diff --git a/builder/cloudstack/step_create_instance.go b/builder/cloudstack/step_create_instance.go
index 73aaa2133..890edd3a1 100644
--- a/builder/cloudstack/step_create_instance.go
+++ b/builder/cloudstack/step_create_instance.go
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ func (s *stepCreateInstance) Run(ctx context.Context, state multistep.StateBag)
 	state.Put("instance_id", instance.Id)
 
 	// Set instance tags
-	if config.Tags != nil {
+	if len(config.Tags) > 0 {
 		resourceID := []string{instance.Id}
 		tp := client.Resourcetags.NewCreateTagsParams(resourceID, "UserVm", config.Tags)