diff --git a/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/util/DateParserTest.java b/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/util/DateParserTest.java
index 71313c15b..04cfa7819 100644
--- a/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/util/DateParserTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/util/DateParserTest.java
@@ -76,7 +76,6 @@ This W3C work (including software, documents, or other related items) is
 import org.testng.annotations.DataProvider;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
-import java.text.DateFormat;
 import java.util.Date;
 
 /**
@@ -107,8 +106,7 @@ private static void test(final Date date) {
         final Date dateRoundTrip = DateParser.parse(isodate);
 
         assertDatesAreClose(date, dateRoundTrip);
-        Assert.assertTrue(Math.abs(Date.parse(date.toString()) - Date.parse(dateRoundTrip.toString())) < 10);
-
+        Assert.assertTrue(Math.abs(date.getTime() - dateRoundTrip.getTime()) < 10);
     }
 
     @DataProvider(name="dateDate")