diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_block.c b/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
index d4ff37ced6..26c1b42428 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
@@ -2981,7 +2981,7 @@ qemuBlockGetBitmapMergeActions(virStorageSourcePtr topsrc,
 
     if (!(bitmaps = qemuBlockGetBitmapMergeActionsGetBitmaps(topsrc, bitmapname,
                                                              blockNamedNodeData)))
-        return 0;
+        goto done;
 
     for (next = bitmaps; next; next = next->next) {
         const char *curbitmap = next->data;
@@ -3038,6 +3038,7 @@ qemuBlockGetBitmapMergeActions(virStorageSourcePtr topsrc,
             return -1;
     }
 
+ done:
     if (writebitmapsrc &&
         qemuMonitorTransactionBitmapRemove(act, writebitmapsrc->nodeformat,
                                            "libvirt-tmp-activewrite") < 0)
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcommit/empty b/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcommit/empty
index 9260011852..eddef0ddcd 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcommit/empty
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcommit/empty
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
 merge bitmpas:
+[
+  {
+    "type": "block-dirty-bitmap-remove",
+    "data": {
+      "node": "libvirt-2-format",
+      "name": "libvirt-tmp-activewrite"
+    }
+  }
+]
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcopy/empty-deep-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcopy/empty-deep-out.json
index e69de29bb2..99f2589ed4 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcopy/empty-deep-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcopy/empty-deep-out.json
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[
+  {
+    "type": "block-dirty-bitmap-remove",
+    "data": {
+      "node": "mirror-format-node",
+      "name": "libvirt-tmp-activewrite"
+    }
+  }
+]
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcopy/empty-shallow-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcopy/empty-shallow-out.json
index e69de29bb2..99f2589ed4 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcopy/empty-shallow-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/bitmapblockcopy/empty-shallow-out.json
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[
+  {
+    "type": "block-dirty-bitmap-remove",
+    "data": {
+      "node": "mirror-format-node",
+      "name": "libvirt-tmp-activewrite"
+    }
+  }
+]