diff --git a/validate/gst/validate/media-descriptor-writer.c b/validate/gst/validate/media-descriptor-writer.c
index 4a5356b625..6de5e2f7cf 100644
--- a/validate/gst/validate/media-descriptor-writer.c
+++ b/validate/gst/validate/media-descriptor-writer.c
@@ -162,11 +162,13 @@ serialize_filenode (GstMediaDescriptorWriter * writer)
   STR_APPEND1 ("</streams>");
 
   tagsnode = filenode->tags;
-  STR_APPEND1 (tagsnode->str_open);
-  for (tmp2 = tagsnode->tags; tmp2; tmp2 = tmp2->next) {
-    STR_APPEND2 (((TagNode *) tmp2->data)->str_open);
+  if (tagsnode) {
+    STR_APPEND1 (tagsnode->str_open);
+    for (tmp2 = tagsnode->tags; tmp2; tmp2 = tmp2->next) {
+      STR_APPEND2 (((TagNode *) tmp2->data)->str_open);
+    }
+    STR_APPEND1 (tagsnode->str_close);
   }
-  STR_APPEND1 (tagsnode->str_close);
 
   g_string_append (res, filenode->str_close);
 
@@ -467,8 +469,8 @@ _run_frame_analisis (GstMediaDescriptorWriter * writer,
   writer->priv->pipeline = gst_pipeline_new ("frame-analisis");
 
   monitor =
-      gst_validate_monitor_factory_create (GST_OBJECT_CAST (writer->priv->
-          pipeline), runner, NULL);
+      gst_validate_monitor_factory_create (GST_OBJECT_CAST (writer->
+          priv->pipeline), runner, NULL);
   gst_validate_reporter_set_handle_g_logs (GST_VALIDATE_REPORTER (monitor));
 
   g_object_set (uridecodebin, "uri", uri, "caps", writer->priv->raw_caps, NULL);
diff --git a/validate/gst/validate/media-descriptor.c b/validate/gst/validate/media-descriptor.c
index a39a0b565d..5f22b0288c 100644
--- a/validate/gst/validate/media-descriptor.c
+++ b/validate/gst/validate/media-descriptor.c
@@ -215,10 +215,48 @@ compare_tags (GstMediaDescriptor * ref, StreamNode * rstream,
   TagsNode *rtags, *ctags;
 
   rtags = rstream->tags;
-  if (rtags == NULL)
-    return 1;
-
   ctags = cstream->tags;
+  if (rtags == NULL && ctags)
+    return 1;
+  else if (!rtags && ctags) {
+    GList *taglist;
+    GString *all_tags = g_string_new (NULL);
+
+    for (taglist = ctags->tags; taglist; taglist = taglist->next) {
+      gchar *stags =
+          gst_tag_list_to_string (((TagNode *) taglist->data)->taglist);
+
+      g_string_append_printf (all_tags, "%s\n", stags);
+      g_free (stags);
+    }
+
+    GST_VALIDATE_REPORT (ref, FILE_TAG_DETECTION_INCORRECT,
+        "Reference descriptor for stream %s has NO tags"
+        " but tags found: %s", all_tags->str);
+
+    g_string_free (all_tags, TRUE);
+
+    return 0;
+  } else if (rtags && !ctags) {
+    GList *taglist;
+    GString *all_tags = g_string_new (NULL);
+
+    for (taglist = rtags->tags; taglist; taglist = taglist->next) {
+      gchar *stags =
+          gst_tag_list_to_string (((TagNode *) taglist->data)->taglist);
+
+      g_string_append_printf (all_tags, "%s\n", stags);
+      g_free (stags);
+    }
+
+    GST_VALIDATE_REPORT (ref, FILE_TAG_DETECTION_INCORRECT,
+        "Reference descriptor for stream %s has tags:\n %s\n"
+        " but NO tags found on the stream");
+
+    g_string_free (all_tags, TRUE);
+    return 0;
+  }
+
   for (rtag_list = rtags->tags; rtag_list; rtag_list = rtag_list->next) {
     rtag = rtag_list->data;
     found = FALSE;