diff --git a/changelog.d/changed/no-license-reuse-toml.md b/changelog.d/changed/no-license-reuse-toml.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e30058221
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/changed/no-license-reuse-toml.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- `REUSE.toml` no longer needs a licensing header. (#1042)
diff --git a/src/reuse/__init__.py b/src/reuse/__init__.py
index d73cb9a34..bc7474199 100644
--- a/src/reuse/__init__.py
+++ b/src/reuse/__init__.py
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@
     re.compile(r"^\.git$"),
     re.compile(r"^\.hgtags$"),
     re.compile(r".*\.license$"),
+    re.compile(r"^REUSE\.toml$"),
     # Workaround for https://github.com/fsfe/reuse-tool/issues/229
     re.compile(r"^CAL-1.0(-Combined-Work-Exception)?(\..+)?$"),
     re.compile(r"^SHL-2.1(\..+)?$"),
diff --git a/src/reuse/covered_files.py b/src/reuse/covered_files.py
index 01db5eaa4..753e643b9 100644
--- a/src/reuse/covered_files.py
+++ b/src/reuse/covered_files.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ def is_path_ignored(
     subset_files: Optional[Collection[StrPath]] = None,
     include_submodules: bool = False,
     include_meson_subprojects: bool = False,
+    include_reuse_tomls: bool = False,
     vcs_strategy: Optional[VCSStrategy] = None,
 ) -> bool:
     """Is *path* ignored by some mechanism?"""
@@ -46,7 +47,9 @@ def is_path_ignored(
         if subset_files is not None and path.resolve() not in subset_files:
             return True
         for pattern in _IGNORE_FILE_PATTERNS:
-            if pattern.match(name):
+            if pattern.match(name) and (
+                name != "REUSE.toml" or not include_reuse_tomls
+            ):
                 return True
         # Suppressing this error because I simply don't want to deal
         # with that here.
@@ -90,6 +93,7 @@ def iter_files(
     subset_files: Optional[Collection[StrPath]] = None,
     include_submodules: bool = False,
     include_meson_subprojects: bool = False,
+    include_reuse_tomls: bool = False,
     vcs_strategy: Optional[VCSStrategy] = None,
 ) -> Generator[Path, None, None]:
     """Yield all Covered Files in *directory* and its subdirectories according
@@ -113,6 +117,7 @@ def iter_files(
                 subset_files=subset_files,
                 include_submodules=include_submodules,
                 include_meson_subprojects=include_meson_subprojects,
+                include_reuse_tomls=include_reuse_tomls,
                 vcs_strategy=vcs_strategy,
             ):
                 _LOGGER.debug("ignoring '%s'", the_dir)
@@ -126,6 +131,7 @@ def iter_files(
                 subset_files=subset_files,
                 include_submodules=include_submodules,
                 include_meson_subprojects=include_meson_subprojects,
+                include_reuse_tomls=include_reuse_tomls,
                 vcs_strategy=vcs_strategy,
             ):
                 _LOGGER.debug("ignoring '%s'", the_file)
diff --git a/src/reuse/global_licensing.py b/src/reuse/global_licensing.py
index 1a28c50e1..3ca566578 100644
--- a/src/reuse/global_licensing.py
+++ b/src/reuse/global_licensing.py
@@ -595,6 +595,7 @@ def find_reuse_tomls(
                 path,
                 include_submodules=include_submodules,
                 include_meson_subprojects=include_meson_subprojects,
+                include_reuse_tomls=True,
                 vcs_strategy=vcs_strategy,
             )
             if item.name == "REUSE.toml"
diff --git a/tests/resources/REUSE.toml b/tests/resources/REUSE.toml
index 6c2f15e5b..8aa7ebaf9 100644
--- a/tests/resources/REUSE.toml
+++ b/tests/resources/REUSE.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017 Jane Doe
-#
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC0-1.0
-
 version = 1
 
 [[annotations]]
diff --git a/tests/test_covered_files.py b/tests/test_covered_files.py
index df8f0ad7e..67ef7ce03 100644
--- a/tests/test_covered_files.py
+++ b/tests/test_covered_files.py
@@ -121,6 +121,12 @@ def test_include_meson_subprojects(self, empty_directory):
             empty_directory, include_meson_subprojects=True
         )
 
+    def test_reuse_toml_ignored(self, empty_directory):
+        """REUSE.toml is ignored."""
+        (empty_directory / "REUSE.toml").write_text("version = 1")
+        assert not list(iter_files(empty_directory))
+        assert list(iter_files(empty_directory, include_reuse_tomls=True))
+
 
 class TestIterFilesSubet:
     """Tests for  subset_files in iter_files."""