diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40evf/i40evf_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40evf/i40evf_main.c
index 07f187b5bcac..c7048cf484fb 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40evf/i40evf_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40evf/i40evf_main.c
@@ -3120,18 +3120,19 @@ static int i40evf_set_features(struct net_device *netdev,
 {
 	struct i40evf_adapter *adapter = netdev_priv(netdev);
 
-	/* Don't allow changing VLAN_RX flag when VLAN is set for VF
-	 * and return an error in this case
+	/* Don't allow changing VLAN_RX flag when adapter is not capable
+	 * of VLAN offload
 	 */
-	if (VLAN_ALLOWED(adapter)) {
+	if (!VLAN_ALLOWED(adapter)) {
+		if ((netdev->features ^ features) & NETIF_F_HW_VLAN_CTAG_RX)
+			return -EINVAL;
+	} else if ((netdev->features ^ features) & NETIF_F_HW_VLAN_CTAG_RX) {
 		if (features & NETIF_F_HW_VLAN_CTAG_RX)
 			adapter->aq_required |=
 				I40EVF_FLAG_AQ_ENABLE_VLAN_STRIPPING;
 		else
 			adapter->aq_required |=
 				I40EVF_FLAG_AQ_DISABLE_VLAN_STRIPPING;
-	} else if ((netdev->features ^ features) & NETIF_F_HW_VLAN_CTAG_RX) {
-		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
 	return 0;