diff --git a/litellm/proxy/litellm_pre_call_utils.py b/litellm/proxy/litellm_pre_call_utils.py
index aa3a29e4f2f..7467bbae232 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/litellm_pre_call_utils.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/litellm_pre_call_utils.py
@@ -1132,6 +1132,13 @@ async def add_litellm_data_to_request(  # noqa: PLR0915
             if isinstance(_user_meta, dict) and "tags" in _user_meta:
                 _user_meta.pop("tags", None)
                 _stripped_from.append(_meta_key)
+        # Also strip the root-level `tags` field. get_tags_from_request_body
+        # reads request_body["tags"] directly and feeds it to the policy
+        # engine, so leaving it in place here would let the strip-in-metadata
+        # above be trivially bypassed by moving the tags to the body root.
+        if "tags" in data:
+            data.pop("tags", None)
+            _stripped_from.append("tags (root)")
         if _stripped_from:
             verbose_proxy_logger.warning(
                 "Stripped caller-supplied tags from %s: this key/team does "
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/test_litellm_pre_call_utils.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/test_litellm_pre_call_utils.py
index 664a936b540..360ddd426a4 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/test_litellm_pre_call_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/test_litellm_pre_call_utils.py
@@ -596,6 +596,11 @@ async def test_add_litellm_data_to_request_ignores_root_level_tags_without_permi
     )
 
     assert "tags" not in (updated.get("metadata") or {})
+    # Also ensure the root-level tags are removed. get_tags_from_request_body
+    # reads request_body["tags"] directly, so leaving it in place would let
+    # the policy engine see caller-supplied tags even after the metadata
+    # strip.
+    assert "tags" not in updated
 
 
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