diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tool/LoadIncrementalHFiles.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tool/LoadIncrementalHFiles.java
index 9700a488aa56..0343c14808ab 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tool/LoadIncrementalHFiles.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tool/LoadIncrementalHFiles.java
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.security.UserProvider;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.security.token.FsDelegationToken;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.EnvironmentEdgeManager;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSVisitor;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Pair;
@@ -1182,7 +1183,7 @@ private static void copyHFileHalf(Configuration conf, Path inFile, Path outFile,
         .withChecksumType(StoreUtils.getChecksumType(conf))
         .withBytesPerCheckSum(StoreUtils.getBytesPerChecksum(conf)).withBlockSize(blocksize)
         .withDataBlockEncoding(familyDescriptor.getDataBlockEncoding()).withIncludesTags(true)
-        .build();
+        .withCreateTime(EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime()).build();
       halfWriter = new StoreFileWriter.Builder(conf, cacheConf, fs).withFilePath(outFile)
         .withBloomType(bloomFilterType).withFileContext(hFileContext).build();
       HFileScanner scanner = halfReader.getScanner(false, false, false);
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tool/TestLoadIncrementalHFiles.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tool/TestLoadIncrementalHFiles.java
index cef666942f87..833ce35edd0a 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tool/TestLoadIncrementalHFiles.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tool/TestLoadIncrementalHFiles.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.tool;
 
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThan;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertArrayEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertThrows;
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.CommonFSUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.HFileTestUtil;
+import org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
@@ -568,6 +570,39 @@ public void testSplitStoreFile() throws IOException {
     assertEquals(1000, rowCount);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * This method tests that the create_time property of the HFile produced by the splitstorefile
+   * method is greater than 0 HBASE-27688
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testSplitStoreFileWithCreateTimeTS() throws IOException {
+    Path dir = util.getDataTestDirOnTestFS("testSplitStoreFileWithCreateTimeTS");
+    FileSystem fs = util.getTestFileSystem();
+    Path testIn = new Path(dir, "testhfile");
+    ColumnFamilyDescriptor familyDesc = ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder.of(FAMILY);
+    HFileTestUtil.createHFile(util.getConfiguration(), fs, testIn, FAMILY, QUALIFIER,
+      Bytes.toBytes("aaa"), Bytes.toBytes("zzz"), 1000);
+
+    Path bottomOut = new Path(dir, "bottom.out");
+    Path topOut = new Path(dir, "top.out");
+
+    BulkLoadHFilesTool.splitStoreFile(util.getConfiguration(), testIn, familyDesc,
+      Bytes.toBytes("ggg"), bottomOut, topOut);
+
+    verifyHFileCreateTimeTS(bottomOut);
+    verifyHFileCreateTimeTS(topOut);
+  }
+
+  private void verifyHFileCreateTimeTS(Path p) throws IOException {
+    Configuration conf = util.getConfiguration();
+
+    try (HFile.Reader reader =
+      HFile.createReader(p.getFileSystem(conf), p, new CacheConfig(conf), true, conf)) {
+      long fileCreateTime = reader.getHFileInfo().getHFileContext().getFileCreateTime();
+      MatcherAssert.assertThat(fileCreateTime, greaterThan(0L));
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testSplitStoreFileWithNoneToNone() throws IOException {
     testSplitStoreFileWithDifferentEncoding(DataBlockEncoding.NONE, DataBlockEncoding.NONE);