diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 1e402e08788..87f397ed962 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -1593,7 +1593,9 @@ remote.<name>.uploadpack::
 
 remote.<name>.tagopt::
 	Setting this value to \--no-tags disables automatic tag following when
-	fetching from remote <name>
+	fetching from remote <name>. Setting it to \--tags will fetch every
+	tag from remote <name>, even if they are not reachable from remote
+	branch heads.
 
 remote.<name>.vcs::
 	Setting this to a value <vcs> will cause git to interact with
diff --git a/Documentation/git-remote.txt b/Documentation/git-remote.txt
index 3fc599c0c7d..ebaaadc1786 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-remote.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-remote.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git remote' [-v | --verbose]
-'git remote add' [-t <branch>] [-m <master>] [-f] [--mirror] <name> <url>
+'git remote add' [-t <branch>] [-m <master>] [-f] [--tags|--no-tags] [--mirror] <name> <url>
 'git remote rename' <old> <new>
 'git remote rm' <name>
 'git remote set-head' <name> (-a | -d | <branch>)
@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@ update remote-tracking branches <name>/<branch>.
 With `-f` option, `git fetch <name>` is run immediately after
 the remote information is set up.
 +
+With `--tags` option, `git fetch <name>` imports every tag from the
+remote repository.
++
+With `--no-tags` option, `git fetch <name>` does not import tags from
+the remote repository.
++
 With `-t <branch>` option, instead of the default glob
 refspec for the remote to track all branches under
 `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/`, a refspec to track only `<branch>`
diff --git a/builtin/remote.c b/builtin/remote.c
index 277765b8642..0e99a9957da 100644
--- a/builtin/remote.c
+++ b/builtin/remote.c
@@ -104,9 +104,15 @@ static int fetch_remote(const char *name)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+enum {
+	TAGS_UNSET = 0,
+	TAGS_DEFAULT = 1,
+	TAGS_SET = 2
+};
+
 static int add(int argc, const char **argv)
 {
-	int fetch = 0, mirror = 0;
+	int fetch = 0, mirror = 0, fetch_tags = TAGS_DEFAULT;
 	struct string_list track = { NULL, 0, 0 };
 	const char *master = NULL;
 	struct remote *remote;
@@ -116,6 +122,11 @@ static int add(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	struct option options[] = {
 		OPT_BOOLEAN('f', "fetch", &fetch, "fetch the remote branches"),
+		OPT_SET_INT(0, "tags", &fetch_tags,
+			    "import all tags and associated objects when fetching",
+			    TAGS_SET),
+		OPT_SET_INT(0, NULL, &fetch_tags,
+			    "or do not fetch any tag at all (--no-tags)", TAGS_UNSET),
 		OPT_CALLBACK('t', "track", &track, "branch",
 			"branch(es) to track", opt_parse_track),
 		OPT_STRING('m', "master", &master, "branch", "master branch"),
@@ -172,6 +183,14 @@ static int add(int argc, const char **argv)
 			return 1;
 	}
 
+	if (fetch_tags != TAGS_DEFAULT) {
+		strbuf_reset(&buf);
+		strbuf_addf(&buf, "remote.%s.tagopt", name);
+		if (git_config_set(buf.buf,
+			fetch_tags == TAGS_SET ? "--tags" : "--no-tags"))
+			return 1;
+	}
+
 	if (fetch && fetch_remote(name))
 		return 1;
 
diff --git a/contrib/examples/git-fetch.sh b/contrib/examples/git-fetch.sh
index e44af2c86d8..a314273bd51 100755
--- a/contrib/examples/git-fetch.sh
+++ b/contrib/examples/git-fetch.sh
@@ -127,10 +127,12 @@ then
 	orig_head=$(git rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null)
 fi
 
-# Allow --notags from remote.$1.tagopt
+# Allow --tags/--notags from remote.$1.tagopt
 case "$tags$no_tags" in
 '')
 	case "$(git config --get "remote.$1.tagopt")" in
+	--tags)
+		tags=t ;;
 	--no-tags)
 		no_tags=t ;;
 	esac
diff --git a/remote.c b/remote.c
index c70181cdc62..0f073e0b5f9 100644
--- a/remote.c
+++ b/remote.c
@@ -443,6 +443,8 @@ static int handle_config(const char *key, const char *value, void *cb)
 	} else if (!strcmp(subkey, ".tagopt")) {
 		if (!strcmp(value, "--no-tags"))
 			remote->fetch_tags = -1;
+		else if (!strcmp(value, "--tags"))
+			remote->fetch_tags = 2;
 	} else if (!strcmp(subkey, ".proxy")) {
 		return git_config_string((const char **)&remote->http_proxy,
 					 key, value);
diff --git a/t/t5505-remote.sh b/t/t5505-remote.sh
index 230c0cd784b..41f17e76939 100755
--- a/t/t5505-remote.sh
+++ b/t/t5505-remote.sh
@@ -320,6 +320,69 @@ test_expect_success 'add alt && prune' '
 	 git rev-parse --verify refs/remotes/origin/side2)
 '
 
+cat >test/expect <<\EOF
+some-tag
+EOF
+
+test_expect_success 'add with reachable tags (default)' '
+	(cd one &&
+	 >foobar &&
+	 git add foobar &&
+	 git commit -m "Foobar" &&
+	 git tag -a -m "Foobar tag" foobar-tag &&
+	 git reset --hard HEAD~1 &&
+	 git tag -a -m "Some tag" some-tag) &&
+	(mkdir add-tags &&
+	 cd add-tags &&
+	 git init &&
+	 git remote add -f origin ../one &&
+	 git tag -l some-tag >../test/output &&
+	 git tag -l foobar-tag >>../test/output &&
+	 test_must_fail git config remote.origin.tagopt) &&
+	test_cmp test/expect test/output
+'
+
+cat >test/expect <<\EOF
+some-tag
+foobar-tag
+--tags
+EOF
+
+test_expect_success 'add --tags' '
+	(rm -rf add-tags &&
+	 mkdir add-tags &&
+	 cd add-tags &&
+	 git init &&
+	 git remote add -f --tags origin ../one &&
+	 git tag -l some-tag >../test/output &&
+	 git tag -l foobar-tag >>../test/output &&
+	 git config remote.origin.tagopt >>../test/output) &&
+	test_cmp test/expect test/output
+'
+
+cat >test/expect <<\EOF
+--no-tags
+EOF
+
+test_expect_success 'add --no-tags' '
+	(rm -rf add-tags &&
+	 mkdir add-no-tags &&
+	 cd add-no-tags &&
+	 git init &&
+	 git remote add -f --no-tags origin ../one &&
+	 git tag -l some-tag >../test/output &&
+	 git tag -l foobar-tag >../test/output &&
+	 git config remote.origin.tagopt >>../test/output) &&
+	(cd one &&
+	 git tag -d some-tag foobar-tag) &&
+	test_cmp test/expect test/output
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'reject --no-no-tags' '
+	(cd add-no-tags &&
+	 test_must_fail git remote add -f --no-no-tags neworigin ../one)
+'
+
 cat > one/expect << EOF
   apis/master
   apis/side