diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard/components/SaveDashboard/forms/SaveDashboardAsForm.test.tsx b/public/app/features/dashboard/components/SaveDashboard/forms/SaveDashboardAsForm.test.tsx
index 665251f5c2c..807cf6ac44e 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard/components/SaveDashboard/forms/SaveDashboardAsForm.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard/components/SaveDashboard/forms/SaveDashboardAsForm.test.tsx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ const prepareDashboardMock = (panel: any) => {
   const json = {
     title: 'name',
     panels: [panel],
+    tags: ['tag1', 'tag2'],
   };
 
   return {
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ describe('SaveDashboardAsForm', () => {
       expect(savedDashboardModel.id).toBe(null);
       expect(savedDashboardModel.title).toBe('name');
       expect(savedDashboardModel.editable).toBe(true);
+      expect(savedDashboardModel.tags).toEqual(['tag1', 'tag2']);
     });
 
     it("appends 'Copy' to the name when the dashboard isnt new", async () => {
@@ -80,6 +82,8 @@ describe('SaveDashboardAsForm', () => {
       expect(spy).toBeCalledTimes(1);
       const savedDashboardModel = spy.mock.calls[0][0];
       expect(savedDashboardModel.title).toBe('name Copy');
+      // when copying a dashboard, the tags should be empty
+      expect(savedDashboardModel.tags).toEqual([]);
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard/components/SaveDashboard/forms/SaveDashboardAsForm.tsx b/public/app/features/dashboard/components/SaveDashboard/forms/SaveDashboardAsForm.tsx
index ed78b95e3ff..50a1b9c3a0f 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard/components/SaveDashboard/forms/SaveDashboardAsForm.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard/components/SaveDashboard/forms/SaveDashboardAsForm.tsx
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ export const SaveDashboardAsForm = ({
 
         const clone = getSaveAsDashboardClone(dashboard);
         clone.title = data.title;
-        if (!data.copyTags) {
+        if (!isNew && !data.copyTags) {
           clone.tags = [];
         }