diff --git a/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/opcodes/memory.ts b/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/opcodes/memory.ts
index 9420c03b4884..c82898cbde98 100644
--- a/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/opcodes/memory.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/opcodes/memory.ts
@@ -13,42 +13,42 @@ export class Set extends Instruction {
     OperandType.UINT8, // opcode
     OperandType.UINT8, // indirect
     OperandType.UINT8, // dstOffset
-    OperandType.UINT8, // tag
+    OperandType.TAG, // tag
     OperandType.UINT8, // const (value)
   ];
   public static readonly wireFormat16: OperandType[] = [
     OperandType.UINT8, // opcode
     OperandType.UINT8, // indirect
     OperandType.UINT16, // dstOffset
-    OperandType.UINT8, // tag
+    OperandType.TAG, // tag
     OperandType.UINT16, // const (value)
   ];
   public static readonly wireFormat32: OperandType[] = [
     OperandType.UINT8, // opcode
     OperandType.UINT8, // indirect
     OperandType.UINT16, // dstOffset
-    OperandType.UINT8, // tag
+    OperandType.TAG, // tag
     OperandType.UINT32, // const (value)
   ];
   public static readonly wireFormat64: OperandType[] = [
     OperandType.UINT8, // opcode
     OperandType.UINT8, // indirect
     OperandType.UINT16, // dstOffset
-    OperandType.UINT8, // tag
+    OperandType.TAG, // tag
     OperandType.UINT64, // const (value)
   ];
   public static readonly wireFormat128: OperandType[] = [
     OperandType.UINT8, // opcode
     OperandType.UINT8, // indirect
     OperandType.UINT16, // dstOffset
-    OperandType.UINT8, // tag
+    OperandType.TAG, // tag
     OperandType.UINT128, // const (value)
   ];
   public static readonly wireFormatFF: OperandType[] = [
     OperandType.UINT8, // opcode
     OperandType.UINT8, // indirect
     OperandType.UINT16, // dstOffset
-    OperandType.UINT8, // tag
+    OperandType.TAG, // tag
     OperandType.FF, // const (value)
   ];
 
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@ export class Set extends Instruction {
     private value: bigint | number,
   ) {
     super();
-    TaggedMemory.checkIsValidTag(inTag);
   }
 
   public async execute(context: AvmContext): Promise<void> {
@@ -85,19 +84,18 @@ export class Cast extends Instruction {
     OperandType.UINT8,
     OperandType.UINT8,
     OperandType.UINT8,
-    OperandType.UINT8,
+    OperandType.TAG,
   ];
   static readonly wireFormat16 = [
     OperandType.UINT8,
     OperandType.UINT8,
     OperandType.UINT16,
     OperandType.UINT16,
-    OperandType.UINT8,
+    OperandType.TAG,
   ];
 
   constructor(private indirect: number, private srcOffset: number, private dstOffset: number, private dstTag: number) {
     super();
-    TaggedMemory.checkIsValidTag(dstTag);
   }
 
   public async execute(context: AvmContext): Promise<void> {
diff --git a/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/serialization/bytecode_serialization.test.ts b/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/serialization/bytecode_serialization.test.ts
index 7704c2ec6698..0dd6af56263f 100644
--- a/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/serialization/bytecode_serialization.test.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/serialization/bytecode_serialization.test.ts
@@ -179,6 +179,22 @@ describe('Bytecode Serialization', () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it('Should throw an AvmParsingError while deserializing an incomplete instruction and a wrong tag value', () => {
+    const decodeIncomplete = (truncated: Buffer) => {
+      return () => decodeFromBytecode(truncated);
+    };
+
+    const bufSet16Truncated = Buffer.from([
+      Opcode.SET_16, //opcode
+      0x02, // indirect
+      ...Buffer.from('3456', 'hex'), // dstOffset
+      0x09, //tag (invalid)
+      // We should have a 16-bit value here (truncation)
+    ]);
+
+    expect(decodeIncomplete(bufSet16Truncated)).toThrow(AvmParsingError);
+  });
+
   it('Should throw an InvalidTagValueError while deserializing a tag value out of range', () => {
     const decodeInvalidTag = (buf: Buffer) => {
       return () => decodeFromBytecode(buf);
diff --git a/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/serialization/instruction_serialization.ts b/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/serialization/instruction_serialization.ts
index f1287c63f013..14e0a7812127 100644
--- a/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/serialization/instruction_serialization.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/simulator/src/public/avm/serialization/instruction_serialization.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { strict as assert } from 'assert';
 
+import { TaggedMemory } from '../avm_memory_types.js';
 import { BufferCursor } from './buffer_cursor.js';
 
 /**
@@ -103,8 +104,12 @@ export enum OperandType {
   UINT64,
   UINT128,
   FF,
+  TAG,
 }
 
+// Define a type that represents the possible types of the deserialized values.
+type DeserializedValue = number | bigint;
+
 type OperandNativeType = number | bigint;
 type OperandWriter = (value: any) => void;
 
@@ -116,6 +121,7 @@ const OPERAND_SPEC = new Map<OperandType, [number, (offset: number) => OperandNa
   [OperandType.UINT64, [8, Buffer.prototype.readBigInt64BE, Buffer.prototype.writeBigInt64BE]],
   [OperandType.UINT128, [16, readBigInt128BE, writeBigInt128BE]],
   [OperandType.FF, [32, readBigInt254BE, writeBigInt254BE]],
+  [OperandType.TAG, [1, Buffer.prototype.readUint8, Buffer.prototype.writeUint8]],
 ]);
 
 function readBigInt254BE(this: Buffer, offset: number): bigint {
@@ -160,19 +166,30 @@ function writeBigInt128BE(this: Buffer, value: bigint): void {
  * @param operands Specification of the operand types.
  * @returns An array as big as {@code operands}, with the converted TS values.
  */
-export function deserialize(cursor: BufferCursor | Buffer, operands: OperandType[]): (number | bigint)[] {
-  const argValues = [];
+export function deserialize(cursor: BufferCursor | Buffer, operands: OperandType[]): DeserializedValue[] {
+  const argValues: DeserializedValue[] = [];
   if (Buffer.isBuffer(cursor)) {
     cursor = new BufferCursor(cursor);
   }
 
-  for (const op of operands) {
-    const opType = op;
+  for (const opType of operands) {
     const [sizeBytes, reader, _writer] = OPERAND_SPEC.get(opType)!;
-    argValues.push(reader.call(cursor.buffer(), cursor.position()));
+    const value = reader.call(cursor.buffer(), cursor.position());
+    argValues.push(value);
     cursor.advance(sizeBytes);
   }
 
+  // We first want to detect other parsing errors (e.g., instruction size
+  // is longer than remaining bytes) first and therefore tag validation is done after completion
+  // of parsing above. Order of errors need to match with circuit.
+  for (let i = 0; i < operands.length; i++) {
+    if (operands[i] === OperandType.TAG) {
+      // We parsed a single byte (readUInt8()) and therefore value is of number type (not bigint)
+      // We need to cast to number because checkIsValidTag expects a number.
+      TaggedMemory.checkIsValidTag(Number(argValues[i]) ?? 0);
+    }
+  }
+
   return argValues;
 }