diff --git a/cloud/cloudformation b/cloud/cloudformation
index 955278406b0..164f306854a 100644
--- a/cloud/cloudformation
+++ b/cloud/cloudformation
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ options:
   tags:
     description:
       - Dictionary of tags to associate with stack and it's resources during stack creation. Cannot be updated later.
+        Requires at least Boto version 2.6.0.
     required: false
     default: null
     aliases: []
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ import json
 import time
 
 try:
+    import boto
     import boto.cloudformation.connection
 except ImportError:
     print "failed=True msg='boto required for this module'"
@@ -126,6 +128,17 @@ def boto_exception(err):
     return error
 
 
+def boto_version_required(version_tuple):
+    parts = boto.Version.split('.')
+    boto_version = []
+    try:
+        for part in parts:
+            boto_version.append(int(part))
+    except:
+        boto_version.append(-1)
+    return tuple(boto_version) >= tuple(version_tuple)
+
+
 def stack_operation(cfn, stack_name, operation):
     '''gets the status of a stack while it is created/updated/deleted'''
     existed = []
@@ -190,6 +203,11 @@ def main():
         elif 'EC2_REGION' in os.environ:
             r = os.environ['EC2_REGION']
 
+    kwargs = dict()
+    if tags is not None:
+        if not boto_version_required((2,6,0)):
+            module.fail_json(msg='Module parameter "tags" requires at least Boto version 2.6.0')
+        kwargs['tags'] = tags
 
 
     # convert the template parameters ansible passes into a tuple for boto
@@ -214,7 +232,7 @@ def main():
                              template_body=template_body,
                              disable_rollback=disable_rollback,
                              capabilities=['CAPABILITY_IAM'],
-                             tags=tags)
+                             **kwargs)
             operation = 'CREATE'
         except Exception, err:
             error_msg = boto_exception(err)