diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket_object.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket_object.go
index e2853a47d..a25e161c2 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket_object.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket_object.go
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ func resourceAwsS3BucketObjectRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) err
 		// Treat the inability to get object tags in a restricted regions as a
 		// soft error.
 		if !restricted {
-			return err
+			return fmt.Errorf("Failed to get object tags (bucket: %s, key: %s): %s", bucket, key, err)
 		}
 	} else {
 		d.Set("tags", tagsToMapS3(tagResp.TagSet))