diff --git a/gix-object/src/tag/decode.rs b/gix-object/src/tag/decode.rs
index 27090f85369..c30015b84a0 100644
--- a/gix-object/src/tag/decode.rs
+++ b/gix-object/src/tag/decode.rs
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ pub fn message<'a, E: ParserError<&'a [u8]>>(i: &mut &'a [u8]) -> ModalResult<(&
     const PGP_SIGNATURE_BEGIN: &[u8] = b"\n-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----";
     const PGP_SIGNATURE_END: &[u8] = b"-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----";
 
-    if i.is_empty() {
-        return Ok((b"".as_bstr(), None));
+    if i.iter().all(|b| *b == b'\n') {
+        return i.map(|message: &[u8]| (message.as_bstr(), None)).parse_next(i);
     }
     delimited(
         NL,
diff --git a/gix-object/src/tag/write.rs b/gix-object/src/tag/write.rs
index b8ea340d190..520084f4af5 100644
--- a/gix-object/src/tag/write.rs
+++ b/gix-object/src/tag/write.rs
@@ -29,10 +29,10 @@ impl crate::WriteTo for Tag {
             encode::trusted_header_signature(b"tagger", &tagger.to_ref(), out)?;
         }
 
-        out.write_all(NL)?;
-        if !self.message.is_empty() {
-            out.write_all(self.message.as_ref())?;
+        if !self.message.iter().all(|b| *b == b'\n') {
+            out.write_all(NL)?;
         }
+        out.write_all(self.message.as_ref())?;
         if let Some(message) = &self.pgp_signature {
             out.write_all(NL)?;
             out.write_all(message.as_ref())?;
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ impl crate::WriteTo for Tag {
             .tagger
             .as_ref()
             .map_or(0, |t| b"tagger".len() + 1 /* space */ + t.size() + 1 /* nl */)
-            + 1 /* nl */ + self.message.len()
+            + if self.message.iter().all(|b| *b == b'\n') { 0 } else { 1 /* nl */ } + self.message.len()
             + self.pgp_signature.as_ref().map_or(0, |m| 1 /* nl */ + m.len())) as u64
     }
 }
@@ -66,10 +66,10 @@ impl crate::WriteTo for TagRef<'_> {
             encode::trusted_header_signature(b"tagger", tagger, &mut out)?;
         }
 
-        out.write_all(NL)?;
-        if !self.message.is_empty() {
-            out.write_all(self.message)?;
+        if !self.message.iter().all(|b| *b == b'\n') {
+            out.write_all(NL)?;
         }
+        out.write_all(self.message)?;
         if let Some(message) = self.pgp_signature {
             out.write_all(NL)?;
             out.write_all(message)?;
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ impl crate::WriteTo for TagRef<'_> {
                 .tagger
                 .as_ref()
                 .map_or(0, |t| b"tagger".len() + 1 /* space */ + t.size() + 1 /* nl */)
-            + 1 /* nl */ + self.message.len()
+            + if self.message.iter().all(|b| *b == b'\n') { 0 } else { 1 /* nl */ } + self.message.len()
             + self.pgp_signature.as_ref().map_or(0, |m| 1 /* nl */ + m.len())) as u64
     }
 }
diff --git a/gix-object/tests/fixtures/tag/empty_missing_nl.txt b/gix-object/tests/fixtures/tag/empty_missing_nl.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..42dabcc6ed6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gix-object/tests/fixtures/tag/empty_missing_nl.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+object 01dd4e2a978a9f5bd773dae6da7aa4a5ac1cdbbc
+type commit
+tag empty
+tagger Sebastian Thiel <sebastian.thiel@icloud.com> 1592381636 +0800
diff --git a/gix-object/tests/object/encode/mod.rs b/gix-object/tests/object/encode/mod.rs
index 560e8ac5996..0752eaeba8b 100644
--- a/gix-object/tests/object/encode/mod.rs
+++ b/gix-object/tests/object/encode/mod.rs
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ mod tag {
     round_trip!(
         gix_object::Tag,
         gix_object::TagRef,
+        "tag/empty_missing_nl.txt",
         "tag/empty.txt",
         "tag/no-tagger.txt",
         "tag/whitespace.txt",
diff --git a/gix-object/tests/object/tag/mod.rs b/gix-object/tests/object/tag/mod.rs
index cb6aa857f95..801ca29a043 100644
--- a/gix-object/tests/object/tag/mod.rs
+++ b/gix-object/tests/object/tag/mod.rs
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ mod iter {
                 Token::Name(b"empty".as_bstr()),
                 Token::Tagger(tagger),
                 Token::Body {
-                    message: b"".as_bstr(),
+                    message: b"\n".as_bstr(),
                     pgp_signature: None,
                 }
             ]
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ fn invalid() {
 mod from_bytes {
     use gix_actor::SignatureRef;
     use gix_date::Time;
-    use gix_object::{bstr::ByteSlice, Kind, TagRef};
+    use gix_object::{bstr::ByteSlice, Kind, TagRef, WriteTo};
 
     use crate::{fixture_name, signature, tag::tag_fixture, Sign};
 
@@ -170,8 +170,29 @@ mod from_bytes {
 
     #[test]
     fn empty() -> crate::Result {
+        let fixture = fixture_name("tag", "empty.txt");
+        let tag_ref = TagRef::from_bytes(&fixture)?;
         assert_eq!(
-            TagRef::from_bytes(&fixture_name("tag", "empty.txt"))?,
+            tag_ref,
+            TagRef {
+                target: b"01dd4e2a978a9f5bd773dae6da7aa4a5ac1cdbbc".as_bstr(),
+                name: b"empty".as_bstr(),
+                target_kind: Kind::Commit,
+                message: b"\n".as_bstr(),
+                tagger: Some(signature(1592381636)),
+                pgp_signature: None
+            }
+        );
+        assert_eq!(tag_ref.size(), 140);
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn empty_missing_nl() -> crate::Result {
+        let fixture = fixture_name("tag", "empty_missing_nl.txt");
+        let tag_ref = TagRef::from_bytes(&fixture)?;
+        assert_eq!(
+            tag_ref,
             TagRef {
                 target: b"01dd4e2a978a9f5bd773dae6da7aa4a5ac1cdbbc".as_bstr(),
                 name: b"empty".as_bstr(),
@@ -181,6 +202,7 @@ mod from_bytes {
                 pgp_signature: None
             }
         );
+        assert_eq!(tag_ref.size(), 139);
         Ok(())
     }