diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/internal/CLIText.properties b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/internal/CLIText.properties
index b9982fe6a..47716149b 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/internal/CLIText.properties
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/internal/CLIText.properties
@@ -289,6 +289,7 @@ usage_Status=Show the working tree status
 usage_StopTrackingAFile=Stop tracking a file
 usage_TextHashFunctions=Scan repository to compute maximum number of collisions for hash functions
 usage_UpdateRemoteRepositoryFromLocalRefs=Update remote repository from local refs
+usage_UseTags=Use any tag including lightweight tags
 usage_WriteDirCache=Write the DirCache
 usage_abbrevCommits=abbreviate commits to N + 1 digits
 usage_abortConnectionIfNoActivity=abort connection if no activity
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Describe.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Describe.java
index d89fee623..6d7df9767 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Describe.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Describe.java
@@ -65,6 +65,9 @@ class Describe extends TextBuiltin {
 	@Option(name = "--long", usage = "usage_LongFormat")
 	private boolean longDesc;
 
+	@Option(name = "--tags", usage = "usage_UseTags")
+	private boolean useTags;
+
 	@Option(name = "--match", usage = "usage_Match", metaVar = "metaVar_pattern")
 	private List<String> patterns = new ArrayList<>();
 
@@ -77,6 +80,7 @@ protected void run() {
 				cmd.setTarget(tree);
 			}
 			cmd.setLong(longDesc);
+			cmd.setTags(useTags);
 			cmd.setMatch(patterns.toArray(new String[0]));
 			String result = null;
 			try {