diff --git a/src/Task.cpp b/src/Task.cpp
index 2b9c2eb15..5ed1a2219 100644
--- a/src/Task.cpp
+++ b/src/Task.cpp
@@ -1313,9 +1313,9 @@ void Task::addTags (const std::vector <std::string>& tags)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-void Task::getTags (std::vector<std::string>& tags) const
+std::vector <std::string> Task::getTags () const
 {
-  tags = split (get ("tags"), ',');
+  return split (get ("tags"), ',');
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/Task.h b/src/Task.h
index 5ac4b8b7e..c64e083e1 100644
--- a/src/Task.h
+++ b/src/Task.h
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ public:
   bool hasTag (const std::string&) const;
   void addTag (const std::string&);
   void addTags (const std::vector <std::string>&);
-  void getTags (std::vector<std::string>&) const;
+  std::vector <std::string> getTags () const;
   void removeTag (const std::string&);
 
   bool hasAnnotations () const;
diff --git a/src/commands/CmdEdit.cpp b/src/commands/CmdEdit.cpp
index 580f73216..a38d6403f 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdEdit.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdEdit.cpp
@@ -224,14 +224,10 @@ std::string CmdEdit::formatTask (Task task, const std::string& dateformat)
          << "# iMask:             " << task.get ("imask")                                      << '\n'
          << "  Project:           " << task.get ("project")                                    << '\n';
 
-  std::vector <std::string> tags;
-  task.getTags (tags);
-  auto allTags = join (" ", tags);
-
   if (verbose)
     before << "# " << STRING_EDIT_TAG_SEP << '\n';
 
-  before << "  Tags:              " << allTags                                          << '\n'
+  before << "  Tags:              " << join (" ", task.getTags ())                      << '\n'
          << "  Description:       " << task.get ("description")                         << '\n'
          << "  Created:           " << formatDate (task, "entry", dateformat)           << '\n'
          << "  Started:           " << formatDate (task, "start", dateformat)           << '\n'
@@ -353,9 +349,8 @@ void CmdEdit::parseTask (Task& task, const std::string& after, const std::string
 
   // tags
   value = findValue (after, "\n  Tags:");
-  auto tags = split (value, ' ');
   task.remove ("tags");
-  task.addTags (tags);
+  task.addTags (split (value, ' '));
 
   // description.
   value = findMultilineValue (after, "\n  Description:", "\n  Created:");
diff --git a/src/commands/CmdInfo.cpp b/src/commands/CmdInfo.cpp
index b35404d50..7b8c5a047 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdInfo.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdInfo.cpp
@@ -300,8 +300,7 @@ int CmdInfo::execute (std::string& output)
     }
 
     // tags ...
-    std::vector <std::string> tags;
-    task.getTags (tags);
+    auto tags = task.getTags ();
     if (tags.size ())
     {
       auto allTags = join (" ", tags);
diff --git a/src/commands/CmdStats.cpp b/src/commands/CmdStats.cpp
index b77915e85..84695e9fd 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdStats.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdStats.cpp
@@ -145,8 +145,7 @@ int CmdStats::execute (std::string& output)
     task.getAnnotations (annotations);
     annotationsT += annotations.size ();
 
-    std::vector <std::string> tags;
-    task.getTags (tags);
+    auto tags = task.getTags ();
     if (tags.size ())
       ++taggedT;
 
diff --git a/src/commands/CmdTags.cpp b/src/commands/CmdTags.cpp
index 839974cc8..a27f8fc4b 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdTags.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdTags.cpp
@@ -79,10 +79,7 @@ int CmdTags::execute (std::string& output)
   std::map <std::string, int> unique;
   for (auto& task : filtered)
   {
-    std::vector <std::string> tags;
-    task.getTags (tags);
-
-    for (auto& tag : tags)
+    for (auto& tag : task.getTags ())
       if (unique.find (tag) != unique.end ())
         unique[tag]++;
       else
@@ -182,13 +179,8 @@ int CmdCompletionTags::execute (std::string& output)
   // names as keys.
   std::map <std::string, int> unique;
   for (auto& task : filtered)
-  {
-    std::vector <std::string> tags;
-    task.getTags (tags);
-
-    for (auto& tag : tags)
+    for (auto& tag : task.getTags ())
       unique[tag] = 0;
-  }
 
   // Add built-in tags to map.
   unique["nocolor"]   = 0;