diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/extras/cloud/cloudstack/cs_instance.py b/lib/ansible/modules/extras/cloud/cloudstack/cs_instance.py
index e08d85eea91..dc8d48ebb88 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/extras/cloud/cloudstack/cs_instance.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/extras/cloud/cloudstack/cs_instance.py
@@ -485,8 +485,10 @@ class AnsibleCloudStackInstance(AnsibleCloudStack):
             instance = self.deploy_instance()
         else:
             instance = self.update_instance(instance)
-        
-        instance = self.ensure_tags(resource=instance, resource_type='UserVm')
+
+        # In check mode, we do not necessarely have an instance
+        if instance:
+            instance = self.ensure_tags(resource=instance, resource_type='UserVm')
 
         return instance