diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_attr_item.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_attr_item.c
index 36fe2abb16e6..11e88a76a33c 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_attr_item.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_attr_item.c
@@ -329,6 +329,13 @@ xfs_xattri_finish_update(
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	/* If an attr removal is trivially complete, we're done. */
+	if (attr->xattri_op_flags == XFS_ATTRI_OP_FLAGS_REMOVE &&
+	    !xfs_inode_hasattr(args->dp)) {
+		error = 0;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
 	error = xfs_attr_set_iter(attr);
 	if (!error && attr->xattri_dela_state != XFS_DAS_DONE)
 		error = -EAGAIN;
@@ -608,8 +615,6 @@ xfs_attri_item_recover(
 			attr->xattri_dela_state = xfs_attr_init_add_state(args);
 		break;
 	case XFS_ATTRI_OP_FLAGS_REMOVE:
-		if (!xfs_inode_hasattr(args->dp))
-			goto out;
 		attr->xattri_dela_state = xfs_attr_init_remove_state(args);
 		break;
 	default: