_empty() {
-                    format!("{date_part} 00:00")
-                } else {
-                    format!("{date_part} 00:00 {offset}")
-                };
                 if settings.debug {
                     let _ = writeln!(
                         stderr(),
                         "date: warning: using midnight as starting time: 00:00:00"
                     );
                 }
-                parse(&composed, false)
+                parse(&midnight_today(&now, settings.utc), false)
             } else if let Some((total_hours, day_delta)) = military_tz_with_offset {
                 // Military timezone with optional hour offset
                 // Convert to UTC time: midnight + military_tz_offset + additional_hours
@@ -576,6 +564,7 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
         DateSource::Stdin => parse_dates_from_reader(
             std::io::stdin(),
             &now,
+            settings.utc,
             DebugOptions::new(settings.debug, true),
             allow_extended,
         ),
@@ -590,6 +579,7 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
             parse_dates_from_reader(
                 file,
                 &now,
+                settings.utc,
                 DebugOptions::new(settings.debug, true),
                 allow_extended,
             )
@@ -1144,6 +1134,30 @@ fn try_parse_with_abbreviation<S: AsRef<str>>(date_str: S, now: &Zoned) -> Optio
     Some(zoned.with_time_zone(now.time_zone().clone()))
 }
 
+/// Whether a date string only asks for midnight today: it is empty, whitespace
+/// (possibly a parenthesized comment), or a lone `-`.
+fn is_midnight_today_input(input: &str) -> bool {
+    let input = strip_parenthesized_comments(input);
+    let input = input.trim();
+    input.is_empty() || input == "-"
+}
+
+/// The date string for midnight today, in the local time zone or in UTC.
+///
+/// GNU parses an empty date string (or a lone `-`) as midnight today; this is
+/// the equivalent input for our parser. The start of the day is resolved in
+/// the time zone itself, because on a DST transition day the UTC offset at
+/// midnight is not the offset right now.
+fn midnight_today(now: &Zoned, utc: bool) -> String {
+    let today = if utc {
+        now.with_time_zone(TimeZone::UTC)
+    } else {
+        now.clone()
+    };
+    let midnight = today.start_of_day().unwrap_or(today);
+    strtime::format("%F %H:%M %:z", &midnight).unwrap_or_else(|_| String::from("1970-01-01 00:00"))
+}
+
 /// Helper function to parse dates from a line-based reader (stdin or file)
 ///
 /// Takes any `Read` source, reads it line by line, and parses each line as a date.
@@ -1151,11 +1165,13 @@ fn try_parse_with_abbreviation<S: AsRef<str>>(date_str: S, now: &Zoned) -> Optio
 fn parse_dates_from_reader<R: Read + 'static>(
     reader: R,
     now: &Zoned,
+    utc: bool,
     dbg_opts: DebugOptions,
     allow_extended: bool,
 ) -> Box<
     dyn Iterator<Item = Result<ParsedDateTime, (String, parse_datetime::ParseDateTimeError)>> + '_,
 > {
+    let midnight = midnight_today(now, utc);
     let lines = BufReader::new(reader).split(b'\n');
     Box::new(lines.map_while(Result::ok).map(move |mut bytes| {
         // Strip a trailing '\r' (CRLF input; GNU's lexer ignores it too)
@@ -1163,6 +1179,22 @@ fn parse_dates_from_reader<R: Read + 'static>(
             bytes.pop();
         }
         match String::from_utf8(bytes) {
+            // GNU compatibility: an empty (or whitespace-only) line and a lone
+            // hyphen are midnight today, just like `-d ''`, not the current time.
+            Ok(s) if is_midnight_today_input(&s) => {
+                if dbg_opts.debug {
+                    let _ = writeln!(
+                        stderr(),
+                        "date: warning: using midnight as starting time: 00:00:00"
+                    );
+                }
+                parse_date(
+                    &midnight,
+                    now,
+                    DebugOptions::new(dbg_opts.debug, false),
+                    allow_extended,
+                )
+            }
             Ok(s) => parse_date(s, now, dbg_opts, allow_extended),
             // Report lines with invalid UTF-8 (with non-printable bytes
             // octal-escaped like GNU) instead of silently stopping the input
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_date.rs b/tests/by-util/test_date.rs
index 0e0f77c026..94cf9d766b 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_date.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_date.rs
@@ -682,6 +682,34 @@ fn test_date_stdin_invalid_utf8_line() {
         .stderr_contains("date: invalid date 'Hello\\377x'");
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_date_file_blank_line_is_midnight() {
+    // GNU treats an empty (or whitespace-only) line and a lone `-` the same
+    // way as `-d ''`: midnight today, not the current time.
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .env("TZ", "UTC0")
+        .args(&["-f", "-", "+%T"])
+        .pipe_in("\n   \n-\n2023-03-27 08:30:00\n\r\n")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_is("00:00:00\n00:00:00\n00:00:00\n08:30:00\n00:00:00\n");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_date_file_blank_line_is_midnight_in_local_time() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .env("TZ", "Asia/Tokyo")
+        .args(&["-f", "-", "+%T %Z"])
+        .pipe_in("\n")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_is("00:00:00 JST\n");
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .env("TZ", "Asia/Tokyo")
+        .args(&["-u", "-f", "-", "+%T %Z"])
+        .pipe_in("\n")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_is("00:00:00 UTC\n");
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_date_for_file_mtime() {
     let (at, mut ucmd) = at_and_ucmd!();