diff --git a/apis/sts/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/filters/FormSignerUtils.java b/apis/sts/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/filters/FormSignerUtils.java
index 84ff04b45e..4a5d6d626c 100644
--- a/apis/sts/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/filters/FormSignerUtils.java
+++ b/apis/sts/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/filters/FormSignerUtils.java
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ package org.jclouds.aws.filters;
 
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpRequest;
 import org.jclouds.reflect.Invocation;
-import org.jclouds.rest.annotations.SinceApiVersion;
+import org.jclouds.rest.annotations.ApiVersionOverride;
 import org.jclouds.rest.internal.GeneratedHttpRequest;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Optional;
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public final class FormSignerUtils {
    private FormSignerUtils() {}
 
    /**
-    * Get the version from a @SinceApiVersion() annotation on an API method or its owning class.
+    * Get the version from a @ApiVersionOverride() annotation on an API method or its owning class.
     * @param request The API request for the method.
     * @return An optional of the value of the annotation.
     */
@@ -47,12 +47,12 @@ public final class FormSignerUtils {
 
    private static Optional<String> getAnnotatedApiVersion(Invocation invocation) {
       final Invokable<?, ?> invokable = invocation.getInvokable();
-      if (invokable.isAnnotationPresent(SinceApiVersion.class)) {
-         return Optional.fromNullable(invokable.getAnnotation(SinceApiVersion.class).value());
+      if (invokable.isAnnotationPresent(ApiVersionOverride.class)) {
+         return Optional.fromNullable(invokable.getAnnotation(ApiVersionOverride.class).value());
       } else {
          final Class<?> owner = invokable.getOwnerType().getRawType();
-         if (owner.isAnnotationPresent(SinceApiVersion.class)) {
-            return Optional.fromNullable(owner.getAnnotation(SinceApiVersion.class).value());
+         if (owner.isAnnotationPresent(ApiVersionOverride.class)) {
+            return Optional.fromNullable(owner.getAnnotation(ApiVersionOverride.class).value());
          }
       }
       return Optional.absent();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/annotations/ApiVersionOverride.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/annotations/ApiVersionOverride.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0307806b5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/annotations/ApiVersionOverride.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.jclouds.rest.annotations;
+
+import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.METHOD;
+import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME;
+
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.Target;
+
+import javax.inject.Qualifier;
+
+
+/**
+ * @Deprecated The intention is to use @SinceApiVersion for this purpose, but that would affect
+ * a number of APIs, and we would want to have good test coverage before merging that change
+ * (in {@link FormSignerUtils#getAnnotatedApiVersion}). However, there is some issue with certain tests at
+ * present that means we cannot successfully test all APIs that make use of @SinceApiVersion in order
+ * to assure ourselves that FormSignerUtils will not introduce some problem. See
+ * <a href="https://github.com/jclouds/jclouds/pull/1102#issuecomment-302682049">
+ *    comments on github</a> for details
+ * This annotation is introduced as a temporary measure in order to decouple the functionality of
+ * {@link FormSignerUtils#getAnnotatedApiVersion} from @SinceApiVersion and the tests in question.
+ * It can be removed and replaced by @SinceApiVersion when those tests are fixed.
+ *
+ * Designates that a method overrides the {@link ApiVersion} on the class with a specific value.
+ *
+ * @see ApiVersion
+ */
+@Deprecated
+@Target({ METHOD })
+@Retention(RUNTIME)
+@Qualifier
+public @interface ApiVersionOverride {
+
+   /**
+    * Value to override the default {@link ApiVersion}.
+    *
+    */
+   String value();
+
+}
diff --git a/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/features/AWSSubnetApi.java b/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/features/AWSSubnetApi.java
index b0f245acb2..f11699bd79 100644
--- a/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/features/AWSSubnetApi.java
+++ b/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/features/AWSSubnetApi.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import org.jclouds.ec2.xml.DescribeSubnetsResponseHandler;
 import org.jclouds.ec2.xml.SubnetHandler;
 import org.jclouds.javax.annotation.Nullable;
 import org.jclouds.location.functions.RegionToEndpointOrProviderIfNull;
+import org.jclouds.rest.annotations.ApiVersionOverride;
 import org.jclouds.rest.annotations.BinderParam;
 import org.jclouds.rest.annotations.EndpointParam;
 import org.jclouds.rest.annotations.Fallback;
@@ -141,7 +142,7 @@ public interface AWSSubnetApi extends SubnetApi {
     * @param options The options containing the attribute to modify. You can only modify one attribute at a time.
     * @return true if the modification was successful
     */
-   @SinceApiVersion("2014-06-15")
+   @ApiVersionOverride("2014-06-15")
    @Named("ModifySubnetAttribute")
    @POST
    @Path("/")