diff --git a/smack-extensions/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smackx/time/packet/Time.java b/smack-extensions/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smackx/time/packet/Time.java
index e4c7f7ddd..c0bcd6b12 100644
--- a/smack-extensions/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smackx/time/packet/Time.java
+++ b/smack-extensions/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smackx/time/packet/Time.java
@@ -131,9 +131,8 @@ public class Time extends IQ {
 
     @Override
     protected IQChildElementXmlStringBuilder getIQChildElementBuilder(IQChildElementXmlStringBuilder buf) {
-        buf.rightAngleBracket();
-
         if (utc != null) {
+            buf.rightAngleBracket();
             buf.append("<utc>").append(utc).append("</utc>");
             buf.append("<tzo>").append(tzo).append("</tzo>");
         } else {