diff --git a/fs/btrfs/inode.c b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
index 8938174e6bc1..6349c63a4b37 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
@@ -6566,8 +6566,9 @@ static int btrfs_truncate(struct inode *inode)
 			/* Just need the 1 for updating the inode */
 			trans = btrfs_start_transaction(root, 1);
 			if (IS_ERR(trans)) {
-				err = PTR_ERR(trans);
-				goto out;
+				ret = err = PTR_ERR(trans);
+				trans = NULL;
+				break;
 			}
 		}