diff --git a/anki/tags.py b/anki/tags.py
index 306f182de..f494c5ba5 100644
--- a/anki/tags.py
+++ b/anki/tags.py
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ 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 = []
@@ -139,13 +139,16 @@ 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):
+            return '*' in pat and re.search(
+                pat.replace('*', '.*'), 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: