diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/JavadocMethodCheck.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/JavadocMethodCheck.java
index 36a1254a6..05fbc8f3b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/JavadocMethodCheck.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/JavadocMethodCheck.java
@@ -482,7 +482,10 @@ public class JavadocMethodCheck extends AbstractTypeAwareCheck {
         }
 
         final Iterator<JavadocTag> it = tags.iterator();
-        if (ast.getType() != TokenTypes.ANNOTATION_FIELD_DEF) {
+        if (ast.getType() == TokenTypes.ANNOTATION_FIELD_DEF) {
+            checkReturnTag(tags, ast.getLineNo(), true);
+        }
+        else {
             // Check for inheritDoc
             boolean hasInheritDocTag = false;
             while (it.hasNext() && !hasInheritDocTag) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/JavadocMethodCheckTest.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/JavadocMethodCheckTest.java
index 61f69dc74..00db5fda3 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/JavadocMethodCheckTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/JavadocMethodCheckTest.java
@@ -141,7 +141,6 @@ public class JavadocMethodCheckTest extends BaseCheckTestSupport {
             "262:8: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_UNUSED_TAG, "@param", "aParam"),
             "320:9: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_JAVADOC_MISSING),
             "329:5: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_JAVADOC_MISSING),
-            "333: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_UNUSED_TAG_GENERAL),
         };
 
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("checks/javadoc/InputTags.java"), expected);
@@ -177,7 +176,7 @@ public class JavadocMethodCheckTest extends BaseCheckTestSupport {
             "262:8: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_UNUSED_TAG, "@param", "aParam"),
             "320:9: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_JAVADOC_MISSING),
             "329:5: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_JAVADOC_MISSING),
-            "333: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_UNUSED_TAG_GENERAL), };
+        };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("checks/javadoc/InputTags.java"), expected);
     }
 
@@ -285,7 +284,7 @@ public class JavadocMethodCheckTest extends BaseCheckTestSupport {
             "262:8: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_UNUSED_TAG, "@param", "aParam"),
             "320:9: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_JAVADOC_MISSING),
             "329:5: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_JAVADOC_MISSING),
-            "333: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_UNUSED_TAG_GENERAL), };
+        };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("checks/javadoc/InputTags.java"), expected);
     }
 
@@ -576,4 +575,5 @@ public class JavadocMethodCheckTest extends BaseCheckTestSupport {
         };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("javadoc/InputJavadocMethodIgnoreNameRegex.java"), expected);
     }
+
 }
diff --git a/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/InputTags.java b/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/InputTags.java
index 41c817c0c..11a4404a5 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/InputTags.java
+++ b/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/InputTags.java
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ enum InputTagsEnum
     int A_CONSTANT = 0;
     /** Some javadoc. */
     int B_CONSTANT = 1;
-    /** @return This tag is not valid here */
+    /** @return This tag is valid here and expected with Java 8 */
     String someField2();
 }