diff --git a/tests/meson.build b/tests/meson.build
index f7721ce..e9d802f 100644
--- a/tests/meson.build
+++ b/tests/meson.build
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ tests = [
   'umpf-series-tag-continue',
   'umpf-series-tag-rerere',
   'umpf-series-tag-continue-flags',
+  'umpf-series-tag-empty',
   'umpf-format-patch',
   'umpf-format-patch-bb',
   'umpf-show',
diff --git a/tests/series-empty-v2.ref b/tests/series-empty-v2.ref
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..daa2dcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/series-empty-v2.ref
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# umpf-base: base
+# umpf-name: name
+# umpf-version: name/20221209-2
+# umpf-end
diff --git a/tests/umpf-series-tag-empty b/tests/umpf-series-tag-empty
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab4bd17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/umpf-series-tag-empty
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Test creating an umpf tag from a series file without any topics.
+#
+
+umpf tag --version=2 --base=base --name=name --remote=origin
+
+git log --format=%B -n 1 | grep "^# umpf-" > series.tag
+diff -u ${TEST_DIR}/series-empty-v2.ref series.tag
diff --git a/umpf b/umpf
index 656b6d0..1625b52 100755
--- a/umpf
+++ b/umpf
@@ -1283,6 +1283,7 @@ Upstream-Status: Inappropriate [autogenerated]"
 
 create_tag() {
 	local args tagname parents tree topic
+	local -a topics
 
 	if [ ! -e "${STATE}/tag" ]; then
 		return
@@ -1294,9 +1295,12 @@ create_tag() {
 	fi
 
 	tree="$(${GIT} log -1 --format="%T")"
-	for topic in $(<"${STATE}/topics"); do
-		parents="${parents} -p ${topic}"
-	done
+	if [ -e "${STATE}/topics" ]; then
+		mapfile -t topics < "${STATE}/topics"
+		for topic in "${topics[@]}"; do
+			parents="${parents} -p ${topic}"
+		done
+	fi
 	commit=$(${GIT} commit-tree "${tree}" -p HEAD ${parents} -m "${tagname}" -F "${STATE}/series.next")
 
 	if ${GIT} tag ${args} --cleanup=verbatim -F "${STATE}/series.next" "${tagname}" "${commit}" >&2; then