diff --git a/test/groovy/templates/PiperPipelineStageInitTest.groovy b/test/groovy/templates/PiperPipelineStageInitTest.groovy
index 3dce8d1f6..0948486d5 100644
--- a/test/groovy/templates/PiperPipelineStageInitTest.groovy
+++ b/test/groovy/templates/PiperPipelineStageInitTest.groovy
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ class PiperPipelineStageInitTest extends BasePiperTest {
             stashSettings: 'com.sap.piper/pipeline/stashSettings.yml'
         )
 
-        assertThat(stepsCalled, hasItems('checkout', 'setupCommonPipelineEnvironment', 'piperInitRunStageConfiguration', 'artifactSetVersion', 'pipelineStashFilesBeforeBuild'))
+        assertThat(stepsCalled, hasItems('checkout', 'setupCommonPipelineEnvironment', 'piperInitRunStageConfiguration', 'artifactPrepareVersion', 'pipelineStashFilesBeforeBuild'))
         assertThat(stepsCalled, not(hasItems('slackSendNotification')))
 
     }
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ class PiperPipelineStageInitTest extends BasePiperTest {
             'checkout',
             'setupCommonPipelineEnvironment',
             'piperInitRunStageConfiguration',
-            'artifactSetVersion',
+            'artifactPrepareVersion',
             'slackSendNotification',
             'pipelineStashFilesBeforeBuild'
         ))
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ class PiperPipelineStageInitTest extends BasePiperTest {
             'checkout',
             'setupCommonPipelineEnvironment',
             'piperInitRunStageConfiguration',
-            'artifactSetVersion',
+            'artifactPrepareVersion',
             'pipelineStashFilesBeforeBuild'
         ))
     }
diff --git a/vars/piperPipelineStageInit.groovy b/vars/piperPipelineStageInit.groovy
index 91b586e4a..1b88ab12c 100644
--- a/vars/piperPipelineStageInit.groovy
+++ b/vars/piperPipelineStageInit.groovy
@@ -189,7 +189,6 @@ void call(Map parameters = [:]) {
                 echo "[${STEP_NAME}] GitHub labels could not be retrieved from Pull Request, please make sure that credentials are maintained on multi-branch job."
             }
 
-
             setPullRequestStageStepActivation(script, config, prActions)
         }
 
@@ -197,15 +196,19 @@ void call(Map parameters = [:]) {
             if (parameters.script.commonPipelineEnvironment.configuration.runStep?.get('Init')?.slackSendNotification) {
                 slackSendNotification script: script, message: "STARTED: Job <${env.BUILD_URL}|${URLDecoder.decode(env.JOB_NAME, java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name())} ${env.BUILD_DISPLAY_NAME}>", color: 'WARNING'
             }
-            if (config.inferBuildTool && env.ON_K8S) {
-                // We set dockerImage: "" for the K8S case to avoid the execution of artifactPrepareVersion in a K8S Pod.
-                // In addition, a mvn executable is available on the Jenkins instance which can be used directly instead of executing the command in a container.
-                artifactPrepareVersion script: script, buildTool: buildTool, dockerImage: ""
-            } else if (config.inferBuildTool) {
-                artifactPrepareVersion script: script, buildTool: buildTool
-            } else {
-                artifactSetVersion script: script
+            Map prepareVersionParams = [script: script]
+            if (config.inferBuildTool) {
+                prepareVersionParams.buildTool = buildTool
             }
+            if (env.ON_K8S) {
+                // We force dockerImage: "" for the K8S case to avoid the execution of artifactPrepareVersion in a K8S Pod.
+                // Since artifactPrepareVersion may need the ".git" folder in order to push a tag, it would need to be part of the stashing.
+                // There are however problems with tar-ing this folder, which results in a failure to copy the stash back -- without a failure of the pipeline.
+                // This then also has the effect that any changes made to the build descriptors by the step (updated version) are not visible in the relevant stashes.
+                // In addition, a mvn executable is available on the Jenkins instance which can be used directly instead of executing the command in a container.
+                prepareVersionParams.dockerImage = ""
+            }
+            artifactPrepareVersion prepareVersionParams
         }
         pipelineStashFilesBeforeBuild script: script
     }