diff --git a/src/annotation/frontend_source.ts b/src/annotation/frontend_source.ts
index f150a4d12..f0c84629b 100644
--- a/src/annotation/frontend_source.ts
+++ b/src/annotation/frontend_source.ts
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ import {
   SliceViewChunkSource,
 } from "#src/sliceview/frontend.js";
 import { StatusMessage } from "#src/status.js";
-import type { WatchableValue } from "#src/trackable_value.js";
+import { WatchableValue } from "#src/trackable_value.js";
 import type { Borrowed, Owned } from "#src/util/disposable.js";
 import { ENDIANNESS, Endianness } from "#src/util/endian.js";
 import * as matrix from "#src/util/matrix.js";
@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ export class MultiscaleAnnotationSource
   ) {
     super();
     this.rank = options.rank;
-    this.properties.value = options.properties;
+    this.properties = new WatchableValue(options.properties);
     this.annotationPropertySerializers = makeAnnotationPropertySerializers(
       this.rank,
       this.properties.value,
diff --git a/src/layer/annotation/index.ts b/src/layer/annotation/index.ts
index 47164c3a4..3f70ecef4 100644
--- a/src/layer/annotation/index.ts
+++ b/src/layer/annotation/index.ts
@@ -723,11 +723,13 @@ export class AnnotationUserLayer extends Base {
       getter: () => new RenderingOptionsTab(this),
     });
     this.tabs.default = "annotations";
-    this.tabs.add("tags", {
-      label: "Tags",
-      order: 10,
-      getter: () => new TagsTab(this),
-    });
+    if (this.localAnnotations) {
+      this.tabs.add("tags", {
+        label: "Tags",
+        order: 10,
+        getter: () => new TagsTab(this),
+      });
+    }
   }
 
   syncTagTools = (tagIdentifiers: string[]) => {