diff --git a/pytato/distributed/nodes.py b/pytato/distributed/nodes.py
index b18b351a3..38fec57eb 100644
--- a/pytato/distributed/nodes.py
+++ b/pytato/distributed/nodes.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
 
 from pytato.array import (
         Array, _SuppliedShapeAndDtypeMixin, ShapeType, AxesT,
-        _get_default_axes, ConvertibleToShape, normalize_shape)
+        _get_default_axes, _get_default_tags, ConvertibleToShape, normalize_shape)
 
 CommTagType = Hashable
 
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def make_distributed_send(sent_data: Array, dest_rank: int, comm_tag: CommTagTyp
          DistributedSend:
     """Make a :class:`DistributedSend` object."""
     return DistributedSend(data=sent_data, dest_rank=dest_rank, comm_tag=comm_tag,
-                           tags=send_tags)
+                           tags=(send_tags | _get_default_tags()))
 
 
 def make_distributed_send_ref_holder(
@@ -230,7 +230,8 @@ def make_distributed_send_ref_holder(
         ) -> DistributedSendRefHolder:
     """Make a :class:`DistributedSendRefHolder` object."""
     return DistributedSendRefHolder(
-        send=send, passthrough_data=passthrough_data, tags=tags)
+        send=send, passthrough_data=passthrough_data,
+        tags=(tags | _get_default_tags()))
 
 
 def staple_distributed_send(sent_data: Array, dest_rank: int, comm_tag: CommTagType,
@@ -241,8 +242,9 @@ def staple_distributed_send(sent_data: Array, dest_rank: int, comm_tag: CommTagT
     """Make a :class:`DistributedSend` object wrapped in a
     :class:`DistributedSendRefHolder` object."""
     return make_distributed_send_ref_holder(
-        send=DistributedSend(data=sent_data, dest_rank=dest_rank,
-                             comm_tag=comm_tag, tags=send_tags),
+        send=make_distributed_send(
+            sent_data=sent_data, dest_rank=dest_rank, comm_tag=comm_tag,
+            send_tags=send_tags),
         passthrough_data=stapled_to,
         tags=ref_holder_tags)
 
@@ -261,7 +263,7 @@ def make_distributed_recv(src_rank: int, comm_tag: CommTagType,
     dtype = np.dtype(dtype)
     return DistributedRecv(
             src_rank=src_rank, comm_tag=comm_tag, shape=shape, dtype=dtype,
-            tags=tags, axes=axes)
+            axes=axes, tags=(tags | _get_default_tags()))
 
 # }}}