diff --git a/builtin/last-modified.c b/builtin/last-modified.c
index c80f0535f6..5366cedd0f 100644
--- a/builtin/last-modified.c
+++ b/builtin/last-modified.c
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ static void add_path_from_diff(struct diff_queue_struct *q,
 
 static int populate_paths_from_revs(struct last_modified *lm)
 {
-	int num_interesting = 0;
+	int num_interesting = 0, ret = 0;
 	struct diff_options diffopt;
 
 	/*
@@ -145,16 +145,25 @@ static int populate_paths_from_revs(struct last_modified *lm)
 		if (obj->item->flags & UNINTERESTING)
 			continue;
 
-		if (num_interesting++)
-			return error(_("last-modified can only operate on one tree at a time"));
+		if (num_interesting++) {
+			ret = error(_("last-modified can only operate on one revision at a time"));
+			goto out;
+		}
+
+		if (!repo_peel_to_type(lm->rev.repo, obj->path, 0, obj->item, OBJ_COMMIT)) {
+			ret = error(_("revision argument is not a commit-ish"));
+			goto out;
+		}
 
 		diff_tree_oid(lm->rev.repo->hash_algo->empty_tree,
 			      &obj->item->oid, "", &diffopt);
 		diff_flush(&diffopt);
 	}
+
+out:
 	clear_pathspec(&diffopt.pathspec);
 
-	return 0;
+	return ret;
 }
 
 static void last_modified_emit(struct last_modified *lm,
@@ -491,7 +500,7 @@ static int last_modified_init(struct last_modified *lm, struct repository *r,
 	lm->rev.bloom_filter_settings = get_bloom_filter_settings(lm->rev.repo);
 
 	if (populate_paths_from_revs(lm) < 0)
-		return error(_("unable to setup last-modified"));
+		return -1;
 
 	CALLOC_ARRAY(lm->all_paths, hashmap_get_size(&lm->paths));
 	lm->all_paths_nr = 0;
diff --git a/t/t8020-last-modified.sh b/t/t8020-last-modified.sh
index 50f4312f71..22635de447 100755
--- a/t/t8020-last-modified.sh
+++ b/t/t8020-last-modified.sh
@@ -8,11 +8,12 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	test_commit 1 file &&
 	mkdir a &&
 	test_commit 2 a/file &&
+	git tag -mA t2 2 &&
 	mkdir a/b &&
 	test_commit 3 a/b/file
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'cannot run last-modified on two trees' '
+test_expect_success 'cannot run last-modified on two revision' '
 	test_must_fail git last-modified HEAD HEAD~1
 '
 
@@ -55,6 +56,13 @@ test_expect_success 'last-modified recursive' '
 	EOF
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'last-modified on annotated tag' '
+	check_last_modified t2 <<-\EOF
+	2 a
+	1 file
+	EOF
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'last-modified recursive with show-trees' '
 	check_last_modified -r -t <<-\EOF
 	3 a/b
@@ -235,4 +243,9 @@ test_expect_success 'last-modified complains about unknown arguments' '
 	grep "unknown last-modified argument: --foo" err
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'last-modified expects commit-ish' '
+	test_must_fail git last-modified HEAD^{tree} 2>err &&
+	grep "revision argument is not a commit-ish" err
+'
+
 test_done