diff --git a/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/key_budget_resolver.py b/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/key_budget_resolver.py
index 27e67ad1c8e..376094eab08 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/key_budget_resolver.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/key_budget_resolver.py
@@ -7,7 +7,11 @@ live spend, and the operator the enforcing check compares with.
 
 The limit and counter for each scope come from the same helpers enforcement uses, so
 the two cannot disagree about which budget applies or which counter it is measured
-against.
+against. That holds through failure too: several of those helpers swallow a read
+error and hand back an absence rather than raising, and since enforcement acts on
+that same absence, a scope this reports as unlimited is one no check will apply on
+the request it describes. ``_Unavailable`` is for the helpers that do raise, whose
+failures leave a budget that would still be enforced, and those become ``unknown``.
 """
 
 import asyncio
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/test_key_management_endpoints.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/test_key_management_endpoints.py
index 7e09ce48e41..e31524f9d53 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/test_key_management_endpoints.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/test_key_management_endpoints.py
@@ -17326,3 +17326,32 @@ async def test_key_budgets_route_shows_the_proxy_numbers_only_to_a_proxy_wide_re
 
     assert response.status_code == 200
     assert resolver.await_args.kwargs["deps"].proxy_spend_visible is expected
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_key_budgets_report_a_tag_its_own_fetch_fails_open_on_the_way_the_request_will_see_it():
+    """
+    `_fetch_uncached_tags` swallows a failed tag fetch into "no budget objects" so auth never breaks
+    on it, and the enforcing check reads that same empty result. Reporting the tag as unknown would
+    name a limit that will not be applied to the request this row describes.
+    """
+    world = _fully_populated_world(tags={})
+    with _budgets_world(**world):
+        budgets = await resolve_key_budgets(valid_token=_budgets_token(), end_user_id=None, deps=_budgets_deps())
+
+    entry = next(e for e in budgets if e.scope == "tag")
+    assert (entry.max_budget, entry.status) == (None, "unlimited")
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_key_budgets_report_a_scope_whose_helper_raises_as_unknown_rather_than_unlimited():
+    """`get_team_object` raises rather than swallowing, so a request would still be gated on the team."""
+
+    async def _explode(**kwargs):
+        raise RuntimeError("team lookup is down")
+
+    with _budgets_world(**_fully_populated_world()), patch(f"{_BUDGETS_RESOLVER}.get_team_object", _explode):
+        budgets = await resolve_key_budgets(valid_token=_budgets_token(), end_user_id=None, deps=_budgets_deps())
+
+    entry = next(e for e in budgets if e.scope == "team")
+    assert (entry.max_budget, entry.spend, entry.status) == (None, None, "unknown")