diff --git a/tags/tags-impl/impl/src/java/org/sakaiproject/tags/impl/rest/TagServiceEntityProvider.java b/tags/tags-impl/impl/src/java/org/sakaiproject/tags/impl/rest/TagServiceEntityProvider.java
index 2ec7c58bbf52..357054326900 100644
--- a/tags/tags-impl/impl/src/java/org/sakaiproject/tags/impl/rest/TagServiceEntityProvider.java
+++ b/tags/tags-impl/impl/src/java/org/sakaiproject/tags/impl/rest/TagServiceEntityProvider.java
@@ -217,16 +217,15 @@ public JSONObject getTagsPaginatedByPrefixInLabel(EntityView view, Map<String, O
 
     @EntityCustomAction(action = "getTagsByItemId", viewKey = EntityView.VIEW_LIST)
     public JSONObject getTagsByItemId(EntityView view, Map<String, Object> params) {
-        try {
-            WrappedParams wp = new WrappedParams(params);
-            String itemId = wp.getString("itemId");
-            String siteId = wp.getString("siteId");
+        WrappedParams wp = new WrappedParams(params);
+        String itemId = wp.getString("itemId");
+        String siteId = wp.getString("siteId");
 
+        try {
             List<Tag> tagList = tagService().getAssociatedTagsForItem(siteId, itemId);
-
             return buildtagJsonOject(tagList, tagList.size());
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            log.error("Error calling getTagsByItemId:", e);
+            log.error("Could not get tag with itemId={} in site={}, {}", itemId, siteId, e);
             return null;
         }
     }