diff --git a/cmd/serve/sftp/handler.go b/cmd/serve/sftp/handler.go
index 04adaf432..1b3a1ab58 100644
--- a/cmd/serve/sftp/handler.go
+++ b/cmd/serve/sftp/handler.go
@@ -76,8 +76,9 @@ func (v vfsHandler) Filecmd(r *sftp.Request) error {
 			}
 		}
 		if flags.Acmodtime {
-			modTime := time.Unix(int64(attr.Mtime), 0)
-			err := v.Chtimes(r.Filepath, modTime, modTime)
+			atime := time.Unix(int64(attr.Atime), 0)
+			mtime := time.Unix(int64(attr.Mtime), 0)
+			err := v.Chtimes(r.Filepath, atime, mtime)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
diff --git a/cmd/serve/sftp/handler_test.go b/cmd/serve/sftp/handler_test.go
index f85af9543..32cdec212 100644
--- a/cmd/serve/sftp/handler_test.go
+++ b/cmd/serve/sftp/handler_test.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/sftp"
 	_ "github.com/rclone/rclone/backend/local"
@@ -183,6 +184,24 @@ func TestStatVFS(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, uint64(255), st.Namemax)
 }
 
+// Test that a SETSTAT request setting the modification time is honoured, even
+// when the time happens to be the Unix epoch
+func TestSetstatMtime(t *testing.T) {
+	vfsOpt := vfscommon.Opt
+	vfsOpt.CacheMode = vfscommon.CacheModeOff
+	client := startTestServer(t, &vfsOpt)
+
+	const fileName = "file.bin"
+	require.NoError(t, writeFile(client, fileName, "hello"))
+
+	epoch := time.Unix(0, 0)
+	require.NoError(t, client.Chtimes(fileName, epoch, epoch))
+
+	fi, err := client.Stat(fileName)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.True(t, fi.ModTime().Equal(epoch), "mtime not applied: got %v want %v", fi.ModTime(), epoch)
+}
+
 // writeFile writes contents to fileName via the client truncating any existing
 // data, the way a normal upload does.
 func writeFile(client *sftp.Client, fileName, contents string) error {