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Although I'm a native English speaker, I'm confused by the above sentence found on the page here. I've been debating with myself throughout the day whether I should interpret it as meaning before January 1st, 2016, or sometime during the day of January 1st 2016.

CaptainObvious
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    See related thread here. To me, "sometime during the day of January 1st 2016" is correct, but you should check with the author as the meaning is subjective. – Kyle Jan 01 '16 at 02:31
  • Sometime before or during the day of the 1st, but of course there may be difficulties submitting on the 1st if it requires that someone be present on the other end to accept. – Hot Licks Jan 01 '16 at 02:34
  • Whoever is giving you the deadline needs to make it clear. It could mean the submission must be received before January 1st, by the end of the day, or perhaps just postmarked no later than date. With the language in your example it's guesswork — only the person imposing the deadline can give you an absolute answer. – ElmerCat Jan 01 '16 at 02:40
  • For example, the deadline for submitting tax returns is usually cited as April 15, and this means the end of that date. – Barmar Jan 01 '16 at 02:57
  • Here, it should be considered as on or before January 1st 2016 you need to submit the work given. The last date you can submit your work is January 1st 2016, on that day and before that is fine but not after that. –  Jan 01 '16 at 06:02

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It is commonly understood to be the last date for submission, but M-W admits both readings.

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a : a date or time before which something must be done
b : the time after which copy is not accepted for a particular issue of a publication

Lawrence
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