diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_vpc_subnet.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_vpc_subnet.py
index d73806512a..57299aba92 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_vpc_subnet.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_vpc_subnet.py
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ def main():
             az = dict(default=None, required=False),
             cidr = dict(default=None, required=True),
             state = dict(default='present', choices=['present', 'absent']),
-            tags = dict(default=None, required=False, type='dict', aliases=['resource_tags']),
+            tags = dict(default={}, required=False, type='dict', aliases=['resource_tags']),
             vpc_id = dict(default=None, required=True)
         )
     )