diff --git a/helper/schema/resource.go b/helper/schema/resource.go
index fcf7951866..bc81b1d31d 100644
--- a/helper/schema/resource.go
+++ b/helper/schema/resource.go
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ func (r *Resource) Refresh(
 	meta interface{}) (*terraform.ResourceState, error) {
 	data, err := schemaMap(r.Schema).Data(s, nil)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return s, err
 	}
 
 	err = r.Read(data, meta)