diff --git a/doc/man/task-faq.5.in b/doc/man/task-faq.5.in
index 1e7af3527..a0bd42f83 100644
--- a/doc/man/task-faq.5.in
+++ b/doc/man/task-faq.5.in
@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@ a second database.
 
 Here is a basic example of the procedure:
 
-    $ task merge ssh://user@myremotehost/.task/
-    $ task push ssh://user@myremotehost/.task/
+    $ task merge ssh://user@myremotehost/~/.task/
+    $ task push ssh://user@myremotehost/~/.task/
 
 The first command fetches the undo.data file from the remote system, reads the
 changes made and updates the local database. When this merge command completes,
diff --git a/doc/man/task-sync.5.in b/doc/man/task-sync.5.in
index 1aa4660c6..f3d31c3c9 100644
--- a/doc/man/task-sync.5.in
+++ b/doc/man/task-sync.5.in
@@ -109,19 +109,26 @@ All the other URIs allow access to remote machines.  The first uses SSH and scp
 
 .br
 .RS
-ssh://[user@]host[:port]/path/to/.task/
+ssh://[user@]host[:port]/absolute/path/to/.task/
 .br
-[user@]host:path/to/.task/
+[user@]host:/absolute/path/to/.task/
 .RE
 
-Remember that in both cases paths are considered to be relative to the users home directory,
-i.e. they will expand to ~/path/to/.task/. You can specify absolute paths as follows:
+In both cases paths are considered to be absolute. You can specify paths relative to the
+users home directory as follows:
 
 .br
 .RS
-ssh://[user@]host[:port]//absolute/path/to/.task/
+ssh://[user@]host[:port]/~/.task/
 .br
-[user@]host:/absolute/path/to/.task/
+[user@]host:~/.task/
+.RE
+
+or even shorter
+
+.br
+.RS
+[user@]host:.task/
 .RE
 
 Remark: Since taskwarrior simply calls the scp binary you can specify very much anything
@@ -130,9 +137,9 @@ expansion:
 
 .br
 .RS
-ssh://configured-host/~[user]/.task/
+ssh://configured-host/~[username]/.task/
 .br
-configured-host:~[user]/.task/
+configured-host:~[username]/.task/
 .RE
 
 
diff --git a/src/Uri.cpp b/src/Uri.cpp
index 36791ff25..67786f622 100644
--- a/src/Uri.cpp
+++ b/src/Uri.cpp
@@ -255,6 +255,12 @@ void Uri::parse ()
     throw std::string ("The uri '") + data + "' is not in the expected format.";
   }
 
+  // path is absolute for ssh:// syntax
+  if ( (protocol == "ssh") && (pathDelimiter == "/") )
+  {
+    path = "/" + path;
+  }
+
   // port specified?
   // remark: this find() will never be != npos for scp-like syntax
   // because we found pathDelimiter, which is ":", before
diff --git a/test/uri.t.cpp b/test/uri.t.cpp
index 1fb4a0db9..55163677e 100644
--- a/test/uri.t.cpp
+++ b/test/uri.t.cpp
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ int main (int argc, char** argv)
   t.is (uri11.user,  "user.name",  "Uri::parse() : ssh://user.name@host.com/undo.data");
   t.is (uri11.host,  "host.com",   "Uri::parse() : ssh://user.name@host.com/undo.data");
   t.is (uri11.port,  "",           "Uri::parse() : ssh://user.name@host.com/undo.data");
-  t.is (uri11.path,  "undo.data",  "Uri::parse() : ssh://user.name@host.com/undo.data");
+  t.is (uri11.path,  "/undo.data", "Uri::parse() : ssh://user.name@host.com/undo.data");
   t.is (uri11.protocol, "ssh",     "Uri::parse() : ssh://user.name@host.com/undo.data");