diff --git a/builtin/mktag.c b/builtin/mktag.c
index 373926d7e0..18b8492f4d 100644
--- a/builtin/mktag.c
+++ b/builtin/mktag.c
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 #include "builtin.h"
+#include "parse-options.h"
 #include "tag.h"
 #include "replace-object.h"
 #include "object-store.h"
 #include "fsck.h"
 #include "config.h"
 
+static char const * const builtin_mktag_usage[] = {
+	N_("git mktag"),
+	NULL
+};
+
 static struct fsck_options fsck_options = FSCK_OPTIONS_STRICT;
 
 static int mktag_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
@@ -60,13 +66,17 @@ static int verify_object_in_tag(struct object_id *tagged_oid, int *tagged_type)
 
 int cmd_mktag(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
+	static struct option builtin_mktag_options[] = {
+		OPT_END(),
+	};
 	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
 	struct object_id tagged_oid;
 	int tagged_type;
 	struct object_id result;
 
-	if (argc != 1)
-		usage("git mktag");
+	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, NULL,
+			     builtin_mktag_options,
+			     builtin_mktag_usage, 0);
 
 	if (strbuf_read(&buf, 0, 0) < 0)
 		die_errno("could not read from stdin");
diff --git a/t/t3800-mktag.sh b/t/t3800-mktag.sh
index 1fd97def33..98708659fd 100755
--- a/t/t3800-mktag.sh
+++ b/t/t3800-mktag.sh
@@ -45,6 +45,18 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	blob=$(git rev-parse --verify HEAD:B.t)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'basic usage' '
+	cat >tag.sig <<-EOF &&
+	object $head
+	type commit
+	tag mytag
+	tagger T A Gger <tagger@example.com> 1206478233 -0500
+	EOF
+	git mktag <tag.sig &&
+	git mktag --end-of-options <tag.sig &&
+	test_expect_code 129 git mktag --unknown-option
+'
+
 ############################################################
 #  1. length check