diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/date_time.go b/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/date_time.go
index f41ad0dc58f..52519322662 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/date_time.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/date_time.go
@@ -31,12 +31,13 @@ type dateTimeTagger struct {
 	timeFn   func() time.Time
 }
 
-func NewDateTimeTagger(format, timezone string) (*dateTimeTagger, error) {
+// NewDateTimeTagger creates a tagger from a date format and timezone.
+func NewDateTimeTagger(format, timezone string) Tagger {
 	return &dateTimeTagger{
 		Format:   format,
 		TimeZone: timezone,
 		timeFn:   func() time.Time { return time.Now() },
-	}, nil
+	}
 }
 
 // GenerateFullyQualifiedImageName tags an image with the supplied image name and the current timestamp
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/env_template.go b/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/env_template.go
index b1cf3d94fd1..60013d1068e 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/env_template.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/env_template.go
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ type envTemplateTagger struct {
 }
 
 // NewEnvTemplateTagger creates a new envTemplateTagger
-func NewEnvTemplateTagger(t string) (*envTemplateTagger, error) {
+func NewEnvTemplateTagger(t string) (Tagger, error) {
 	tmpl, err := util.ParseEnvTemplate(t)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "parsing template")
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/runner/runner.go b/pkg/skaffold/runner/runner.go
index 5bf98e81e0c..398023b9571 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/runner/runner.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/runner/runner.go
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ func getTagger(t v1alpha2.TagPolicy, customTag string) (tag.Tagger, error) {
 		return &tag.GitCommit{}, nil
 
 	case t.DateTimeTagger != nil:
-		return tag.NewDateTimeTagger(t.DateTimeTagger.Format, t.DateTimeTagger.TimeZone)
+		return tag.NewDateTimeTagger(t.DateTimeTagger.Format, t.DateTimeTagger.TimeZone), nil
 
 	default:
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Unknown tagger for strategy %+v", t)