diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/MergeCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/MergeCommand.java
index 6eba35e1d..6c6aa7b5c 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/MergeCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/MergeCommand.java
@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ public class MergeCommand extends GitCommand<MergeResult> {
 			refLogMessage.append(ref.getName());
 
 			// handle annotated tags
+			ref = repo.peel(ref);
 			ObjectId objectId = ref.getPeeledObjectId();
 			if (objectId == null)
 				objectId = ref.getObjectId();