diff --git a/builtin-commit.c b/builtin-commit.c
index bcbea38..0c6d1f4 100644
--- a/builtin-commit.c
+++ b/builtin-commit.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 	COMMIT_PARTIAL,
 } commit_style;
 
-static char *logfile, *force_author;
+static const char *logfile, *force_author;
 static const char *template_file;
 static char *edit_message, *use_message;
 static char *author_name, *author_email, *author_date;
@@ -700,11 +700,14 @@
 }
 
 static int parse_and_validate_options(int argc, const char *argv[],
-				      const char * const usage[])
+				      const char * const usage[],
+				      const char *prefix)
 {
 	int f = 0;
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, builtin_commit_options, usage, 0);
+	logfile = parse_options_fix_filename(prefix, logfile);
+	template_file = parse_options_fix_filename(prefix, template_file);
 
 	if (logfile || message.len || use_message)
 		use_editor = 0;
@@ -814,7 +817,7 @@
 	if (wt_status_use_color == -1)
 		wt_status_use_color = git_use_color_default;
 
-	argc = parse_and_validate_options(argc, argv, builtin_status_usage);
+	argc = parse_and_validate_options(argc, argv, builtin_status_usage, prefix);
 
 	index_file = prepare_index(argc, argv, prefix);
 
@@ -907,7 +910,7 @@
 
 	git_config(git_commit_config, NULL);
 
-	argc = parse_and_validate_options(argc, argv, builtin_commit_usage);
+	argc = parse_and_validate_options(argc, argv, builtin_commit_usage, prefix);
 
 	index_file = prepare_index(argc, argv, prefix);
 
diff --git a/builtin-tag.c b/builtin-tag.c
index 3c97c69..3bd019c 100644
--- a/builtin-tag.c
+++ b/builtin-tag.c
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@
 
 	int annotate = 0, sign = 0, force = 0, lines = 0,
 		list = 0, delete = 0, verify = 0;
-	char *msgfile = NULL, *keyid = NULL;
+	const char *msgfile = NULL, *keyid = NULL;
 	struct msg_arg msg = { 0, STRBUF_INIT };
 	struct option options[] = {
 		OPT_BOOLEAN('l', NULL, &list, "list tag names"),
@@ -411,6 +411,7 @@
 	git_config(git_tag_config, NULL);
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, options, git_tag_usage, 0);
+	msgfile = parse_options_fix_filename(prefix, msgfile);
 
 	if (keyid) {
 		sign = 1;
diff --git a/parse-options.c b/parse-options.c
index f8d52e2..12c8822 100644
--- a/parse-options.c
+++ b/parse-options.c
@@ -425,3 +425,15 @@
 	*(unsigned long *)(opt->value) = approxidate(arg);
 	return 0;
 }
+
+/*
+ * This should really be OPTION_FILENAME type as a part of
+ * parse_options that take prefix to do this while parsing.
+ */
+extern const char *parse_options_fix_filename(const char *prefix, const char *file)
+{
+	if (!file || !prefix || is_absolute_path(file) || !strcmp("-", file))
+		return file;
+	return prefix_filename(prefix, strlen(prefix), file);
+}
+
diff --git a/parse-options.h b/parse-options.h
index 4ee443d..13ad158 100644
--- a/parse-options.h
+++ b/parse-options.h
@@ -123,4 +123,6 @@
 	  "use <n> digits to display SHA-1s", \
 	  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, &parse_opt_abbrev_cb, 0 }
 
+extern const char *parse_options_fix_filename(const char *prefix, const char *file);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/t/t7004-tag.sh b/t/t7004-tag.sh
index 241c70d..acddbf5 100755
--- a/t/t7004-tag.sh
+++ b/t/t7004-tag.sh
@@ -1067,4 +1067,24 @@
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'filename for the message is relative to cwd' '
+	mkdir subdir &&
+	echo "Tag message in top directory" >msgfile-5 &&
+	echo "Tag message in sub directory" >subdir/msgfile-5 &&
+	(
+		cd subdir &&
+		git tag -a -F msgfile-5 tag-from-subdir
+	) &&
+	git cat-file tag tag-from-subdir | grep "in sub directory"
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'filename for the message is relative to cwd' '
+	echo "Tag message in sub directory" >subdir/msgfile-6 &&
+	(
+		cd subdir &&
+		git tag -a -F msgfile-6 tag-from-subdir-2
+	) &&
+	git cat-file tag tag-from-subdir-2 | grep "in sub directory"
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t7500-commit.sh b/t/t7500-commit.sh
index baed6ce..823256a 100755
--- a/t/t7500-commit.sh
+++ b/t/t7500-commit.sh
@@ -138,4 +138,33 @@
 	diff expect output
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'commit message from file (1)' '
+	mkdir subdir &&
+	echo "Log in top directory" >log &&
+	echo "Log in sub directory" >subdir/log &&
+	(
+		cd subdir &&
+		git commit --allow-empty -F log
+	) &&
+	commit_msg_is "Log in sub directory"
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'commit message from file (2)' '
+	rm -f log &&
+	echo "Log in sub directory" >subdir/log &&
+	(
+		cd subdir &&
+		git commit --allow-empty -F log
+	) &&
+	commit_msg_is "Log in sub directory"
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'commit message from stdin' '
+	(
+		cd subdir &&
+		echo "Log with foo word" | git commit --allow-empty -F -
+	) &&
+	commit_msg_is "Log with foo word"
+'
+
 test_done