diff --git a/command/taint.go b/command/taint.go
index 4876b2eb37..02227d5b66 100644
--- a/command/taint.go
+++ b/command/taint.go
@@ -15,8 +15,10 @@ type TaintCommand struct {
 func (c *TaintCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	args = c.Meta.process(args, false)
 
+	var allowMissing bool
 	var module string
 	cmdFlags := c.Meta.flagSet("taint")
+	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&allowMissing, "allow-missing", false, "module")
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&module, "module", "", "module")
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&c.Meta.statePath, "state", DefaultStateFilename, "path")
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&c.Meta.stateOutPath, "state-out", "", "path")
@@ -33,7 +35,13 @@ func (c *TaintCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		cmdFlags.Usage()
 		return 1
 	}
+
 	name := args[0]
+	if module == "" {
+		module = "root"
+	} else {
+		module = "root." + module
+	}
 
 	// Get the state that we'll be modifying
 	state, err := c.State()
@@ -45,6 +53,10 @@ func (c *TaintCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	// Get the actual state structure
 	s := state.State()
 	if s.Empty() {
+		if allowMissing {
+			return c.allowMissingExit(name, module)
+		}
+
 		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf(
 			"The state is empty. The most common reason for this is that\n" +
 				"an invalid state file path was given or Terraform has never\n " +
@@ -54,14 +66,13 @@ func (c *TaintCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	}
 
 	// Get the proper module we want to taint
-	if module == "" {
-		module = "root"
-	} else {
-		module = "root." + module
-	}
 	modPath := strings.Split(module, ".")
 	mod := s.ModuleByPath(modPath)
 	if mod == nil {
+		if allowMissing {
+			return c.allowMissingExit(name, module)
+		}
+
 		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf(
 			"The module %s could not be found. There is nothing to taint.",
 			module))
@@ -70,6 +81,10 @@ func (c *TaintCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 
 	// If there are no resources in this module, it is an error
 	if len(mod.Resources) == 0 {
+		if allowMissing {
+			return c.allowMissingExit(name, module)
+		}
+
 		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf(
 			"The module %s has no resources. There is nothing to taint.",
 			module))
@@ -79,6 +94,10 @@ func (c *TaintCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	// Get the resource we're looking for
 	rs, ok := mod.Resources[name]
 	if !ok {
+		if allowMissing {
+			return c.allowMissingExit(name, module)
+		}
+
 		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf(
 			"The resource %s couldn't be found in the module %s.",
 			name,
@@ -116,6 +135,9 @@ Usage: terraform taint [options] name
 
 Options:
 
+  -allow-missing      If specified, the command will succeed (exit code 0)
+                      even if the resource is missing.
+
   -backup=path        Path to backup the existing state file before
                       modifying. Defaults to the "-state-out" path with
                       ".backup" extension. Set to "-" to disable backup.
@@ -139,3 +161,11 @@ Options:
 func (c *TaintCommand) Synopsis() string {
 	return "Manually mark a resource for recreation"
 }
+
+func (c *TaintCommand) allowMissingExit(name, module string) int {
+	c.Ui.Output(fmt.Sprintf(
+		"The resource %s in the module %s was not found, but\n"+
+			"-allow-missing is set, so we're exiting successfully.",
+		name, module))
+	return 0
+}
diff --git a/command/taint_test.go b/command/taint_test.go
index f6e79a50cc..617555b003 100644
--- a/command/taint_test.go
+++ b/command/taint_test.go
@@ -187,6 +187,75 @@ func TestTaint_defaultState(t *testing.T) {
 	testStateOutput(t, path, testTaintStr)
 }
 
+func TestTaint_missing(t *testing.T) {
+	state := &terraform.State{
+		Modules: []*terraform.ModuleState{
+			&terraform.ModuleState{
+				Path: []string{"root"},
+				Resources: map[string]*terraform.ResourceState{
+					"test_instance.foo": &terraform.ResourceState{
+						Type: "test_instance",
+						Primary: &terraform.InstanceState{
+							ID: "bar",
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	statePath := testStateFile(t, state)
+
+	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
+	c := &TaintCommand{
+		Meta: Meta{
+			Ui: ui,
+		},
+	}
+
+	args := []string{
+		"-state", statePath,
+		"test_instance.bar",
+	}
+	if code := c.Run(args); code == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %d\n\n%s", code, ui.OutputWriter.String())
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTaint_missingAllow(t *testing.T) {
+	state := &terraform.State{
+		Modules: []*terraform.ModuleState{
+			&terraform.ModuleState{
+				Path: []string{"root"},
+				Resources: map[string]*terraform.ResourceState{
+					"test_instance.foo": &terraform.ResourceState{
+						Type: "test_instance",
+						Primary: &terraform.InstanceState{
+							ID: "bar",
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	statePath := testStateFile(t, state)
+
+	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
+	c := &TaintCommand{
+		Meta: Meta{
+			Ui: ui,
+		},
+	}
+
+	args := []string{
+		"-allow-missing",
+		"-state", statePath,
+		"test_instance.bar",
+	}
+	if code := c.Run(args); code != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %d\n\n%s", code, ui.ErrorWriter.String())
+	}
+}
+
 func TestTaint_stateOut(t *testing.T) {
 	// Get a temp cwd
 	tmp, cwd := testCwd(t)
diff --git a/website/source/docs/commands/taint.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/commands/taint.html.markdown
index c5685e2a73..05ea6301aa 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/commands/taint.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/commands/taint.html.markdown
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ The format of this argument is `TYPE.NAME`, such as `aws_instance.foo`.
 
 The command-line flags are all optional. The list of available flags are:
 
+* `-allow-missing` - If specified, the command will succeed (exit code 0)
+    even if the resource is missing. The command can still error, but only
+    in critically erroneous cases.
+
 * `-backup=path` - Path to the backup file. Defaults to `-state-out` with
   the ".backup" extension. Disabled by setting to "-".