diff --git a/fetch-pack.c b/fetch-pack.c
index 6b5467c6de..76190a8fbd 100644
--- a/fetch-pack.c
+++ b/fetch-pack.c
@@ -888,6 +888,8 @@ static struct ref *do_fetch_pack(struct fetch_pack_args *args,
 		packet_flush(fd[1]);
 	if (args->depth > 0)
 		setup_alternate_shallow();
+	else
+		alternate_shallow_file = NULL;
 	if (get_pack(args, fd, pack_lockfile))
 		die("git fetch-pack: fetch failed.");
 
@@ -978,7 +980,7 @@ struct ref *fetch_pack(struct fetch_pack_args *args,
 	}
 	ref_cpy = do_fetch_pack(args, fd, ref, sought, nr_sought, pack_lockfile);
 
-	if (alternate_shallow_file) {
+	if (args->depth > 0 && alternate_shallow_file) {
 		if (*alternate_shallow_file == '\0') { /* --unshallow */
 			unlink_or_warn(git_path("shallow"));
 			rollback_lock_file(&shallow_lock);
diff --git a/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh b/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
index fd2598e601..a80584ea0e 100755
--- a/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
+++ b/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
@@ -505,4 +505,20 @@ test_expect_success 'test --all, --depth, and explicit tag' '
 	) >out-adt 2>error-adt
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'shallow fetch with tags does not break the repository' '
+	mkdir repo1 &&
+	(
+		cd repo1 &&
+		git init &&
+		test_commit 1 &&
+		test_commit 2 &&
+		test_commit 3 &&
+		mkdir repo2 &&
+		cd repo2 &&
+		git init &&
+		git fetch --depth=2 ../.git master:branch &&
+		git fsck
+	)
+'
+
 test_done