diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index bf53c4bf2..407e21d79 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 - TW-1733 taskwarrior 2.5.0 can not compile FreeBSD 10.1 (thanks to ribbon).
 - TW-1735 context with no subcommand should do something (thanks to Simon
           Michael).
+- TW-1736 Error on detection of BOM in files.
 - TW-1738 add defined languages JAPANESE (thanks to ribbon).
 - TW-1741 Warning "ignoring return value of ‘int ftruncate" while doing make on
           xubuntu15.10 (thanks to Sunil Joshi).
diff --git a/doc/man/task.1.in b/doc/man/task.1.in
index 4622fced0..cddf6b6d3 100644
--- a/doc/man/task.1.in
+++ b/doc/man/task.1.in
@@ -1212,6 +1212,9 @@ intact, so you can use:
 $ task add project:\\'Three Word Project\\' description
 .RE
 
+Taskwarrior supports Unicode using only the UTF8 encoding, with no Byte Order
+Marks in the data files.
+
 .SH CONFIGURATION FILE AND OVERRIDE OPTIONS
 Taskwarrior stores its configuration in a file in the user's home directory:
 ~/.taskrc. The default configuration file can be overridden with:
diff --git a/src/FS.cpp b/src/FS.cpp
index f7589d907..88e4d3f69 100644
--- a/src/FS.cpp
+++ b/src/FS.cpp
@@ -375,6 +375,17 @@ bool File::remove () const
   return unlink (_data.c_str ()) == 0 ? true : false;
 }
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+std::string File::removeBOM (const std::string& input)
+{
+  if (input[0] && input[0] == '\xEF' &&
+      input[1] && input[1] == '\xBB' &&
+      input[2] && input[2] == '\xBF')
+    return input.substr (3);
+
+  return input;
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 bool File::open ()
 {
@@ -457,10 +468,20 @@ void File::read (std::string& contents)
   std::ifstream in (_data.c_str ());
   if (in.good ())
   {
+    bool first = true;
     std::string line;
     line.reserve (512 * 1024);
     while (getline (in, line))
+    {
+      // Detect forbidden BOM on first line.
+      if (first)
+      {
+        line = File::removeBOM (line);
+        first = false;
+      }
+
       contents += line + "\n";
+    }
 
     in.close ();
   }
@@ -475,10 +496,20 @@ void File::read (std::vector <std::string>& contents)
   std::ifstream in (_data.c_str ());
   if (in.good ())
   {
+    bool first = true;
     std::string line;
     line.reserve (512 * 1024);
     while (getline (in, line))
+    {
+      // Detect forbidden BOM on first line.
+      if (first)
+      {
+        line = File::removeBOM (line);
+        first = false;
+      }
+
       contents.push_back (line);
+    }
 
     in.close ();
   }
@@ -627,10 +658,20 @@ bool File::read (const std::string& name, std::string& contents)
   std::ifstream in (name.c_str ());
   if (in.good ())
   {
+    bool first = true;
     std::string line;
     line.reserve (1024);
     while (getline (in, line))
+    {
+      // Detect forbidden BOM on first line.
+      if (first)
+      {
+        line = File::removeBOM (line);
+        first = false;
+      }
+
       contents += line + "\n";
+    }
 
     in.close ();
     return true;
@@ -647,10 +688,20 @@ bool File::read (const std::string& name, std::vector <std::string>& contents)
   std::ifstream in (name.c_str ());
   if (in.good ())
   {
+    bool first = true;
     std::string line;
     line.reserve (1024);
     while (getline (in, line))
+    {
+      // Detect forbidden BOM on first line.
+      if (first)
+      {
+        line = File::removeBOM (line);
+        first = false;
+      }
+
       contents.push_back (line);
+    }
 
     in.close ();
     return true;
diff --git a/src/FS.h b/src/FS.h
index bd7a8a077..db873ecf4 100644
--- a/src/FS.h
+++ b/src/FS.h
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ public:
   static bool write (const std::string&, const std::string&);
   static bool write (const std::string&, const std::vector <std::string>&, bool addNewlines = true);
   static bool remove (const std::string&);
+  static std::string removeBOM (const std::string&);
 
 private:
   FILE* _fh;
diff --git a/test/fs.t.cpp b/test/fs.t.cpp
index 5554bd40a..2a573c545 100644
--- a/test/fs.t.cpp
+++ b/test/fs.t.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 #include <cmake.h>
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <string>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <Context.h>
 #include <FS.h>
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ Context context;
 
 int main (int, char**)
 {
-  UnitTest t (112);
+  UnitTest t (116);
 
   // Ensure environment has no influence.
   unsetenv ("TASKDATA");
@@ -291,6 +292,19 @@ int main (int, char**)
   tmp.remove ();
   t.notok (tmp.exists (),           "tmp dir removed.");
 
+  // File::removeBOM
+  std::string line = "Should not be modified.";
+  t.is (File::removeBOM (line), line,  "File::removeBOM 'Should not be modified' --> 'Should not be modified'");
+
+  line = "no";
+  t.is (File::removeBOM (line), line,  "File::removeBOM 'no' --> 'no'");
+
+  line = "";
+  t.is (File::removeBOM (line), line,  "File::removeBOM '' --> ''");
+
+  line = {'\xEF', '\xBB', '\xBF', 'F', 'o', 'o'};
+  t.is (File::removeBOM (line), "Foo",  "File::removeBOM '<BOM>Foo' --> 'Foo'");
+
   return 0;
 }