diff --git a/package/busybox/busybox.mk b/package/busybox/busybox.mk
index 270dcc1416..ff2e4c770c 100644
--- a/package/busybox/busybox.mk
+++ b/package/busybox/busybox.mk
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ BUSYBOX_LDFLAGS = \
 
 # Packages that provide commands that may also be busybox applets:
 BUSYBOX_DEPENDENCIES = \
+	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_TAR),tar) \
 	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_TFTPD),tftpd) \
 	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_TRACEROUTE),traceroute) \
 	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_UNZIP),unzip) \
diff --git a/package/tar/tar.mk b/package/tar/tar.mk
index 9942e77737..6f609d7a02 100644
--- a/package/tar/tar.mk
+++ b/package/tar/tar.mk
@@ -8,16 +8,11 @@ TAR_VERSION = 1.29
 TAR_SOURCE = tar-$(TAR_VERSION).tar.xz
 TAR_SITE = $(BR2_GNU_MIRROR)/tar
 # busybox installs in /bin, so we need tar to install as well in /bin
-# so that it overrides the Busybox symlinks.
+# so that we don't end up with two different tar
 TAR_CONF_OPTS = --exec-prefix=/
 TAR_LICENSE = GPL-3.0+
 TAR_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 
-# Prefer full-blown tar over buybox's version
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX),y)
-TAR_DEPENDENCIES += busybox
-endif
-
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ACL),y)
 TAR_DEPENDENCIES += acl
 TAR_CONF_OPTS += --with-posix-acls