diff --git a/internal/function_time_parser.go b/internal/function_time_parser.go
index 3802ef4..973a72e 100644
--- a/internal/function_time_parser.go
+++ b/internal/function_time_parser.go
@@ -1083,7 +1083,9 @@ func parseTimeFormat(formatStr, targetStr string, typ TimeFormatType) (*time.Tim
 		targetIdx int
 		formatIdx int
 	)
-	ret := &time.Time{}
+	epoch := time.Unix(0, 0)
+	var ret = &epoch
+
 	for formatIdx < len(format) {
 		c := format[formatIdx]
 		if c == '%' {
diff --git a/query_test.go b/query_test.go
index 2dc0a5a..3a176ef 100644
--- a/query_test.go
+++ b/query_test.go
@@ -3640,6 +3640,12 @@ WITH example AS (
 				{now.Format("2006-01-02")},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:  "base date is epoch",
+			query: `SELECT PARSE_DATE("%m", "03")`,
+			expectedRows: [][]interface{}{
+				{"1970-03-01"},
+			}},
 		{
 			name: "extract date",
 			query: `