diff --git a/builtin/providers/azurerm/tags.go b/builtin/providers/azurerm/tags.go
index 2a189a0f4848..ca79d6cee0c8 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/azurerm/tags.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/azurerm/tags.go
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ func expandTags(tagsMap map[string]interface{}) *map[string]*string {
 
 func flattenAndSetTags(d *schema.ResourceData, tagsMap *map[string]*string) {
 	if tagsMap == nil {
+		d.Set("tags", make(map[string]interface{}))
 		return
 	}