diff --git a/anki/tags.py b/anki/tags.py
index 33d6422fd..79803a32b 100644
--- a/anki/tags.py
+++ b/anki/tags.py
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class TagManager:
         res = self.col.db.all(
             "select id, tags from notes where id in %s and (%s)" % (
                 ids2str(ids), lim),
-            **dict([("_%d" % x, '%% %s %%' % y)
+            **dict([("_%d" % x, '%% %s %%' % y.replace('*', '%'))
                     for x, y in enumerate(newTags)]))
         # update tags
         nids = []
@@ -140,13 +140,16 @@ class TagManager:
         return self.join(self.canonify(currentTags))
 
     def remFromStr(self, deltags, tags):
-        "Delete tags if they don't exists."
+        "Delete tags if they exist."
+        def wildcard(pat, str):
+            pat = re.escape(pat).replace('\\*', '.*')
+            return re.search(pat, str, re.IGNORECASE)
         currentTags = self.split(tags)
         for tag in self.split(deltags):
             # find tags, ignoring case
             remove = []
             for tx in currentTags:
-                if tag.lower() == tx.lower():
+                if (tag.lower() == tx.lower()) or wildcard(tag, tx):
                     remove.append(tx)
             # remove them
             for r in remove: