diff --git a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Tc.pm b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Tc.pm
index be91e9d6c..3867a7086 100644
--- a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Tc.pm
+++ b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Tc.pm
@@ -3226,12 +3226,17 @@ sub setup_tc( $ ) {
 		    }
 		}
 
+		close $mangle, directive_callback( 0 ) if $tcrules;
+
+	    } elsif ( $tcrules ) {
 		close $mangle, directive_callback( 0 );
-	    } elsif ( -f ( my $fn = find_file( 'tcrules' ) ) ) {
-		if ( unlink $fn ) {
-		    warning_message "Empty tcrules file ($fn) removed";
-		} else {
-		    warning_message "Unable to remove empty tcrules file $fn: $!";
+
+		if ( -f ( my $fn = find_file( 'tcrules' ) ) ) {
+		    if ( unlink $fn ) {
+			warning_message "Empty tcrules file ($fn) removed";
+		    } else {
+			warning_message "Unable to remove empty tcrules file $fn: $!";
+		    }
 		}
 	    }
 	} elsif ( -f ( my $fn = find_file( 'tcrules' ) ) ) {