diff --git a/tag.c b/tag.c
index 3aa186df62..78d272b863 100644
--- a/tag.c
+++ b/tag.c
@@ -24,6 +24,18 @@ struct object *deref_tag(struct object *o, const char *warn, int warnlen)
 	return o;
 }
 
+struct object *deref_tag_noverify(struct object *o)
+{
+	while (o && o->type == OBJ_TAG) {
+		o = parse_object(o->sha1);
+		if (o && o->type == OBJ_TAG && ((struct tag *)o)->tagged)
+			o = ((struct tag *)o)->tagged;
+		else
+			o = NULL;
+	}
+	return o;
+}
+
 struct tag *lookup_tag(const unsigned char *sha1)
 {
 	struct object *obj = lookup_object(sha1);
diff --git a/tag.h b/tag.h
index 5ee88e6550..bc8a1e40f0 100644
--- a/tag.h
+++ b/tag.h
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ extern struct tag *lookup_tag(const unsigned char *sha1);
 extern int parse_tag_buffer(struct tag *item, const void *data, unsigned long size);
 extern int parse_tag(struct tag *item);
 extern struct object *deref_tag(struct object *, const char *, int);
+extern struct object *deref_tag_noverify(struct object *);
 extern size_t parse_signature(const char *buf, unsigned long size);
 
 #endif /* TAG_H */
diff --git a/upload-pack.c b/upload-pack.c
index 65cb0ff0fb..c01e161a9d 100644
--- a/upload-pack.c
+++ b/upload-pack.c
@@ -741,8 +741,7 @@ static int send_ref(const char *refname, const unsigned char *sha1, int flag, vo
 		nr_our_refs++;
 	}
 	if (o->type == OBJ_TAG) {
-		o = parse_object(o->sha1);
-		o = deref_tag(o, refname, 0);
+		o = deref_tag_noverify(o);
 		if (o)
 			packet_write(1, "%s %s^{}\n", sha1_to_hex(o->sha1), refname_nons);
 	}