diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/BaseHapiFhirDao.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/BaseHapiFhirDao.java
index 185327502d1..838228019c3 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/BaseHapiFhirDao.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/BaseHapiFhirDao.java
@@ -109,7 +109,6 @@
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.NotImplementedException;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
-import org.apache.commons.lang3.builder.EqualsBuilder;
 import org.hl7.fhir.instance.model.api.IAnyResource;
 import org.hl7.fhir.instance.model.api.IBase;
 import org.hl7.fhir.instance.model.api.IBaseCoding;
@@ -292,7 +291,7 @@ private void extractHapiTags(
 						next.getVersion(),
 						myCodingSpy.getBooleanObject(next));
 				if (def != null) {
-					ResourceTag tag = maybeAddTagToEntity(theEntity, def);
+					ResourceTag tag = theEntity.addTag(def);
 					allDefs.add(tag);
 					theEntity.setHasTags(true);
 				}
@@ -311,7 +310,7 @@ private void extractHapiTags(
 						next.getVersionElement().getValue(),
 						next.getUserSelectedElement().getValue());
 				if (def != null) {
-					ResourceTag tag = maybeAddTagToEntity(theEntity, def);
+					ResourceTag tag = theEntity.addTag(def);
 					allDefs.add(tag);
 					theEntity.setHasTags(true);
 				}
@@ -324,7 +323,7 @@ private void extractHapiTags(
 				TagDefinition def = cacheTagDefinitionDao.getTagOrNull(
 						theTransactionDetails, TagTypeEnum.PROFILE, NS_JPA_PROFILE, next.getValue(), null, null, null);
 				if (def != null) {
-					ResourceTag tag = maybeAddTagToEntity(theEntity, def);
+					ResourceTag tag = theEntity.addTag(def);
 					allDefs.add(tag);
 					theEntity.setHasTags(true);
 				}
@@ -349,7 +348,7 @@ private void extractRiTags(
 						next.getVersion(),
 						myCodingSpy.getBooleanObject(next));
 				if (def != null) {
-					ResourceTag tag = maybeAddTagToEntity(theEntity, def);
+					ResourceTag tag = theEntity.addTag(def);
 					theAllTags.add(tag);
 					theEntity.setHasTags(true);
 				}
@@ -368,7 +367,7 @@ private void extractRiTags(
 						next.getVersion(),
 						myCodingSpy.getBooleanObject(next));
 				if (def != null) {
-					ResourceTag tag = maybeAddTagToEntity(theEntity, def);
+					ResourceTag tag = theEntity.addTag(def);
 					theAllTags.add(tag);
 					theEntity.setHasTags(true);
 				}
@@ -381,7 +380,7 @@ private void extractRiTags(
 				TagDefinition def = cacheTagDefinitionDao.getTagOrNull(
 						theTransactionDetails, TagTypeEnum.PROFILE, NS_JPA_PROFILE, next.getValue(), null, null, null);
 				if (def != null) {
-					ResourceTag tag = maybeAddTagToEntity(theEntity, def);
+					ResourceTag tag = theEntity.addTag(def);
 					theAllTags.add(tag);
 					theEntity.setHasTags(true);
 				}
@@ -401,42 +400,13 @@ private void extractProfileTags(
 				TagDefinition profileDef = cacheTagDefinitionDao.getTagOrNull(
 						theTransactionDetails, TagTypeEnum.PROFILE, NS_JPA_PROFILE, profile, null, null, null);
 
-				ResourceTag tag = maybeAddTagToEntity(theEntity, profileDef);
+				ResourceTag tag = theEntity.addTag(profileDef);
 				theAllTags.add(tag);
 				theEntity.setHasTags(true);
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Utility method adding <code>theTagDefToAdd</code> to <code>theEntity</code>. Since the database may contain
-	 * duplicate tagDefinitions, we perform a logical comparison, i.e. we don't care about the tagDefiniton.id, and add
-	 * the tag to the entity only if the entity does not already have that tag.
-	 *
-	 * @param theEntity receiving the tagDefinition
-	 * @param theTagDefToAdd to theEntity
-	 * @return <code>theTagDefToAdd</code> wrapped in a resourceTag if it was added to <code>theEntity</code> or <code>theEntity</code>'s
-	 * resourceTag encapsulating a tagDefinition that is logically equal to theTagDefToAdd.
-	 */
-	private ResourceTag maybeAddTagToEntity(ResourceTable theEntity, TagDefinition theTagDefToAdd) {
-		for (ResourceTag resourceTagFromEntity : theEntity.getTags()) {
-			TagDefinition tag = resourceTagFromEntity.getTag();
-			EqualsBuilder equalsBuilder = new EqualsBuilder();
-			equalsBuilder.append(tag.getSystem(), theTagDefToAdd.getSystem());
-			equalsBuilder.append(tag.getCode(), theTagDefToAdd.getCode());
-			equalsBuilder.append(tag.getDisplay(), theTagDefToAdd.getDisplay());
-			equalsBuilder.append(tag.getVersion(), theTagDefToAdd.getVersion());
-			equalsBuilder.append(tag.getUserSelected(), theTagDefToAdd.getUserSelected());
-			equalsBuilder.append(tag.getTagType(), theTagDefToAdd.getTagType());
-
-			if (equalsBuilder.isEquals()) {
-				return resourceTagFromEntity;
-			}
-		}
-
-		return theEntity.addTag(theTagDefToAdd);
-	}
-
 	private Set<ResourceTag> getAllTagDefinitions(ResourceTable theEntity) {
 		HashSet<ResourceTag> retVal = Sets.newHashSet();
 		if (theEntity.isHasTags()) {
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-model/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/model/entity/TagDefinition.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-model/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/model/entity/TagDefinition.java
index 8f650e03bdd..f6066b7294a 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-model/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/model/entity/TagDefinition.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-model/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/model/entity/TagDefinition.java
@@ -192,17 +192,11 @@ public boolean equals(Object obj) {
 		TagDefinition other = (TagDefinition) obj;
 
 		EqualsBuilder b = new EqualsBuilder();
-
-		if (myId != null && other.myId != null) {
-			b.append(myId, other.myId);
-		} else {
-			b.append(myTagType, other.myTagType);
-			b.append(mySystem, other.mySystem);
-			b.append(myCode, other.myCode);
-			b.append(myVersion, other.myVersion);
-			b.append(myUserSelected, other.myUserSelected);
-		}
-
+		b.append(myTagType, other.myTagType);
+		b.append(mySystem, other.mySystem);
+		b.append(myCode, other.myCode);
+		b.append(myVersion, other.myVersion);
+		b.append(myUserSelected, other.myUserSelected);
 		return b.isEquals();
 	}