diff --git a/tests/tagger/test_spaces.py b/tests/tagger/test_spaces.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c3052160e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/tagger/test_spaces.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+"""Ensure spaces are assigned the POS tag SPACE"""
+
+
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+from spacy.parts_of_speech import SPACE
+
+import pytest
+
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def tagged(EN):
+    string = u'Some\nspaces are\tnecessary.'
+    tokens = EN(string, tag=True, parse=False)
+    return tokens
+
+def test_spaces(tagged):
+    assert tagged[0].pos != SPACE
+    assert tagged[0].pos_ != 'SPACE'
+    assert tagged[1].pos == SPACE
+    assert tagged[1].pos_ == 'SPACE'
+    assert tagged[1].tag_ == 'SP'
+    assert tagged[2].pos != SPACE
+    assert tagged[3].pos != SPACE
+    assert tagged[4].pos == SPACE
+