diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilder.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilder.java
index 57391c4c40..d7ce5f52e8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilder.java
@@ -397,10 +397,13 @@ private void filtersAsIs(final Set<String> filters) {
     /**
      * {@link #filters}
      *
-     * @param filters  Set of strings to set as the filters for this builder
+     * @param filters  Strings to set as the filters for this builder
      * @return this builder
      */
     public VariantContextBuilder filters(final String ... filters) {
+        if(filters == null){
+            this.unfiltered();
+        }
         filtersAsIs(new LinkedHashSet<>(Arrays.asList(filters)));
         return this;
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/htsjdk/variant/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilderTest.java b/src/test/java/htsjdk/variant/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilderTest.java
index 532039acc5..85cb25ac93 100644
--- a/src/test/java/htsjdk/variant/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilderTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/htsjdk/variant/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilderTest.java
@@ -329,6 +329,19 @@ public void testCantCreateNullFilter(){
         builder.filters((String)null);
         builder.make();
     }
-    
+
+    @Test
+    public void testNullFilterArray(){
+        final VariantContextBuilder builder = new VariantContextBuilder("source", "contig", 1, 1, Arrays.asList(Tref, C, G)).filter("TEST");
+        builder.filters((String[])null);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testNullFilterSet(){
+        final VariantContextBuilder builder = new VariantContextBuilder("source", "contig", 1, 1, Arrays.asList(Tref, C, G)).filter("TEST");
+        builder.filters((Set<String>)null);
+        builder.make();
+    }
+
 
 }