diff --git a/litellm/utils.py b/litellm/utils.py
index 10dc64c00d8..8f15f1c08a3 100644
--- a/litellm/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/utils.py
@@ -1878,8 +1878,8 @@ def token_counter(
     text: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
     messages: Optional[List] = None,
     count_response_tokens: Optional[bool] = False,
-    tools: list[ChatCompletionToolParam] | None = None,
-    tool_choice: ChatCompletionNamedToolChoiceParam | None = None,
+    tools: Optional[list[ChatCompletionToolParam]] = None,
+    tool_choice: Optional[ChatCompletionNamedToolChoiceParam] = None,
 ) -> int:
     """
     Count the number of tokens in a given text using a specified model.