diff --git a/builtin/rebase.c b/builtin/rebase.c
index b4881ebb22..321ad0142f 100644
--- a/builtin/rebase.c
+++ b/builtin/rebase.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "wt-status.h"
 #include "revision.h"
 #include "rerere.h"
+#include "branch.h"
 
 static char const * const builtin_rebase_usage[] = {
 	N_("git rebase [-i] [options] [--exec <cmd>] [--onto <newbase>] "
@@ -1001,6 +1002,7 @@ int cmd_rebase(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 		if (reset_head(NULL, "reset", NULL, 0, NULL, NULL) < 0)
 			die(_("could not discard worktree changes"));
+		remove_branch_state();
 		if (read_basic_state(&options))
 			exit(1);
 		goto run_rebase;
@@ -1018,6 +1020,7 @@ int cmd_rebase(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			       options.head_name, 0, NULL, NULL) < 0)
 			die(_("could not move back to %s"),
 			    oid_to_hex(&options.orig_head));
+		remove_branch_state();
 		ret = finish_rebase(&options);
 		goto cleanup;
 	}