diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_backup.c b/src/qemu/qemu_backup.c
index e7358082d5..c47de2f4a8 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_backup.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_backup.c
@@ -750,12 +750,6 @@ qemuBackupBegin(virDomainObjPtr vm,
 
     virCheckFlags(VIR_DOMAIN_BACKUP_BEGIN_REUSE_EXTERNAL, -1);
 
-    if (!virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_INCREMENTAL_BACKUP)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                       _("incremental backup is not supported yet"));
-        return -1;
-    }
-
     if (!(def = virDomainBackupDefParseString(backupXML, priv->driver->xmlopt, 0)))
         return -1;
 
@@ -793,6 +787,12 @@ qemuBackupBegin(virDomainObjPtr vm,
         goto endjob;
     }
 
+    if (!virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_INCREMENTAL_BACKUP)) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                       _("incremental backup is not supported yet"));
+        goto endjob;
+    }
+
     if (priv->backup) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID, "%s",
                        _("another backup job is already running"));