diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/release/PrepareReleaseMojo.java b/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/release/PrepareReleaseMojo.java
index fbef2368d2..baa3ef69c0 100644
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/release/PrepareReleaseMojo.java
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/release/PrepareReleaseMojo.java
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ public class PrepareReleaseMojo
 
     private String userTag;
 
+    private String currentTag;
+
     protected void executeTask()
         throws MojoExecutionException
     {
@@ -254,6 +256,10 @@ public class PrepareReleaseMojo
 
         model.setVersion( projectVersion );
 
+        currentTag = model.getScm().getTag();
+
+        model.getScm().setTag( getTagLabel() );
+
         try
         {
             Properties releaseProperties = new Properties();
@@ -383,6 +389,8 @@ public class PrepareReleaseMojo
 
             model.setVersion( projectVersion );
 
+            model.getScm().setTag( currentTag );
+
             PomTransformer transformer = new VersionTransformer();
 
             transformer.setOutputFile( project.getFile() );
diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/transformer/AbstractPomTransformer.java b/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/transformer/AbstractPomTransformer.java
index d545300a12..94f2df7e9a 100644
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/transformer/AbstractPomTransformer.java
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/transformer/AbstractPomTransformer.java
@@ -207,28 +207,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractPomTransformer
     // Implementation
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-    /**
-     *
-     * @return
-     */
     public abstract String selectProjectNodeXPathExpression();
 
-    /**
-     *
-     * @return
-     */
     public abstract String selectDependenciesNodesXPathExpression();
 
-    /**
-     *
-     * @return
-     */
     public abstract String selectPluginsNodesXPathExpression();
 
-    /**
-     *
-     * @param node
-     */
+    public abstract String selectScmTagNodesXPathExpression();
+
     public abstract void transformNode( Node node );
 
     /**
@@ -255,6 +241,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractPomTransformer
 
         XPath pluginsXpath = new Dom4jXPath( selectPluginsNodesXPathExpression() );
 
+        XPath scmXpath = new Dom4jXPath( selectScmTagNodesXPathExpression() );
+
         List nodes = new ArrayList();
 
         nodes.addAll( pomXpath.selectNodes( getDocument() ) );
@@ -263,6 +251,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractPomTransformer
 
         nodes.addAll( pluginsXpath.selectNodes( getDocument() ) );
 
+        nodes.addAll( scmXpath.selectNodes( getDocument() ) );
+
         setSelectedNodes( nodes );
     }
 
diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/transformer/VersionTransformer.java b/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/transformer/VersionTransformer.java
index 449ebb70d4..5edd975686 100644
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/transformer/VersionTransformer.java
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-release-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/transformer/VersionTransformer.java
@@ -52,10 +52,16 @@ public class VersionTransformer
         return "/project/build/plugins/plugin";
     }
 
+    public String selectScmTagNodesXPathExpression()
+    {
+        return "/project/scm/tag";
+    }
+
     public void transformNode( Node node )
     {
         if ( selectProjectNodeXPathExpression().equals( node.getPath() ) )
         {
+            // Modify project version
             Element project = (Element) node;
 
             Node version = node.selectSingleNode( "version" );
@@ -71,6 +77,7 @@ public class VersionTransformer
         }
         else if ( selectDependenciesNodesXPathExpression().equals( node.getPath() ) )
         {
+            // Modify dependency version
             Element dependency = (Element) node;
 
             Node groupId = node.selectSingleNode( "groupId" );
@@ -97,8 +104,9 @@ public class VersionTransformer
                                                                            type.getText() ).getVersion() );
             }
         }
-        else
+        else if ( selectPluginsNodesXPathExpression().equals( node.getPath() ) )
         {
+            // Modify plugin version
             Element plugin = (Element) node;
 
             Node groupId = node.selectSingleNode( "groupId" );
@@ -133,6 +141,25 @@ public class VersionTransformer
                 plugin.addElement( "version" ).addText( p.getVersion() );
             }
         }
+        else
+        {
+            // Modify scm tag
+            Element scm = (Element) node;
+
+            Node tag = node.selectSingleNode( "tag" );
+
+            if ( tag == null )
+            {
+                if ( !"HEAD".equals( getUpdatedModel().getScm().getTag() ) )
+                {
+                    scm.addElement( "tag" ).addText( getUpdatedModel().getScm().getTag() );
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                tag.setText( getUpdatedModel().getScm().getTag() );
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     private Dependency getDependency( String groupId, String artifactId, String type )