PHP query: How to determine if variable time is before or after today

Hi,

I have this code which determines whether or not the return date of a book (format: d/m/Y) is before or after today.

<?php if($row['return_date'] >= date("d/m/Y")){ ?>

        <a href="loaning_remind.php?loan_id=<?php echo $row['id']; ?>" onClick="return confirm('The loaner will receive an email reminding them that their item loaned is due for return')">

        <div class="record_button">

            <img src="../images/icons/mail_icon_blue.png" width="100%" height="auto" title="Send Email Reminder">

            </div>

                Future

        </a>

        <?php } else { ?>

        <a href="loaning_remind_late.php?loan_id=<?php echo $row['id']; ?>" onClick="return confirm('The loaner will receive an email reminding them that the item loaned is late for return')">

        <div class="record_button">

            <img src="../images/icons/mail_icon_blue.png" width="100%" height="auto" title="Send Email Reminder">

            </div>

                Late

        </a>

<?php } ?>

At the moment it is not working, as the script checks the date and adds 2 months to it.

Eg:

Say today's date is: 15/10/2015

If the return date for the book is: 15/12/2015 (2 months from today), the script will display the NOT LATE icon.

If the return date for the book is 14/12/2015 (less than 2 months from today), the script will display the LATE icon.

I don't have any other script to do with time or date, so I have ruled out the possibility that it is getting messed up by other code.