diff --git a/src/yaml/private/lexer.nim b/src/yaml/private/lexer.nim
index 64a5f7e..ca37970 100644
--- a/src/yaml/private/lexer.nim
+++ b/src/yaml/private/lexer.nim
@@ -551,8 +551,7 @@ iterator tokens*(my: var YamlLexer): YamlLexerToken {.closure.} =
             of '\'':
                 state = ylSingleQuotedScalar
             of '!':
-                my.content.add(c)
-                state = ylTagHandle
+                lastSpecialChar = '!'
             of '&':
                 state = ylAnchor
             of '*':
diff --git a/test/lexing.nim b/test/lexing.nim
index c90a898..5974cfc 100644
--- a/test/lexing.nim
+++ b/test/lexing.nim
@@ -182,4 +182,15 @@ foo:
     test "Alias":
         ensure("foo: *bar", [t(yamlLineStart, ""), t(yamlScalar, "foo"),
                              t(yamlColon, nil), t(yamlAlias, "bar"),
-                             t(yamlStreamEnd, nil)])
\ No newline at end of file
+                             t(yamlStreamEnd, nil)])
+    
+    test "Tag handle":
+        ensure("!t!str tagged", [t(yamlLineStart, ""), t(yamlTagHandle, "!t!"),
+                                 t(yamlTagSuffix, "str"),
+                                t(yamlScalar, "tagged"), t(yamlStreamEnd, nil)])
+    
+    test "Verbatim tag handle":
+         ensure("!<tag:http://example.com/str> tagged",
+                 [t(yamlLineStart, ""),
+                  t(yamlVerbatimTag, "tag:http://example.com/str"),
+                  t(yamlScalar, "tagged"), t(yamlStreamEnd, nil)])
\ No newline at end of file