diff --git a/pandas/core/indexes/datetimes.py b/pandas/core/indexes/datetimes.py
index e6bc1790f2992..36b761d64c246 100644
--- a/pandas/core/indexes/datetimes.py
+++ b/pandas/core/indexes/datetimes.py
@@ -1699,9 +1699,10 @@ def insert(self, loc, item):
 
         if isinstance(item, (datetime, np.datetime64)):
             self._assert_can_do_op(item)
-            if not self._has_same_tz(item):
-                raise ValueError(
-                    'Passed item and index have different timezone')
+            if item is not libts.NaT:
+                if not self._has_same_tz(item):
+                    raise ValueError(
+                        'Passed item and index have different timezone')
             # check freq can be preserved on edge cases
             if self.size and self.freq is not None:
                 if ((loc == 0 or loc == -len(self)) and