diff --git a/import2ledger/hooks/ledger_entry.py b/import2ledger/hooks/ledger_entry.py
index c47009839601b5c555e290360a5d90eb56c9e4ec..a677dcf30a9df45493513b7944e720521ac40948 100644
--- a/import2ledger/hooks/ledger_entry.py
+++ b/import2ledger/hooks/ledger_entry.py
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ class AccountSplitter:
 class Template:
     ACCOUNT_SPLIT_RE = re.compile(r'(?:\t|  )\s*')
     DATE_FMT = '%Y/%m/%d'
-    PAYEE_LINE_RE = re.compile(r'\{(\w*_)*date\}')
+    PAYEE_LINE_RE = re.compile(r'^\{(\w*_)*date\}\s')
     SIGNED_CURRENCY_FMT = '¤#,##0.###;¤-#,##0.###'
     UNSIGNED_CURRENCY_FMT = '#,##0.### ¤¤'
 
@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ class Template:
                  unsigned_currency_fmt=UNSIGNED_CURRENCY_FMT,
                  template_name='<template>'):
         self.date_fmt = date_fmt
+        self.date_field = 'date'
         self.splitter = AccountSplitter(
             signed_currencies, signed_currency_fmt, unsigned_currency_fmt, template_name)
 
@@ -273,7 +274,9 @@ class Template:
             line1 = next(lines)
         except StopIteration:
             return
-        if self.PAYEE_LINE_RE.match(line1):
+        match = self.PAYEE_LINE_RE.match(line1)
+        if match:
+            self.date_field = match.group(0)[1:-2]
             yield '\n' + line1
         else:
             yield '\n{date} {payee}'
@@ -293,16 +296,16 @@ class Template:
         # template_vars must have these keys.  Raise a KeyError if not.
         template_vars['currency']
         template_vars['payee']
-        try:
-            date = template_vars['date']
-        except KeyError:
-            date = datetime.date.today()
+        if template_vars.get(self.date_field) is None:
+            raise errors.UserInputConfigurationError(
+                "entry needs {} field but that's not set by the importer".format(
+                    self.date_field,
+                ), self.splitter.template_name)
         render_vars = {
             'amount': strparse.currency_decimal(template_vars['amount']),
-            'date': date.strftime(self.date_fmt),
         }
         for key, value in template_vars.items():
-            if key.endswith('_date'):
+            if value is not None and (key == 'date' or key.endswith('_date')):
                 render_vars[key] = value.strftime(self.date_fmt)
         all_vars = collections.ChainMap(render_vars, template_vars)
         return ''.join(f(all_vars) for f in self.format_funcs)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9dce543dc23458634fb5594c1029cccdd9eda4ca..913ec94636a007957bc84d602f923d2d6bfa6eb6 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ REQUIREMENTS['tests_require'] = [
 setup(
     name='import2ledger',
     description="Import different sources of financial data to Ledger",
-    version='0.10.0',
+    version='0.10.1',
     author='Brett Smith',
     author_email='brettcsmith@brettcsmith.org',
     license='GNU AGPLv3+',
diff --git a/tests/test_hook_ledger_entry.py b/tests/test_hook_ledger_entry.py
index 6b2da61f297270a6d073f3f6c5d89fde508b92ed..85d2d307eb35955ca6b040638cce9d61c346641b 100644
--- a/tests/test_hook_ledger_entry.py
+++ b/tests/test_hook_ledger_entry.py
@@ -182,6 +182,18 @@ def test_line1_not_custom_payee():
         "  Income:Donations  -15.00 USD",
     ]
 
+def test_custom_date_missing():
+    render_vars = template_vars('YY', '20.00')
+    with pytest.raises(errors.UserInputConfigurationError):
+        render_lines(render_vars, 'Custom Payee')
+
+def test_custom_date_is_none():
+    render_vars = template_vars('YZ', '25.00', other_vars={
+        'custom_date': None,
+    })
+    with pytest.raises(errors.UserInputConfigurationError):
+        render_lines(render_vars, 'Custom Payee')
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('amount,expect_fee', [
     (40, 3),
     (80, 6),