diff --git a/azuread/config.go b/azuread/config.go
index 93b2b59eb9..aea3c2ab5b 100644
--- a/azuread/config.go
+++ b/azuread/config.go
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import (
 
 // ArmClient contains the handles to all the specific Azure ADger resource classes' respective clients.
 type ArmClient struct {
-	subscriptionID   string
 	clientID         string
 	objectID         string
 	tenantID         string
@@ -57,7 +56,6 @@ func getArmClient(authCfg *authentication.Config, tfVersion string, ctx context.
 
 	// client declarations:
 	client := ArmClient{
-		subscriptionID:   authCfg.SubscriptionID,
 		clientID:         authCfg.ClientID,
 		objectID:         objectID,
 		tenantID:         authCfg.TenantID,
diff --git a/azuread/provider.go b/azuread/provider.go
index 37d7d5572a..4e68aa87b2 100644
--- a/azuread/provider.go
+++ b/azuread/provider.go
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@ import (
 func Provider() terraform.ResourceProvider {
 	p := &schema.Provider{
 		Schema: map[string]*schema.Schema{
+			// TODO: remove subscription_id field at next major version
 			"subscription_id": {
-				Type:        schema.TypeString,
-				Optional:    true,
-				DefaultFunc: schema.EnvDefaultFunc("ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID", ""),
+				Type:     schema.TypeString,
+				Optional: true,
+				Default:  "",
 			},
 
 			"client_id": {
@@ -100,11 +101,13 @@ func Provider() terraform.ResourceProvider {
 
 func providerConfigure(p *schema.Provider) schema.ConfigureFunc {
 	return func(d *schema.ResourceData) (interface{}, error) {
+		// When constructing the Builder, we use the tenant ID for the subscription ID.
+		// Although this has no effect since we never consume it, this practise mimics
+		// the Azure CLI and it seems the most sensible value to use after a nonsense string.
 		builder := &authentication.Builder{
-			// TODO: remove the requirement on the Subscription ID
-			SubscriptionID:     d.Get("subscription_id").(string),
 			ClientID:           d.Get("client_id").(string),
 			ClientSecret:       d.Get("client_secret").(string),
+			SubscriptionID:     d.Get("tenant_id").(string),
 			TenantID:           d.Get("tenant_id").(string),
 			Environment:        d.Get("environment").(string),
 			MsiEndpoint:        d.Get("msi_endpoint").(string),
diff --git a/azuread/provider_test.go b/azuread/provider_test.go
index 04264f369b..627a374397 100644
--- a/azuread/provider_test.go
+++ b/azuread/provider_test.go
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ func TestProvider_impl(t *testing.T) {
 
 func testAccPreCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	variables := []string{
-		"ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID",
 		"ARM_CLIENT_ID",
 		"ARM_CLIENT_SECRET",
 		"ARM_TENANT_ID",