diff --git a/RecoTracker/FinalTrackSelectors/plugins/TrackListMerger.cc b/RecoTracker/FinalTrackSelectors/plugins/TrackListMerger.cc
index afa5c02518d2e..fbe6a2e5db130 100644
--- a/RecoTracker/FinalTrackSelectors/plugins/TrackListMerger.cc
+++ b/RecoTracker/FinalTrackSelectors/plugins/TrackListMerger.cc
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class dso_hidden TrackListMerger : public edm::stream::EDProducer<> {
 public:
   explicit TrackListMerger(const edm::ParameterSet& conf);
 
-  ~TrackListMerger() override;
+  ~TrackListMerger() override = default;
 
   void produce(edm::Event& e, const edm::EventSetup& c) override;
 
@@ -300,9 +300,6 @@ TrackListMerger::TrackListMerger(edm::ParameterSet const& conf) {
   }
 }
 
-// Virtual destructor needed.
-TrackListMerger::~TrackListMerger() {}
-
 // Functions that gets called by framework every event
 void TrackListMerger::produce(edm::Event& e, const edm::EventSetup& es) {
   // extract tracker geometry
@@ -336,6 +333,41 @@ void TrackListMerger::produce(edm::Event& e, const edm::EventSetup& es) {
     }
   }
 
+  // output empty collections and early return
+  if (trackColls.empty()) {
+    if (trkQualMod_) {
+      auto vm = std::make_unique<edm::ValueMap<int>>();
+      e.put(std::move(vm));
+      auto quals = std::make_unique<QualityMaskCollection>();
+      e.put(std::move(quals), "QualityMasks");
+    } else {
+      auto outputTrks = std::make_unique<reco::TrackCollection>();
+      e.put(std::move(outputTrks));
+
+      if (makeReKeyedSeeds_) {
+        auto outputSeeds = std::make_unique<TrajectorySeedCollection>();
+        e.put(std::move(outputSeeds));
+      }
+
+      if (copyExtras_) {
+        auto outputTrkExtras = std::make_unique<reco::TrackExtraCollection>();
+        auto outputTrkHits = std::make_unique<TrackingRecHitCollection>();
+        e.put(std::move(outputTrkExtras));
+        e.put(std::move(outputTrkHits));
+      }
+
+      auto outputTrajs = std::make_unique<std::vector<Trajectory>>();
+      outputTTAss = std::make_unique<TrajTrackAssociationCollection>();
+      e.put(std::move(outputTrajs));
+      e.put(std::move(outputTTAss));
+    }
+    auto vmMVA = std::make_unique<edm::ValueMap<float>>();
+    e.put(std::move(vmMVA), "MVAVals");
+    auto mvas = std::make_unique<MVACollection>();
+    e.put(std::move(mvas), "MVAValues");
+    return;
+  }
+
   unsigned int collsSize = trackColls.size();
   unsigned int rSize = 0;
   unsigned int trackCollSizes[collsSize];