diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/project/RefUtil.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/project/RefUtil.java
index dc8cdc7..797756b 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/project/RefUtil.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/project/RefUtil.java
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@
     return Constants.R_HEADS;
   }
 
+  /** Fully qualifies a tag name to refs/tags/TAG-NAME */
   public static String normalizeTagRef(String tag) throws BadRequestException {
     String result = tag;
     while (result.startsWith("/")) {
diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/restapi/project/DeleteTag.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/restapi/project/DeleteTag.java
index 545b752..8d0a3d3 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/restapi/project/DeleteTag.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/restapi/project/DeleteTag.java
@@ -14,10 +14,8 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.server.restapi.project;
 
-import static com.google.gerrit.entities.RefNames.isConfigRef;
-
+import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.common.Input;
-import com.google.gerrit.extensions.restapi.MethodNotAllowedException;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.restapi.Response;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.restapi.RestApiException;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.restapi.RestModifyView;
@@ -27,6 +25,7 @@
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants;
 
 @Singleton
 public class DeleteTag implements RestModifyView<TagResource, Input> {
@@ -43,10 +42,7 @@
       throws RestApiException, IOException, PermissionBackendException {
     String tag = RefUtil.normalizeTagRef(resource.getTagInfo().ref);
 
-    if (isConfigRef(tag)) {
-      // Never allow to delete the meta config branch.
-      throw new MethodNotAllowedException("not allowed to delete " + tag);
-    }
+    Preconditions.checkState(tag.startsWith(Constants.R_TAGS));
 
     deleteRef.deleteSingleRef(resource.getProjectState(), tag);
     return Response.none();