It is recommended that you store dates in UTC / GMT format in milliseconds. As a result, it will be easy to convert back and forth to the appropriate time zone based on the offset from either the interface or the server. I believe that the date in the database should be zone independent in order to avoid unnecessary complexity.
The best / easiest way to handle calls in the zone is through the user interface using JavaScript, as the client side will always be local time. Several JS plugins are available for this.
Here is one MomentJS
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