diff --git a/src/RRule.php b/src/RRule.php
index 3129af0..1a1029a 100755
--- a/src/RRule.php
+++ b/src/RRule.php
@@ -277,7 +277,16 @@ class RRule implements RRuleInterface
 			}
 		} 
 		else {
-			$this->dtstart = new \DateTime();
+			$this->dtstart = new \DateTime(); // for PHP 7.1+ this contains microseconds which causes many problems
+			if ( version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '7.1.0') >= 0 ) {
+				// remove microseconds
+				$this->dtstart->setTime(
+					$this->dtstart->format('H'),
+					$this->dtstart->format('i'),
+					$this->dtstart->format('s'),
+					0
+				);
+			}
 		}
 
 		// UNTIL (optional)
diff --git a/src/RfcParser.php b/src/RfcParser.php
index d4b8852..673e03d 100755
--- a/src/RfcParser.php
+++ b/src/RfcParser.php
@@ -81,7 +81,17 @@ class RfcParser
 
 		if ( $dtstart ) {
 			$nb_dtstart = 1;
-			$dtstart_type = 'tzid';
+			if ( is_string($dtstart) ) {
+				if ( strlen($dtstart) == 10 ) {
+					$dtstart_type = 'date';
+				}
+				else {
+					$dtstart_type = 'localtime';
+				}
+			}
+			else {
+				$dtstart_type = 'tzid';
+			}
 			$parts['DTSTART'] = RRule::parseDate($dtstart);
 		}
 
diff --git a/tests/RRuleTest.php b/tests/RRuleTest.php
index b772102..7ce77f7 100755
--- a/tests/RRuleTest.php
+++ b/tests/RRuleTest.php
@@ -1910,13 +1910,13 @@ class RRuleTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 	public function testRfcStringParserWithDtStart()
 	{
 		$rrule = new RRule('RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY');
-		$this->assertEquals(date_create(), $rrule[0]);
+		$this->assertEquals(date_create()->format('Y-m-d'), $rrule[0]->format('Y-m-d'));
 
 		$rrule = new RRule('RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY', date_create('2017-01-01'));
-		$this->assertEquals(date_create('2017-01-01'), $rrule[0]);
+		$this->assertEquals('2017-01-01', $rrule[0]->format('Y-m-d'));
 
 		$rrule = new RRule('RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY', '2017-01-01');
-		$this->assertEquals(date_create('2017-01-01'), $rrule[0]);
+		$this->assertEquals('2017-01-01', $rrule[0]->format('Y-m-d'));
 
 		try {
 			$rrule = new RRule("DTSTART:19970512\nRRULE:FREQ=YEARLY", date_create('2017-01-01'));
@@ -1968,7 +1968,7 @@ class RRuleTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 		$rule = @ new RRule($str);
 
 		if ( $occurrences ) {
-			$this->assertEquals($occurrences, $rule->getOccurrences());
+			$this->assertEquals($occurrences, $rule->getOccurrences(), '', 1);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/tests/RSetTest.php b/tests/RSetTest.php
index 9b360dc..5b07e5f 100755
--- a/tests/RSetTest.php
+++ b/tests/RSetTest.php
@@ -439,12 +439,12 @@ class RSetTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 		)));
 
 		$this->assertCount(1, $rset->getOccurrences(1));
-		$this->assertEquals([date_create('2017-01-01')], $rset->getOccurrences(1));
+		$this->assertEquals(array(date_create('2017-01-01')), $rset->getOccurrences(1));
 		$this->assertCount(5, $rset->getOccurrences(5));
-		$this->assertEquals([
+		$this->assertEquals(array(
 			date_create('2017-01-01'),date_create('2017-01-02'),date_create('2017-01-03'),
 			date_create('2017-01-04'),date_create('2017-01-05')
-		], $rset->getOccurrences(5));
+		), $rset->getOccurrences(5));
 		try {
 			$rset->getOccurrences();
 			$this->fail('Expected exception (infinite rule) not thrown');
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ class RSetTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
 		$this->assertCount(1, $rset->getOccurrencesBetween('2017-01-01', null, 1));
 		$this->assertCount(1, $rset->getOccurrencesBetween('2017-02-01', '2017-12-31', 1));
-		$this->assertEquals([date_create('2017-02-01')], $rset->getOccurrencesBetween('2017-02-01', '2017-12-31', 1));
+		$this->assertEquals(array(date_create('2017-02-01')), $rset->getOccurrencesBetween('2017-02-01', '2017-12-31', 1));
 		$this->assertCount(5, $rset->getOccurrencesBetween('2017-01-01', null, 5));
 		try {
 			$rset->getOccurrencesBetween('2017-01-01', null);
@@ -517,8 +517,9 @@ class RSetTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 			"RRULE:FREQ=DAILY;COUNT=3\nEXRULE:FREQ=DAILY;INTERVAL=2;COUNT=1"
 		);
 		$this->assertEquals(array(
-			date_create('+1day'),
-			date_create('+2day')
+			// get rid of microseconds for PHP 7.1+
+			date_create(date_create('+1day')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s')),
+			date_create(date_create('+2day')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'))
 		), $rset->getOccurrences());
 
 		$rset = new RSet(