diff --git a/on-modify.timewarrior b/on-modify.timewarrior
index c01acd5..f4898ef 100755
--- a/on-modify.timewarrior
+++ b/on-modify.timewarrior
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ if 'project' in new:
 if 'tags' in new:
   tags.extend(new['tags'])
 
-combined = ' '.join(['"%s"' % tag for tag in tags])
+combined = ' '.join(['"%s"' % tag for tag in tags]).encode('utf-8').strip()
 
 # Started task.
 if 'start' in new and not 'start' in old: