diff --git a/roles/sanity_check/tasks/subtasks/tags_check.yml b/roles/sanity_check/tasks/subtasks/tags_check.yml
index 59bfea2606..d5984a114a 100644
--- a/roles/sanity_check/tasks/subtasks/tags_check.yml
+++ b/roles/sanity_check/tasks/subtasks/tags_check.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 - name: Ansible Tags | Load tags from cache if available
   ansible.builtin.set_fact:
-    loaded_tags: "{{ (lookup('file', '/srv/git/sb/cache.json') | from_json)['/opt/sandbox']['tags'] + sanity_check_ansible_tags_extra }}"
+    loaded_tags: "{{ (lookup('file', '/srv/git/sb/cache.json') | from_json)['/opt/sandbox']['tags'] | default([]) + sanity_check_ansible_tags_extra }}"
   when: cache_file_stat.stat.exists and (sanity_check_use_cache | bool)
 
 - name: Ansible Tags | Get all available Ansible tags if cache is not available
@@ -23,12 +23,12 @@
       | cut -d":" -f2 | awk '{sub(/\[/, "")sub(/\]/, "")}1' | sed -e 's/,//g' | xargs -n 1 | sort -u
   register: available_ansible_tags
   changed_when: false
-  when: loaded_tags is undefined
+  when: (loaded_tags is defined and ((loaded_tags | length) == (sanity_check_ansible_tags_extra | length))) or loaded_tags is undefined
 
 - name: Ansible Tags | Set loaded tags from command if cache is not available
   ansible.builtin.set_fact:
     loaded_tags: "{{ available_ansible_tags.stdout_lines }}"
-  when: loaded_tags is undefined
+  when: (loaded_tags is defined and ((loaded_tags | length) == (sanity_check_ansible_tags_extra | length))) or loaded_tags is undefined
 
 - name: Ansible Tags | Ensure valid Ansible tag(s) were provided
   ansible.builtin.assert: