diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 76c4e53..1316c92 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -52,6 +52,14 @@
 		<sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
 		<testSourceDirectory>test</testSourceDirectory>
 		<outputDirectory>target/classes</outputDirectory>
+<testResources>
+	<testResource>
+		<directory>test</directory>
+		<includes>
+			<include>**/*.yml</include>
+		</includes>
+	</testResource>
+</testResources>
 		<plugins>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/com/esotericsoftware/yamlbeans/YamlReader.java b/src/com/esotericsoftware/yamlbeans/YamlReader.java
index f247cb6..6c510d8 100644
--- a/src/com/esotericsoftware/yamlbeans/YamlReader.java
+++ b/src/com/esotericsoftware/yamlbeans/YamlReader.java
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ private Class<?> chooseType (String tag, Class<?> defaultType, Class<?> provided
 			try {
 				Class<?> loadedFromTag = findTagClass(tag, classLoader);
 				if (loadedFromTag != null) {
-					if (!providedType.isAssignableFrom(loadedFromTag)) {
+					if (providedType != null && !providedType.isAssignableFrom(loadedFromTag)) {
 						throw new YamlReaderException("Class specified by tag is incompatible with expected type: "
 							+ loadedFromTag.getName() + " (expected " + providedType.getName() + ")");
 					}