diff --git a/src/utilities/utilities.jl b/src/utilities/utilities.jl
index 6923259e79..0cb29f9f95 100644
--- a/src/utilities/utilities.jl
+++ b/src/utilities/utilities.jl
@@ -122,6 +122,13 @@ function _process_service_features(args, defaults)
         end
     end
 
-    # Turn the feature dictionary into a `NamedTuple` expression
-    return Expr(:tuple, Expr(:parameters, [Expr(:kw, p...) for p in feature_dict]...))
+    # Turn the feature dictionary into a `NamedTuple` expression. Note: Julia 1.4 and below
+    # do not support `:((;))`.
+    nt = if !isempty(feature_dict)
+        Expr(:tuple, Expr(:parameters, [Expr(:kw, p...) for p in feature_dict]...))
+    else
+        :(NamedTuple())
+    end
+
+    return nt
 end
diff --git a/test/utilities.jl b/test/utilities.jl
index 0b2633c861..07436484d7 100644
--- a/test/utilities.jl
+++ b/test/utilities.jl
@@ -86,4 +86,10 @@ end
         default_feats = [:a => false]
         @test_throws ArgumentError AWS._process_service_features(user_feats, default_feats)
     end
+
+      @testset "no defaults" begin
+        user_feats = []
+        default_feats = []
+        @test AWS._process_service_features(user_feats, default_feats) == :(NamedTuple())
+    end
 end