diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index e75434b3ef2d81fa8dafd552d4b689eb84eea441..297101f1a560cb5601666098e94669e9cd4fbfa1 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -1623,7 +1623,9 @@ remote.<name>.tagopt::
 	Setting this value to \--no-tags disables automatic tag following when
 	fetching from remote <name>. Setting it to \--tags will fetch every
 	tag from remote <name>, even if they are not reachable from remote
-	branch heads.
+	branch heads. Passing these flags directly to linkgit:git-fetch[1] can
+	override this setting. See options \--tags and \--no-tags of
+	linkgit:git-fetch[1].
 
 remote.<name>.vcs::
 	Setting this to a value <vcs> will cause git to interact with
diff --git a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
index 9333c42c558464ce2430df39e9864f932e786b36..470ac31396606a18298f69329b050a86943c580c 100644
--- a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ ifndef::git-pull[]
 endif::git-pull[]
 	By default, tags that point at objects that are downloaded
 	from the remote repository are fetched and stored locally.
-	This option disables this automatic tag following.
+	This option disables this automatic tag following. The default
+	behavior for a remote may be specified with the remote.<name>.tagopt
+	setting. See linkgit:git-config[1].
 
 -t::
 --tags::
@@ -58,7 +60,9 @@ endif::git-pull[]
 	objects reachable from the branch heads that are being
 	tracked will not be fetched by this mechanism.  This
 	flag lets all tags and their associated objects be
-	downloaded.
+	downloaded. The default behavior for a remote may be
+	specified with the remote.<name>.tagopt setting. See
+	linkgit:git-config[1].
 
 -u::
 --update-head-ok::
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index 6eb1dfea092e2873c5910bf4389d3b071786d8b0..42554680f74158051f290bdc613d7da72e07c173 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -675,10 +675,12 @@ static int do_fetch(struct transport *transport,
 
 	for_each_ref(add_existing, &existing_refs);
 
-	if (transport->remote->fetch_tags == 2 && tags != TAGS_UNSET)
-		tags = TAGS_SET;
-	if (transport->remote->fetch_tags == -1)
-		tags = TAGS_UNSET;
+	if (tags == TAGS_DEFAULT) {
+		if (transport->remote->fetch_tags == 2)
+			tags = TAGS_SET;
+		if (transport->remote->fetch_tags == -1)
+			tags = TAGS_UNSET;
+	}
 
 	if (!transport->get_refs_list || !transport->fetch)
 		die("Don't know how to fetch from %s", transport->url);
diff --git a/t/t5525-fetch-tagopt.sh b/t/t5525-fetch-tagopt.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4fbf7a120f3fd4133e09cb7cbe5c8e4597bfa27c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t5525-fetch-tagopt.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='tagopt variable affects "git fetch" and is overridden by commandline.'
+
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+setup_clone () {
+	git clone --mirror . $1 &&
+	git remote add remote_$1 $1 &&
+	(cd $1 &&
+	git tag tag_$1)
+}
+
+test_expect_success setup '
+	test_commit test &&
+	setup_clone one &&
+	git config remote.remote_one.tagopt --no-tags &&
+	setup_clone two &&
+	git config remote.remote_two.tagopt --tags
+	'
+
+test_expect_success "fetch with tagopt=--no-tags does not get tag" '
+	git fetch remote_one &&
+	test_must_fail git show-ref tag_one
+	'
+
+test_expect_success "fetch --tags with tagopt=--no-tags gets tag" '
+	git fetch --tags remote_one &&
+	git show-ref tag_one
+	'
+
+test_expect_success "fetch --no-tags with tagopt=--tags does not get tag" '
+	git fetch --no-tags remote_two &&
+	test_must_fail git show-ref tag_two
+	'
+
+test_expect_success "fetch with tagopt=--tags gets tag" '
+	git fetch remote_two &&
+	git show-ref tag_two
+	'
+test_done