diff --git a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp/AmqpClientExtensions.cs b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp/AmqpClientExtensions.cs
index 6728ff9..338d1bb 100644
--- a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp/AmqpClientExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp/AmqpClientExtensions.cs
@@ -73,13 +73,14 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp
                                 : CloudEventsSpecVersion.Default))
                             : CloudEventsSpecVersion.Default;
 
-                var cloudEvent = new CloudEvent(specVersion , extensions);
+                var cloudEvent = new CloudEvent(specVersion, extensions);
                 var attributes = cloudEvent.GetAttributes();
                 foreach (var prop in message.ApplicationProperties.Map)
                 {
-                    if (prop.Key is string &&
-                        ((string)prop.Key).StartsWith(AmqpHeaderPrefix, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
+                    if (prop.Key is string key &&
+                        key.StartsWith(AmqpHeaderPrefix, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
                     {
+                        string attrName = key.Substring(AmqpHeaderPrefix.Length).ToLowerInvariant();
                         if (cloudEvent.SpecVersion != CloudEventsSpecVersion.V1_0 && prop.Value is Map)
                         {
                             IDictionary<string, object> exp = new ExpandoObject();
@@ -88,13 +89,22 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp
                                 exp[props.Key.ToString()] = props.Value;
                             }
 
-                            attributes[((string)prop.Key).Substring(AmqpHeaderPrefix.Length).ToLowerInvariant()] =
-                                exp;
+                            attributes[attrName] = exp;
+                        }
+                        else if (prop.Value is DateTime dt)
+                        {
+                            if (dt.Kind != DateTimeKind.Utc)
+                            {
+                                // This should only happen for MinValue and MaxValue...
+                                // just respecify as UTC. (We could add validation that it really
+                                // *is* MinValue or MaxValue if we wanted to.)
+                                dt = DateTime.SpecifyKind(dt, DateTimeKind.Utc);
+                            }
+                            attributes[attrName] = (DateTimeOffset) dt;
                         }
                         else
                         {
-                            attributes[((string)prop.Key).Substring(AmqpHeaderPrefix.Length).ToLowerInvariant()] =
-                                prop.Value;
+                            attributes[attrName] = prop.Value;
                         }
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp/AmqpCloudEventMessage.cs b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp/AmqpCloudEventMessage.cs
index 4aa5080..c2794ef 100644
--- a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp/AmqpCloudEventMessage.cs
+++ b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp/AmqpCloudEventMessage.cs
@@ -59,13 +59,20 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp
                 if (!attribute.Key.Equals(CloudEventAttributes.DataAttributeName(cloudEvent.SpecVersion)) &&
                     !attribute.Key.Equals(CloudEventAttributes.DataContentTypeAttributeName(cloudEvent.SpecVersion)))
                 {
+                    string key = "cloudEvents:" + attribute.Key;
                     if (attribute.Value is Uri)
                     {
-                        this.ApplicationProperties.Map.Add("cloudEvents:" + attribute.Key, attribute.Value.ToString());
+                        this.ApplicationProperties.Map.Add(key, attribute.Value.ToString());
                     }
-                    else if (attribute.Value is DateTime || attribute.Value is DateTime || attribute.Value is string)
+                    else if (attribute.Value is DateTimeOffset dto)
                     {
-                        this.ApplicationProperties.Map.Add("cloudEvents:" + attribute.Key, attribute.Value);
+                        // AMQPNetLite doesn't support DateTimeOffset values, so convert to UTC.
+                        // That means we can't roundtrip events with non-UTC timestamps, but that's not awful.
+                        this.ApplicationProperties.Map.Add(key, dto.UtcDateTime);
+                    }
+                    else if (attribute.Value is string)
+                    {
+                        this.ApplicationProperties.Map.Add(key, attribute.Value);
                     }
                     else
                     {
diff --git a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Avro/AvroEventFormatter.cs b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Avro/AvroEventFormatter.cs
index f4c759c..fd18236 100644
--- a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Avro/AvroEventFormatter.cs
+++ b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents.Avro/AvroEventFormatter.cs
@@ -89,14 +89,14 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
                 {
                     continue;
                 }
-                if (keyValuePair.Key == CloudEventAttributes.SourceAttributeName() ||
-                    keyValuePair.Key == CloudEventAttributes.DataSchemaAttributeName())
+                if (keyValuePair.Key == CloudEventAttributes.SourceAttributeName(specVersion) ||
+                    keyValuePair.Key == CloudEventAttributes.DataSchemaAttributeName(specVersion))
                 {
                     attributes[keyValuePair.Key] = new Uri((string)keyValuePair.Value);
                 }
-                else if (keyValuePair.Key == CloudEventAttributes.TimeAttributeName())
+                else if (keyValuePair.Key == CloudEventAttributes.TimeAttributeName(specVersion))
                 {
-                    attributes[keyValuePair.Key] = DateTime.Parse((string)keyValuePair.Value);
+                    attributes[keyValuePair.Key] = Timestamps.Parse((string)keyValuePair.Value);
                 }
                 else
                 {
@@ -121,24 +121,24 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
                     continue;
                 }
 
-                if (keyValuePair.Value is ContentType && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(((ContentType)keyValuePair.Value).MediaType))
+                if (keyValuePair.Value is ContentType valueContentType && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(valueContentType.MediaType))
                 {
-                    recordAttributes[keyValuePair.Key] = ((ContentType)keyValuePair.Value).ToString();
+                    recordAttributes[keyValuePair.Key] = valueContentType.ToString();
                 }
-                else if (keyValuePair.Value is Uri)
+                else if (keyValuePair.Value is Uri uri)
                 {
-                    recordAttributes[keyValuePair.Key] = ((Uri)keyValuePair.Value).ToString();
+                    recordAttributes[keyValuePair.Key] = uri .ToString();
                 }
-                else if (keyValuePair.Value is DateTime)
+                else if (keyValuePair.Value is DateTimeOffset timestamp)
                 {
-                    recordAttributes[keyValuePair.Key] = ((DateTime)keyValuePair.Value).ToString("o");
+                    recordAttributes[keyValuePair.Key] = Timestamps.Format(timestamp);
                 }
                 else if (cloudEvent.SpecVersion == CloudEventsSpecVersion.V1_0 &&
                          keyValuePair.Key.Equals(CloudEventAttributes.DataAttributeName(cloudEvent.SpecVersion)))
                 {
-                    if (keyValuePair.Value is Stream)
+                    if (keyValuePair.Value is Stream stream)
                     {
-                        using (var sr = new BinaryReader((Stream)keyValuePair.Value))
+                        using (var sr = new BinaryReader(stream))
                         {
                             record.Add("data", sr.ReadBytes((int)sr.BaseStream.Length));
                         }
diff --git a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEvent.cs b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEvent.cs
index eb25eed..bd149f1 100644
--- a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEvent.cs
+++ b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEvent.cs
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
         /// <param name="id">'id' of the CloudEvent</param>
         /// <param name="time">'time' of the CloudEvent</param>
         /// <param name="extensions">Extensions to be added to this CloudEvents</param>
-        public CloudEvent(string type, Uri source, string id = null, DateTime? time = null,
+        public CloudEvent(string type, Uri source, string id = null, DateTimeOffset? time = null,
             params ICloudEventExtension[] extensions) : this(CloudEventsSpecVersion.Default, type, source, id, time, extensions)
         {
         }
@@ -40,13 +40,13 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
         /// <param name="id">'id' of the CloudEvent</param>
         /// <param name="time">'time' of the CloudEvent</param>
         /// <param name="extensions">Extensions to be added to this CloudEvents</param>
-        public CloudEvent(CloudEventsSpecVersion specVersion, string type, Uri source, string id = null, DateTime? time = null,
+        public CloudEvent(CloudEventsSpecVersion specVersion, string type, Uri source, string id = null, DateTimeOffset? time = null,
             params ICloudEventExtension[] extensions) : this(specVersion, extensions)
         {
             Type = type;
             Source = source;
             Id = id ?? Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
-            Time = time ?? DateTime.UtcNow;
+            Time = time ?? DateTimeOffset.UtcNow;
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
         /// <param name="id">'id' of the CloudEvent</param>
         /// <param name="time">'time' of the CloudEvent</param>
         /// <param name="extensions">Extensions to be added to this CloudEvents</param>
-        public CloudEvent(CloudEventsSpecVersion specVersion, string type, Uri source, string subject, string id = null, DateTime? time = null,
+        public CloudEvent(CloudEventsSpecVersion specVersion, string type, Uri source, string subject, string id = null, DateTimeOffset? time = null,
             params ICloudEventExtension[] extensions) : this(specVersion, type, source, id, time, extensions)
         {
             Subject = subject;
@@ -179,9 +179,9 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
         /// CloudEvents 'time' attribute. Timestamp of when the event happened.
         /// </summary>
         /// <see cref="https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/blob/master/spec.md#time"/>
-        public DateTime? Time
+        public DateTimeOffset? Time
         {
-            get => (DateTime?)attributes[CloudEventAttributes.TimeAttributeName(attributes.SpecVersion)];
+            get => (DateTimeOffset?)attributes[CloudEventAttributes.TimeAttributeName(attributes.SpecVersion)];
             set => attributes[CloudEventAttributes.TimeAttributeName(attributes.SpecVersion)] = value;
         }
 
diff --git a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEventAttributes.cs b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEventAttributes.cs
index 4e0159f..57266a3 100644
--- a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEventAttributes.cs
+++ b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEventAttributes.cs
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
     using System;
     using System.Collections;
     using System.Collections.Generic;
-    using System.Collections.Specialized;
-    using System.Globalization;
     using System.Net.Mime;
 
     /// <summary>
@@ -319,17 +317,16 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
             }
             else if (key.Equals(TimeAttributeName(this.SpecVersion), StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
             {
-                if (value is DateTime)
+                if (value is DateTimeOffset)
                 {
                     return true;
                 }
 
                 if (value is string)
                 {
-                    if (DateTime.TryParse((string)value, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
-                        DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal, out var dateTimeVal))
+                    if (Timestamps.TryParse((string)value, out var result))
                     {
-                        value = dateTimeVal;
+                        value = result;
                         return true;
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEventContent.cs b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEventContent.cs
index d54e4a6..c9bd257 100644
--- a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEventContent.cs
+++ b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/CloudEventContent.cs
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
     using System.Net.Mime;
     using System.Text;
     using System.Threading.Tasks;
-    using System.Xml;
 
     /// <summary>
     /// This class is for use with `HttpClient` and constructs content and headers for
@@ -108,7 +107,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
                     {
                         string text => WebUtility.UrlEncode(text),
                         ContentType contentType => contentType.ToString(),
-                        DateTime dt => XmlConvert.ToString(dt, XmlDateTimeSerializationMode.Utc),
+                        DateTimeOffset dto => Timestamps.Format(dto),
                         Uri uri => uri.ToString(),
                         int integer => integer.ToString(),
                         _ => WebUtility.UrlEncode(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(
diff --git a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/HttpClientExtension.cs b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/HttpClientExtension.cs
index 4d8753d..d1ef34d 100644
--- a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/HttpClientExtension.cs
+++ b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/HttpClientExtension.cs
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
                 switch (attributeValue)
                 {
                     case string text: return text;
-                    case DateTime dateTime: return dateTime.ToString("u");
+                    case DateTimeOffset dateTimeOffset: return Timestamps.Format(dateTimeOffset);
                     case Uri uri: return uri.ToString();
                     case int integer: return integer.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
                     default:
diff --git a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/JsonEventFormatter.cs b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/JsonEventFormatter.cs
index 4ddf378..174bf66 100644
--- a/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/JsonEventFormatter.cs
+++ b/src/CloudNative.CloudEvents/JsonEventFormatter.cs
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
     /// </summary>
     public class JsonEventFormatter : ICloudEventFormatter
     {
-
         public const string MediaTypeSuffix = "+json";
 
         public CloudEvent DecodeStructuredEvent(Stream data, params ICloudEventExtension[] extensions)
@@ -29,14 +28,20 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
 
         public async Task<CloudEvent> DecodeStructuredEventAsync(Stream data, IEnumerable<ICloudEventExtension> extensions)
         {
-            var jsonReader = new JsonTextReader(new StreamReader(data, Encoding.UTF8, true, 8192, true));
+            var jsonReader = new JsonTextReader(new StreamReader(data, Encoding.UTF8, true, 8192, true))
+            {
+                DateParseHandling = DateParseHandling.DateTimeOffset
+            };
             var jObject = await JObject.LoadAsync(jsonReader);
             return DecodeJObject(jObject, extensions);
         }
 
         public CloudEvent DecodeStructuredEvent(Stream data, IEnumerable<ICloudEventExtension> extensions = null)
         {
-            var jsonReader = new JsonTextReader(new StreamReader(data, Encoding.UTF8, true, 8192, true));
+            var jsonReader = new JsonTextReader(new StreamReader(data, Encoding.UTF8, true, 8192, true))
+            {
+                DateParseHandling = DateParseHandling.DateTimeOffset
+            };
             var jObject = JObject.Load(jsonReader);
             return DecodeJObject(jObject, extensions);
         }
@@ -46,12 +51,8 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
             return DecodeStructuredEvent(data, (IEnumerable<ICloudEventExtension>)extensions);
         }
 
-        public CloudEvent DecodeStructuredEvent(byte[] data, IEnumerable<ICloudEventExtension> extensions = null)
-        {
-            var jsonText = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(data);
-            var jObject = JObject.Parse(jsonText);
-            return DecodeJObject(jObject, extensions);
-        }
+        public CloudEvent DecodeStructuredEvent(byte[] data, IEnumerable<ICloudEventExtension> extensions = null) =>
+            DecodeStructuredEvent(new MemoryStream(data), extensions);
 
         public CloudEvent DecodeJObject(JObject jObject, IEnumerable<ICloudEventExtension> extensions = null)
         {
@@ -101,7 +102,8 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
                         attributes[keyValuePair.Key] = keyValuePair.Value.ToObject<string>();
                         break;
                     case JTokenType.Date:
-                        attributes[keyValuePair.Key] = keyValuePair.Value.ToObject<DateTime>();
+                        // TODO: Check this is appropriate. (Should we use Timestamps instead?)
+                        attributes[keyValuePair.Key] = keyValuePair.Value.ToObject<DateTimeOffset>();
                         break;
                     case JTokenType.Uri:
                         attributes[keyValuePair.Key] = keyValuePair.Value.ToObject<Uri>();
@@ -137,24 +139,24 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
                     continue;
                 }
 
-                if (keyValuePair.Value is ContentType && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(((ContentType)keyValuePair.Value).MediaType))
+                if (keyValuePair.Value is ContentType contentTypeValue && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(contentTypeValue.MediaType))
                 {
-                    jObject[keyValuePair.Key] = JToken.FromObject(((ContentType)keyValuePair.Value).ToString());
+                    jObject[keyValuePair.Key] = JToken.FromObject(contentTypeValue.ToString());
                 }
                 else if (cloudEvent.SpecVersion == CloudEventsSpecVersion.V1_0 &&
                          keyValuePair.Key.Equals(CloudEventAttributes.DataAttributeName(cloudEvent.SpecVersion)))
                 {
-                    if (keyValuePair.Value is Stream)
+                    if (keyValuePair.Value is Stream stream)
                     {
-                        using (var sr = new BinaryReader((Stream)keyValuePair.Value))
+                        using (var sr = new BinaryReader(stream))
                         {
                             jObject["data_base64"] = Convert.ToBase64String(sr.ReadBytes((int)sr.BaseStream.Length));
                         }
                     }
-                    else if (keyValuePair.Value is IEnumerable<byte>)
+                    else if (keyValuePair.Value is IEnumerable<byte> bytes)
                     {
-                        jObject["data_base64"] =
-                            Convert.ToBase64String(((IEnumerable<byte>)keyValuePair.Value).ToArray());
+                        // TODO: Avoid creating a copy if it's already a byte array.
+                        jObject["data_base64"] = Convert.ToBase64String(bytes.ToArray());
                     }
                     else
                     {
@@ -180,7 +182,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
 
             if (name.Equals(CloudEventAttributes.TimeAttributeName(specVersion)))
             {
-                return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(data), typeof(DateTime));
+                return Timestamps.Parse(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(data));
             }
 
             if (name.Equals(CloudEventAttributes.SourceAttributeName(specVersion)) ||
@@ -200,6 +202,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
             {
                 foreach (var extension in extensions)
                 {
+                    // TODO: Use appropriate parsing, e.g. for timestamps
                     Type type = extension.GetAttributeType(name);
                     if (type != null)
                     {
@@ -231,11 +234,17 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents
                     Type type = extension.GetAttributeType(name);
                     if (type != null)
                     {
+                        // TODO: Use appropriate formatting, e.g. for timestamps
                         return Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(Convert.ChangeType(value, type)));
                     }
                 }
             }
 
+            if (value is DateTimeOffset dto)
+            {
+                return Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Timestamps.Format(dto));
+            }
+
             return Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(value));
         }
     }
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/AmqpTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/AmqpTest.cs
index 3902595..b62bfcc 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/AmqpTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/AmqpTest.cs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
     using CloudNative.CloudEvents.Amqp;
     using global::Amqp;
     using Xunit;
+    using static TestHelpers;
 
     public class AmqpTest
     {
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 subject: "123")
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, TimeSpan.Zero),
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -47,8 +48,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("123", receivedCloudEvent.Subject);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", receivedCloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, TimeSpan.Zero),
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -88,14 +88,34 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", receivedCloudEvent.Data);
 
             var attr = receivedCloudEvent.GetAttributes();
-            Assert.Equal("value", (string)attr["comexampleextension1"]);
-            
+            Assert.Equal("value", (string)attr["comexampleextension1"]);            
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void AmqpNormalizesTimestampsToUtc()
+        {
+            var cloudEvent = new CloudEvent("com.github.pull.create",
+                new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
+            {
+                Id = "A234-1234-1234",
+                // 2018-04-05T18:31:00+01:00 => 2018-04-05T17:31:00Z
+                Time = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 4, 5, 18, 31, 0, TimeSpan.FromHours(1)),
+                DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
+                Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
+            };
+
+            var message = new AmqpCloudEventMessage(cloudEvent, ContentMode.Binary, new JsonEventFormatter());
+            var encodedAmqpMessage = message.Encode();
+
+            var message1 = Message.Decode(encodedAmqpMessage);
+            var receivedCloudEvent = message1.ToCloudEvent();
+
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value);
         }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/AvroTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/AvroTest.cs
index 0324a69..6b1aa58 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/AvroTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/AvroTest.cs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
     using System.Net.Mime;
     using System.Text;
     using Xunit;
+    using static TestHelpers;
 
     public class AvroTest
     {
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Type, cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Source, cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Id, cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime(), cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual(cloudEvent2.Time.Value, cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.DataContentType, cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Data, cloudEvent.Data);
         }
@@ -55,8 +56,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -78,8 +78,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/CloudEventContentTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/CloudEventContentTest.cs
index aaeddc4..00e3e14 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/CloudEventContentTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/CloudEventContentTest.cs
@@ -39,6 +39,6 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
 
         static CloudEvent CreateEmptyCloudEvent() =>
             new CloudEvent(CloudEventsSpecVersion.V1_0, "type",
-                new Uri("https://source"), "subject", "id", DateTime.UtcNow);
+                new Uri("https://source"), "subject", "id", DateTimeOffset.UtcNow);
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/CloudEventTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/CloudEventTest.cs
index 9335a98..46c52be 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/CloudEventTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/CloudEventTest.cs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
         public void SetAttributePropertiesToNull()
         {
             var cloudEvent = new CloudEvent(CloudEventsSpecVersion.V1_0, "type",
-                new Uri("https://source"), "subject", "id", DateTime.UtcNow)
+                new Uri("https://source"), "subject", "id", DateTimeOffset.UtcNow)
             {
                 Data = "some data",
                 DataContentType = new ContentType("text/plain"),
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/ConstructorTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/ConstructorTest.cs
index f1c6688..93831f4 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/ConstructorTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/ConstructorTest.cs
@@ -7,9 +7,12 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
     using System;
     using System.Net.Mime;
     using Xunit;
+    using static TestHelpers;
 
     public class ConstructorTest
     {
+        private static readonly DateTimeOffset sampleTimestamp = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, TimeSpan.Zero);
+
         [Fact]
         public void CreateBaseEvent1()
         {
@@ -17,7 +20,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = sampleTimestamp,
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -30,8 +33,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 "com.github.pull.create",
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"),
                 "A234-1234-1234",
-                new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc))
+                sampleTimestamp)
             {
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
@@ -61,8 +63,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = sampleTimestamp,
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -92,8 +93,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = sampleTimestamp,
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -124,8 +124,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -142,7 +141,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = sampleTimestamp,
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -156,8 +155,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -172,7 +170,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 "com.github.pull.create",
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"),
                 "A234-1234-1234",
-                new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                sampleTimestamp,
                 new ComExampleExtension1Extension()
                 {
                     ComExampleExtension1 = "value"
@@ -186,8 +184,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/ExtensionsTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/ExtensionsTest.cs
index d81da4c..19aa48b 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/ExtensionsTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/ExtensionsTest.cs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
     using System.Text;
     using CloudNative.CloudEvents.Extensions;
     using Xunit;
+    using static TestHelpers;
 
     public class ExtensionsTest
     {
@@ -72,9 +73,8 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
-            
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
+
             Assert.Equal("00-4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736-00f067aa0ba902b7-01", cloudEvent.Extension<DistributedTracingExtension>().TraceParent);
             Assert.Equal("rojo=00-4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736-00f067aa0ba902b7-01,congo=lZWRzIHRoNhcm5hbCBwbGVhc3VyZS4=", cloudEvent.Extension<DistributedTracingExtension>().TraceState);
         }
@@ -91,8 +91,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
 
             Assert.Equal("00-4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736-00f067aa0ba902b7-01", cloudEvent.Extension<DistributedTracingExtension>().TraceParent);
             Assert.Equal("rojo=00-4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736-00f067aa0ba902b7-01,congo=lZWRzIHRoNhcm5hbCBwbGVhc3VyZS4=", cloudEvent.Extension<DistributedTracingExtension>().TraceState);
@@ -107,8 +106,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
 
             Assert.Equal("Integer", cloudEvent.Extension<SequenceExtension>().SequenceType);
             Assert.Equal("25", cloudEvent.Extension<SequenceExtension>().Sequence);
@@ -126,8 +124,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
 
             Assert.Equal("Integer", cloudEvent.Extension<SequenceExtension>().SequenceType);
             Assert.Equal("25", cloudEvent.Extension<SequenceExtension>().Sequence);
@@ -142,8 +139,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
 
             Assert.Equal(25, cloudEvent.Extension<IntegerSequenceExtension>().Sequence);
         }
@@ -160,8 +156,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
 
             Assert.Equal(25, cloudEvent.Extension<IntegerSequenceExtension>().Sequence);
         }
@@ -175,8 +170,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
 
             Assert.Equal(1, cloudEvent.Extension<SamplingExtension>().SampledRate.Value);
         }
@@ -193,8 +187,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
 
             Assert.Equal(1, cloudEvent.Extension<SamplingExtension>().SampledRate.Value);
         }
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/HttpTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/HttpTest.cs
index 26e2844..208083a 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/HttpTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/HttpTest.cs
@@ -13,9 +13,12 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
     using System.Net.Mime;
     using System.Threading.Tasks;
     using Xunit;
+    using static TestHelpers;
 
     public class HttpTest : IDisposable
     {
+        private static readonly DateTimeOffset sampleTimestamp = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, TimeSpan.Zero);
+
         const string listenerAddress = "http://localhost:52671/";
 
         const string testContextHeader = "testcontext";
@@ -94,7 +97,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                         new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
                     {
                         Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                        Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                        Time = sampleTimestamp,
                         DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                         Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
                     };
@@ -134,8 +137,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual(sampleTimestamp, receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
             using (var sr = new StreamReader((Stream)receivedCloudEvent.Data))
             {
@@ -154,7 +156,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = sampleTimestamp,
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -179,8 +181,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                     Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
                     Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
                     Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-                    Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                        receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+                    AssertTimestampsEqual(sampleTimestamp, cloudEvent.Time.Value);
                     Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
 
                     // The non-ASCII attribute value should have been URL-encoded using UTF-8 for the header.
@@ -231,7 +232,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                         new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
                     {
                         Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                        Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                        Time = sampleTimestamp,
                         DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                         Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
                     };
@@ -267,8 +268,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual(sampleTimestamp, receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", receivedCloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = sampleTimestamp,
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -321,8 +321,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                     Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
                     Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
                     Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-                    Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                        receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+                    AssertTimestampsEqual(sampleTimestamp, cloudEvent.Time.Value);
                     Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
                     Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", receivedCloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -359,7 +358,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = sampleTimestamp,
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -384,8 +383,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                     Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
                     Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
                     Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-                    Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                        receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+                    AssertTimestampsEqual(sampleTimestamp, cloudEvent.Time.Value);
                     Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
                     using (var sr = new StreamReader((Stream) receivedCloudEvent.Data))
                     {
@@ -427,7 +425,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = sampleTimestamp,
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -455,8 +453,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                     Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
                     Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
                     Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-                    Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                        receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+                    AssertTimestampsEqual(sampleTimestamp, cloudEvent.Time.Value);
                     Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
                     Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", receivedCloudEvent.Data);
 
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/JsonTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/JsonTest.cs
index 1a6b4f4..8131c41 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/JsonTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/JsonTest.cs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
     using System.Net.Mime;
     using System.Text;
     using Xunit;
+    using static TestHelpers;
 
     public class JsonTest
     {
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Type, cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Source, cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Id, cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime(), cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual(cloudEvent2.Time, cloudEvent.Time);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.DataContentType, cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Data, cloudEvent.Data);
         }
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Type, cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Source, cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Id, cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime(), cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual(cloudEvent2.Time, cloudEvent.Time);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.DataContentType, cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Data, cloudEvent.Data);
         }
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Type, cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Source, cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Id, cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime(), cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual(cloudEvent2.Time, cloudEvent.Time);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.DataContentType, cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Data, cloudEvent.Data);
         }
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Type, cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Source, cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Id, cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime(), cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual(cloudEvent2.Time, cloudEvent.Time);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.DataContentType, cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal(cloudEvent2.Data, cloudEvent.Data);
         }
@@ -117,8 +118,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -136,8 +136,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -155,8 +154,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -173,8 +171,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", cloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), cloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", cloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                cloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", cloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), cloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", cloudEvent.Data);
 
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/KafkaTest.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/KafkaTest.cs
index 2fc354e..ffb0209 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/KafkaTest.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/KafkaTest.cs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
     using System.Collections.Generic;
     using System.Text;
     using CloudNative.CloudEvents.Extensions;
+    using static TestHelpers;
 
     public class KafkaTest
     {
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 subject: "123")
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, TimeSpan.Zero),
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -58,8 +59,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("123", receivedCloudEvent.Subject);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", receivedCloudEvent.Data);
 
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 extensions: new PartitioningExtension())
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, TimeSpan.Zero),
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("<much wow=\"xml\"/>")
             };
@@ -95,7 +95,11 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             // using serialization to create fully independent copy thus simulating message transport
             // real transport will work in a similar way
             var serialized = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(message, new HeaderConverter());
-            var messageCopy = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Message<string, byte[]>>(serialized, new HeadersConverter(), new HeaderConverter());
+            var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings
+            {
+                Converters = { new HeadersConverter(), new HeaderConverter() }
+            };
+            var messageCopy = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Message<string, byte[]>>(serialized, settings);
 
             Assert.True(messageCopy.IsCloudEvent());
             var receivedCloudEvent = messageCopy.ToCloudEvent(jsonEventFormatter, new PartitioningExtension());
@@ -104,8 +108,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("<much wow=\"xml\"/>"), receivedCloudEvent.Data);
             Assert.Equal("hello much wow", receivedCloudEvent.Extension<PartitioningExtension>().PartitioningKeyValue);
diff --git a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/MqttTests.cs b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/MqttTests.cs
index 9e608ed..7a06149 100644
--- a/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/MqttTests.cs
+++ b/test/CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests/MqttTests.cs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
     using MQTTnet;
     using MQTTnet.Client;
     using MQTTnet.Server;
+    using static TestHelpers;
 
     public class MqttTest : IDisposable
     {
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
                 new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"))
             {
                 Id = "A234-1234-1234",
-                Time = new DateTime(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
+                Time = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 4, 5, 17, 31, 0, TimeSpan.Zero),
                 DataContentType = new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml),
                 Data = "<much wow=\"xml\"/>"
             };
@@ -77,19 +78,12 @@ namespace CloudNative.CloudEvents.UnitTests
             Assert.Equal("com.github.pull.create", receivedCloudEvent.Type);
             Assert.Equal(new Uri("https://github.com/cloudevents/spec/pull/123"), receivedCloudEvent.Source);
             Assert.Equal("A234-1234-1234", receivedCloudEvent.Id);
-            Assert.Equal(DateTime.Parse("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z").ToUniversalTime(),
-                receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value.ToUniversalTime());
+            AssertTimestampsEqual("2018-04-05T17:31:00Z", receivedCloudEvent.Time.Value);
             Assert.Equal(new ContentType(MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml), receivedCloudEvent.DataContentType);
             Assert.Equal("<much wow=\"xml\"/>", receivedCloudEvent.Data);
 
             var attr = receivedCloudEvent.GetAttributes();
             Assert.Equal("value", (string)attr["comexampleextension1"]);
-            
-
-
-
-
         }
-
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file