diff --git a/docs/sources/clients/promtail/configuration.md b/docs/sources/clients/promtail/configuration.md
index 33dcc4a962822..9dfe60a2effe7 100644
--- a/docs/sources/clients/promtail/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/sources/clients/promtail/configuration.md
@@ -765,6 +765,11 @@ label_structured_data: <bool>
 # Label map to add to every log message.
 labels:
   [ <labelname>: <labelvalue> ... ]
+
+# Whether promtail should pass on the timestamp from the incoming syslog message.
+# When false, or if no timestamp is present on the syslog message, Promtail will assign the current timestamp to the log when it was processed.
+# Default is false
+use_incoming_timestamp: <bool>
 ```
 
 #### Available Labels
diff --git a/pkg/promtail/scrapeconfig/scrapeconfig.go b/pkg/promtail/scrapeconfig/scrapeconfig.go
index aa7d2301795ae..bef131b7d5ed8 100644
--- a/pkg/promtail/scrapeconfig/scrapeconfig.go
+++ b/pkg/promtail/scrapeconfig/scrapeconfig.go
@@ -158,6 +158,10 @@ type SyslogTargetConfig struct {
 
 	// Labels optionally holds labels to associate with each record read from syslog.
 	Labels model.LabelSet `yaml:"labels"`
+
+	// UseIncomingTimestamp sets the timestamp to the incoming syslog mesages
+	// timestamp if it's set.
+	UseIncomingTimestamp bool `yaml:"use_incoming_timestamp"`
 }
 
 // PushTargetConfig describes a scrape config that listens for Loki push messages.
diff --git a/pkg/promtail/targets/syslog/syslogtarget.go b/pkg/promtail/targets/syslog/syslogtarget.go
index 27eccee8f4df5..501c3aa67a863 100644
--- a/pkg/promtail/targets/syslog/syslogtarget.go
+++ b/pkg/promtail/targets/syslog/syslogtarget.go
@@ -64,8 +64,9 @@ type SyslogTarget struct {
 }
 
 type message struct {
-	labels  model.LabelSet
-	message string
+	labels    model.LabelSet
+	message   string
+	timestamp time.Time
 }
 
 // NewSyslogTarget configures a new SyslogTarget.
@@ -231,12 +232,18 @@ func (t *SyslogTarget) handleMessage(connLabels labels.Labels, msg syslog.Messag
 		filtered[model.LabelName(lbl.Name)] = model.LabelValue(lbl.Value)
 	}
 
-	t.messages <- message{filtered, *rfc5424Msg.Message}
+	var timestamp time.Time
+	if t.config.UseIncomingTimestamp && rfc5424Msg.Timestamp != nil {
+		timestamp = *rfc5424Msg.Timestamp
+	} else {
+		timestamp = time.Now()
+	}
+	t.messages <- message{filtered, *rfc5424Msg.Message, timestamp}
 }
 
 func (t *SyslogTarget) messageSender() {
 	for msg := range t.messages {
-		if err := t.handler.Handle(msg.labels, time.Now(), msg.message); err != nil {
+		if err := t.handler.Handle(msg.labels, msg.timestamp, msg.message); err != nil {
 			level.Error(t.logger).Log("msg", "error handling line", "error", err)
 		}
 		syslogEntries.Inc()