diff --git a/frontend/src/utils/form/datepicker.js b/frontend/src/utils/form/datepicker.js
index 51a04f663..b935d513f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/utils/form/datepicker.js
+++ b/frontend/src/utils/form/datepicker.js
@@ -123,12 +123,17 @@ export class Datepicker {
       throw new Error('Datepicker utility called on unsupported element!');
     }
 
-    // format any existing dates to fancy display format on pageload
-    this.formatElementValue(true);
+    // FIXME dirty hack below; fix tail.datetime instead
 
-    // initialize tail.datetime (datepicker) instance
+    // get date object from internal format before datetime does nasty things with it
+    const parsedMomentDate = moment(this._element.value).toDate();
+
+    // initialize tail.datetime (datepicker) instance and let it do weird stuff with the element value
     this.datepickerInstance = datetime(this._element, { ...datepickerGlobalConfig, ...datepickerConfig });
 
+    // reset date to something sane
+    this.datepickerInstance.selectDate(parsedMomentDate);
+
     // insert the datepicker element (dt) after the form
     this._element.form.parentNode.insertBefore(this.datepickerInstance.dt, this._element.form.nextSibling);