diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index c4af04ab1..351e2e1c2 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@
 - TW-1636 UUID with numeric-only first segment is not parsed properly (thanks
           to Tomas Babej).
 - TW-1638 Undo doesn't work when a context is set (thanks to Jeremy John Reeder).
+- TW-1640 '_get <id>.start' for an inactive tasks returns a date formatted from
+          epoch 0.
 - Prevent potential task duplication during import for non-pending tasks.
 - Show the active context in "context list", if any is active.
 - Fix "task edit" dropping annotation text after newlines.
diff --git a/src/DOM.cpp b/src/DOM.cpp
index 17cb3c8d9..d726d6a0b 100644
--- a/src/DOM.cpp
+++ b/src/DOM.cpp
@@ -233,7 +233,13 @@ bool DOM::get (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
         }
 
         if (column->type () == "date")
-          value = Variant (task.get_date (canonical), Variant::type_date);
+        {
+          auto numeric = task.get_date (canonical);
+          if (numeric == 0)
+            value = Variant ("");
+          else
+            value = Variant (numeric, Variant::type_date);
+        }
         else if (column->type () == "duration" || canonical == "recur")
           value = Variant ((time_t) Duration (task.get (canonical)), Variant::type_duration);
         else if (column->type () == "numeric")
@@ -306,10 +312,16 @@ bool DOM::get (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
             }
 
             if (column->type () == "date")
-              value = Variant (ref.get_date (canonical), Variant::type_date);
+            {
+              auto numeric = ref.get_date (canonical);
+              if (numeric == 0)
+                value = Variant ("");
+              else
+                value = Variant (numeric, Variant::type_date);
+            }
             else if (column->type () == "duration")
             {
-              std::string period = ref.get (canonical);
+              auto period = ref.get (canonical);
               context.debug ("ref.get(" + canonical + ") --> " + period);
 
               ISO8601p iso;
diff --git a/test/dom.t b/test/dom.t
index fd8b6c61b..1af3a9b66 100755
--- a/test/dom.t
+++ b/test/dom.t
@@ -190,6 +190,11 @@ class TestDOM(TestCase):
         code, out, err = self.t.runError("_get rc.missing")
         self.assertEqual(code, 1)
 
+    def test_dom_attribute_missing(self):
+        """DOM 1.end (missing)"""
+        code, out, err = self.t("_get 1.end")
+        self.assertEqual("\n", out)
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     from simpletap import TAPTestRunner