diff --git a/metadata-ingestion/src/datahub/emitter/mce_builder.py b/metadata-ingestion/src/datahub/emitter/mce_builder.py
index 44a98e6ff2..021c17abec 100644
--- a/metadata-ingestion/src/datahub/emitter/mce_builder.py
+++ b/metadata-ingestion/src/datahub/emitter/mce_builder.py
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ def make_user_urn(username: str) -> str:
     return f"urn:li:corpuser:{username}"
 
 
+def make_tag_urn(tag: str) -> str:
+    return f"urn:li:tag:{tag}"
+
+
 def make_data_flow_urn(
     orchestrator: str, flow_id: str, cluster: str = DEFAULT_FLOW_CLUSTER
 ) -> str:
diff --git a/metadata-ingestion/src/datahub/integrations/airflow/lineage_backend.py b/metadata-ingestion/src/datahub/integrations/airflow/lineage_backend.py
index 09954b3dfe..b8cfc416a7 100644
--- a/metadata-ingestion/src/datahub/integrations/airflow/lineage_backend.py
+++ b/metadata-ingestion/src/datahub/integrations/airflow/lineage_backend.py
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ class DatahubAirflowLineageBackend(LineageBackend):
 
         tags = models.GlobalTagsClass(
             tags=[
-                models.TagAssociationClass(tag=f"airflow_{tag}")
+                models.TagAssociationClass(tag=builder.make_tag_urn(f"airflow_{tag}"))
                 for tag in (dag.tags or [])
             ]
         )