diff --git a/src/jlib.erl b/src/jlib.erl
index c3a3433aa..6c65663d5 100644
--- a/src/jlib.erl
+++ b/src/jlib.erl
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ rsm_encode_count(Count, Arr)->
 i2b(I) when is_integer(I) -> list_to_binary(integer_to_list(I));
 i2b(L) when is_list(L)    -> list_to_binary(L).
 
-%% Timezone = utc | {Hours, Minutes}
+%% Timezone = utc | {Sign::string(), {Hours, Minutes}} | {Hours, Minutes}
 %% Hours = integer()
 %% Minutes = integer()
 timestamp_to_iso({{Year, Month, Day}, {Hour, Minute, Second}}, Timezone) ->
@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ timestamp_to_iso({{Year, Month, Day}, {Hour, Minute, Second}}, Timezone) ->
         [Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute, Second])),
     Timezone_string = case Timezone of
 	utc -> "Z";
+	{Sign, {TZh, TZm}} ->
+		io_lib:format("~s~2..0w:~2..0w", [Sign, TZh, TZm]);
 	{TZh, TZm} -> 
 		Sign = case TZh >= 0 of
 			true -> "+";
diff --git a/src/mod_time.erl b/src/mod_time.erl
index 4f2eb1ac3..4adb1039e 100644
--- a/src/mod_time.erl
+++ b/src/mod_time.erl
@@ -59,14 +59,8 @@ process_local_iq(_From, _To, #iq{type = get} = IQ_Rec) ->
 	    {UTC, UTC_diff} = jlib:timestamp_to_iso(Now_universal, utc),
 	    Seconds_diff = calendar:datetime_to_gregorian_seconds(Now_local)
 	     - calendar:datetime_to_gregorian_seconds(Now_universal),
-            {Hd, Md, _} = case Seconds_diff >= 0 of
-			      true ->
-				  calendar:seconds_to_time(Seconds_diff);
-			      false ->
-				  {Hd0, Md0, Sd0} = calendar:seconds_to_time(-Seconds_diff),
-				  {-Hd0, Md0, Sd0}
-			  end,
-	    {_, TZO_diff} = jlib:timestamp_to_iso({{0, 0, 0}, {0, 0, 0}}, {Hd, Md}),
+    {Hd, Md, _} = calendar:seconds_to_time(abs(Seconds_diff)),
+    {_, TZO_diff} = jlib:timestamp_to_iso({{0, 0, 0}, {0, 0, 0}}, {sign(Seconds_diff), {Hd, Md}}),
     Result = #xmlel{ns = ?NS_TIME, name = 'time', children = [
 	    	#xmlel{ns = ?NS_TIME, name = 'tzo', children = [
 		    #xmlcdata{cdata = list_to_binary(TZO_diff)}]},
@@ -89,3 +83,6 @@ process_local_iq90(_From, _To, #iq{type = get} = IQ_Rec) ->
     exmpp_iq:result(IQ_Rec, Result);
 process_local_iq90(_From, _To, #iq{type = set} = IQ_Rec) ->
     exmpp_iq:error(IQ_Rec, 'not-allowed').
+
+sign(N) when N < 0 -> "-";
+sign(_)            -> "+".