diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
index e83a8ca5dd65480d21cf4a5198b4b9a1954b47b8..fb8a52dd94cdd8e517f6fd14bf336c16ae710d9f 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
@@ -1447,18 +1447,20 @@ void __i40e_del_filter(struct i40e_vsi *vsi, struct i40e_mac_filter *f)
 	if (!f)
 		return;
 
+	/* If the filter was never added to firmware then we can just delete it
+	 * directly and we don't want to set the status to remove or else an
+	 * admin queue command will unnecessarily fire.
+	 */
 	if ((f->state == I40E_FILTER_FAILED) ||
 	    (f->state == I40E_FILTER_NEW)) {
-		/* this one never got added by the FW. Just remove it,
-		 * no need to sync anything.
-		 */
 		hash_del(&f->hlist);
 		kfree(f);
 	} else {
 		f->state = I40E_FILTER_REMOVE;
-		vsi->flags |= I40E_VSI_FLAG_FILTER_CHANGED;
-		vsi->back->flags |= I40E_FLAG_FILTER_SYNC;
 	}
+
+	vsi->flags |= I40E_VSI_FLAG_FILTER_CHANGED;
+	vsi->back->flags |= I40E_FLAG_FILTER_SYNC;
 }
 
 /**