diff --git a/builtin-tag.c b/builtin-tag.c
index 03e70155fc..4a4a88c10b 100644
--- a/builtin-tag.c
+++ b/builtin-tag.c
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ static int git_tag_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 {
 	if (!strcmp(var, "user.signingkey")) {
 		if (!value)
-			die("user.signingkey without value");
+			return config_error_nonbool(value);
 		set_signingkey(value);
 		return 0;
 	}