diff --git a/reflog.c b/reflog.c
index 5ca944529b..eeccd5fab4 100644
--- a/reflog.c
+++ b/reflog.c
@@ -332,7 +332,8 @@ void reflog_expiry_prepare(const char *refname,
 	if (!cb->cmd.expire_unreachable || is_head(refname)) {
 		cb->unreachable_expire_kind = UE_HEAD;
 	} else {
-		commit = lookup_commit(the_repository, oid);
+		commit = lookup_commit_reference_gently(the_repository,
+							oid, 1);
 		if (commit && is_null_oid(&commit->object.oid))
 			commit = NULL;
 		cb->unreachable_expire_kind = commit ? UE_NORMAL : UE_ALWAYS;
diff --git a/t/t1410-reflog.sh b/t/t1410-reflog.sh
index 5bf883f1e3..246a3f46ab 100755
--- a/t/t1410-reflog.sh
+++ b/t/t1410-reflog.sh
@@ -146,6 +146,14 @@ test_expect_success rewind '
 	test_line_count = 5 output
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'reflog expire should not barf on an annotated tag' '
+	test_when_finished "git tag -d v0.tag || :" &&
+	git -c core.logAllRefUpdates=always \
+		tag -a -m "tag name" v0.tag main &&
+	git reflog expire --dry-run refs/tags/v0.tag 2>err &&
+	test_grep ! "error: [Oo]bject .* not a commit" err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'corrupt and check' '
 
 	corrupt $F &&