diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/AtclauseOrderCheck.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/AtclauseOrderCheck.java
index 1be40ed7d..38b6ea326 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/AtclauseOrderCheck.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/AtclauseOrderCheck.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ package com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.javadoc;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.Utils;
@@ -105,8 +104,9 @@ public class AtclauseOrderCheck extends AbstractJavadocCheck {
      */
     public void setTarget(String target) {
         final List<Integer> customTarget = new ArrayList<>();
-        for (String type : target.split(", ")) {
-            customTarget.add(Utils.getTokenId(type));
+        final String[] sTarget = target.split(",");
+        for (int i = 0; i < sTarget.length; i++) {
+            customTarget.add(Utils.getTokenId(sTarget[i].trim()));
         }
         this.target = customTarget;
     }
@@ -117,8 +117,11 @@ public class AtclauseOrderCheck extends AbstractJavadocCheck {
      */
     public void setTagOrder(String order) {
         final List<String> customOrder = new ArrayList<>();
-        Collections.addAll(customOrder, order.split(", "));
-        tagOrder = customOrder;
+        final String[] sOrder = order.split(",");
+        for (int i = 0; i < sOrder.length; i++) {
+            customOrder.add(sOrder[i].trim());
+        }
+        this.tagOrder = customOrder;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/AtclauseOrderCheckTest.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/AtclauseOrderCheckTest.java
index eade92a99..c4bd96ee7 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/AtclauseOrderCheckTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/AtclauseOrderCheckTest.java
@@ -83,16 +83,17 @@ public class AtclauseOrderCheckTest extends BaseCheckTestSupport {
 
     @Test
     public void testIncorrectCustom() throws Exception {
-        final String tagOrder = "[@author, @version, @param, @return, @throws, @exception, @see,"
-                + " @since, @serial, @serialField, @serialData, @deprecated]";
+        final String tagOrder = "[@since, @version, @param, @return, @throws, @exception,"
+                + " @deprecated, @see, @serial, @serialField, @serialData, @author]";
+        final String customOrder = " @since,  @version, @param,@return,@throws, @exception,"
+                + "@deprecated, @see,@serial,   @serialField,  @serialData,@author";
+
         DefaultConfiguration checkConfig = createCheckConfig(AtclauseOrderCheck.class);
         checkConfig.addAttribute("target", "CLASS_DEF");
+        checkConfig.addAttribute("tagOrder", customOrder);
 
         final String[] expected = {
-            "9: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY, tagOrder),
-            "11: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY, tagOrder),
-            "12: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY, tagOrder),
-            "115: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY, tagOrder),
+            "113: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY, tagOrder),
         };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("javadoc/InputIncorrectAtClauseOrderCheck.java"), expected);
     }