How do you convert a JavaScript date to UTC?

Simple and stupid

var date = new Date(); 
var now_utc =  Date.UTC(date.getUTCFullYear(), date.getUTCMonth(), date.getUTCDate(),
 date.getUTCHours(), date.getUTCMinutes(), date.getUTCSeconds());

 return new Date(now_utc);

The toISOString() method returns a string in simplified extended ISO format (ISO 8601), which is always 24 or 27 characters long (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ or ±YYYYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ, respectively). The timezone is always zero UTC offset, as denoted by the suffix "Z".

Source: MDN web docs

The format you need is created with the .toISOString() method. For older browsers (ie8 and under), which don't natively support this method, the shim can be found here:

This will give you the ability to do what you need:

var isoDateString = new Date().toISOString();
console.log(isoDateString);

For Timezone work, moment.js and moment.js timezone are really invaluable tools...especially for navigating timezones between client and server javascript.

Here's my method:

var now = new Date();
var utc = new Date(now.getTime() + now.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000);

The resulting utc object isn't really a UTC date, but a local date shifted to match the UTC time (see comments). However, in practice it does the job.