TSQL: How to convert local time to UTC? (SQL Server 2008)

Question

We are dealing with an application that needs to handle global time data from different time zones and daylight savings time settings. The idea is to store everything in UTC format internally and only convert back and forth for the localized user interfaces. Does the SQL Server offer any mechanisms for dealing with the translations given a time, a country and a timezone?

This must be a common problem, so I'm surprised google wouldn't turn up anything usable.

Any pointers?

Answer 1

This works for dates that currently have the same UTC offset as SQL Server's host; it doesn't account for daylight savings changes. Replace YOUR_DATE with the local date to convert.

SELECT DATEADD(second, DATEDIFF(second, GETDATE(), GETUTCDATE()), YOUR_DATE);