diff --git a/plugin/modelgen/models.go b/plugin/modelgen/models.go
index 851c4b53db5..c18548ed7ea 100644
--- a/plugin/modelgen/models.go
+++ b/plugin/modelgen/models.go
@@ -388,8 +388,9 @@ func (m *Plugin) generateFields(cfg *config.Config, schemaType *ast.Definition)
 	return fields, nil
 }
 
-// GoTagFieldHook prepend the goTag directive to the generated Field f. When applying the Tag to the field, the field
-// name is used when no value argument is present.
+// GoTagFieldHook prepends the goTag directive to the generated Field f.
+// When applying the Tag to the field, the field
+// name is used if no value argument is present.
 func GoTagFieldHook(td *ast.Definition, fd *ast.FieldDefinition, f *Field) (*Field, error) {
 	args := make([]string, 0)
 	for _, goTag := range fd.Directives.ForNames("goTag") {
@@ -412,15 +413,12 @@ func GoTagFieldHook(td *ast.Definition, fd *ast.FieldDefinition, f *Field) (*Fie
 	}
 
 	if len(args) > 0 {
-		f.Tag = strings.Join(args, " ") + " " + f.Tag
+		f.Tag = removeDuplicateTags(strings.Join(args, " ") + " " + f.Tag)
 	}
 
-	f.Tag = removeDuplicateTags(f.Tag)
-
 	return f, nil
 }
 
-// removeDuplicateTags removes duplicate tags
 func removeDuplicateTags(t string) string {
 	processed := make(map[string]bool)
 	tt := strings.Split(t, " ")
@@ -434,9 +432,9 @@ func removeDuplicateTags(t string) string {
 
 		processed[kv[0]] = true
 		if len(returnTags) > 0 {
-			returnTags = returnTags + " "
+			returnTags += " "
 		}
-		returnTags = returnTags + kv[0] + ":" + kv[1]
+		returnTags += kv[0] + ":" + kv[1]
 	}
 
 	return returnTags
diff --git a/plugin/modelgen/models_test.go b/plugin/modelgen/models_test.go
index 8058d5f5985..bb08a379db9 100644
--- a/plugin/modelgen/models_test.go
+++ b/plugin/modelgen/models_test.go
@@ -82,14 +82,14 @@ func TestModelGeneration(t *testing.T) {
 		fileText := string(file)
 
 		expectedTags := []string{
-			`json:"name" anotherTag:"tag"`,
-			`json:"enum" yetAnotherTag:"12"`,
-			`json:"noVal" yaml:"noVal"`,
-			`json:"repeated" someTag:"value" repeated:"true"`,
+			`anotherTag:"tag" json:"name"`,
+			`yetAnotherTag:"12" json:"enum"`,
+			`yaml:"noVal" repeated:"true" json:"noVal"`,
+			`someTag:"value" repeated:"true" json:"repeated"`,
 		}
 
 		for _, tag := range expectedTags {
-			require.True(t, strings.Contains(fileText, tag))
+			require.True(t, strings.Contains(fileText, tag), tag)
 		}
 	})
 
diff --git a/plugin/modelgen/out/generated.go b/plugin/modelgen/out/generated.go
index c968c466dc4..32d1c0a1ca1 100644
--- a/plugin/modelgen/out/generated.go
+++ b/plugin/modelgen/out/generated.go
@@ -106,10 +106,10 @@ type CyclicalB struct {
 }
 
 type FieldMutationHook struct {
-	Name     *string       `json:"name" anotherTag:"tag" database:"FieldMutationHookname"`
-	Enum     *ExistingEnum `json:"enum" yetAnotherTag:"12" database:"FieldMutationHookenum"`
-	NoVal    *string       `json:"noVal" yaml:"noVal" repeated:"true" database:"FieldMutationHooknoVal"`
-	Repeated *string       `json:"repeated" someTag:"value" repeated:"true" database:"FieldMutationHookrepeated"`
+	Name     *string       `anotherTag:"tag" json:"name" database:"FieldMutationHookname"`
+	Enum     *ExistingEnum `yetAnotherTag:"12" json:"enum" database:"FieldMutationHookenum"`
+	NoVal    *string       `yaml:"noVal" repeated:"true" json:"noVal" database:"FieldMutationHooknoVal"`
+	Repeated *string       `someTag:"value" repeated:"true" json:"repeated" database:"FieldMutationHookrepeated"`
 }
 
 type ImplArrayOfA struct {
diff --git a/plugin/modelgen/out_struct_pointers/generated.go b/plugin/modelgen/out_struct_pointers/generated.go
index 955049d7b91..6d429db1e6f 100644
--- a/plugin/modelgen/out_struct_pointers/generated.go
+++ b/plugin/modelgen/out_struct_pointers/generated.go
@@ -88,10 +88,10 @@ type CyclicalB struct {
 }
 
 type FieldMutationHook struct {
-	Name     *string       `json:"name" anotherTag:"tag" database:"FieldMutationHookname"`
+	Name     *string       `anotherTag:"tag" json:"name" database:"FieldMutationHookname"`
 	Enum     *ExistingEnum `yetAnotherTag:"12" json:"enum" database:"FieldMutationHookenum"`
-	NoVal    *string       `repeated:"true" json:"noVal" yaml:"noVal" database:"FieldMutationHooknoVal"`
-	Repeated *string       `json:"repeated" someTag:"value" repeated:"true" database:"FieldMutationHookrepeated"`
+	NoVal    *string       `yaml:"noVal" repeated:"true" json:"noVal" database:"FieldMutationHooknoVal"`
+	Repeated *string       `someTag:"value" repeated:"true" json:"repeated" database:"FieldMutationHookrepeated"`
 }
 
 type ImplArrayOfA struct {