diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParser.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParser.java
index ef414d6b4..e9dbbc1eb 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParser.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParser.java
@@ -70,12 +70,12 @@ public class StepParser {
 		@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
 		List<Element> processTaskElements = (List<Element>) DomUtils.getChildElementsByTagName(element, "tasklet");
 		if (StringUtils.hasText(taskletRef)) {
-			Object task = handleTaskletStep(element, taskletRef, parserContext);
+			Object task = handleTaskletRef(element, taskletRef, parserContext);
 			stateBuilder.addConstructorArgValue(stepRef);
 			stateBuilder.addConstructorArgValue(task);
 		}
 		else if (processTaskElements.size() > 0) {
-			Object task = handleChunkOrientedTaskletStep(element, processTaskElements.get(0), parserContext);
+			Object task = handleTaskletElement(element, processTaskElements.get(0), parserContext);
 			stateBuilder.addConstructorArgValue(stepRef);
 			stateBuilder.addConstructorArgValue(task);
 		}
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ public class StepParser {
 	 * @param parserContext
 	 * @return the TaskletStep bean
 	 */
-	protected RootBeanDefinition handleTaskletStep(Element stepElement, String taskletRef, ParserContext parserContext) {
+	protected RootBeanDefinition handleTaskletRef(Element stepElement, String taskletRef, ParserContext parserContext) {
 
     	RootBeanDefinition bd = new RootBeanDefinition("org.springframework.batch.core.step.tasklet.TaskletStep", null, null);
 
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ public class StepParser {
 	 * @param parserContext
 	 * @return the TaskletStep bean
 	 */
-	protected RootBeanDefinition handleChunkOrientedTaskletStep(Element stepElement, Element element, ParserContext parserContext) {
+	protected RootBeanDefinition handleTaskletElement(Element stepElement, Element element, ParserContext parserContext) {
 
     	RootBeanDefinition bd;
     	
@@ -265,6 +265,15 @@ public class StepParser {
         }
 
 		// now, set the properties on the new bean 
+        String startLimit = element.getAttribute("start-limit");
+        if (StringUtils.hasText(startLimit)) {
+            bd.getPropertyValues().addPropertyValue("startLimit", startLimit);
+        }
+        String allowStartIfComplete = element.getAttribute("allow-start-if-complete");
+        if (StringUtils.hasText(allowStartIfComplete)) {
+            bd.getPropertyValues().addPropertyValue("allowStartIfComplete", allowStartIfComplete);
+        }
+
         String readerBeanId = element.getAttribute("reader");
         if (StringUtils.hasText(readerBeanId)) {
             RuntimeBeanReference readerRef = new RuntimeBeanReference(readerBeanId);
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.0.xsd b/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.0.xsd
index db43ebc1b..0fa26ca47 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.0.xsd
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.0.xsd
@@ -335,6 +335,20 @@
 						]]></xsd:documentation>
 					</xsd:annotation>
 				</xsd:attribute>
+				<xsd:attribute name="start-limit" type="xsd:string" use="optional">
+					<xsd:annotation>
+						<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
+						The maximum number of times a Step may be started.†
+						]]></xsd:documentation>
+					</xsd:annotation>
+				</xsd:attribute>
+				<xsd:attribute name="allow-start-if-complete" type="xsd:string" use="optional">
+					<xsd:annotation>
+						<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
+						Set to true to allow a step to be started even if it is already complete.
+						]]></xsd:documentation>
+					</xsd:annotation>
+				</xsd:attribute>
 				<xsd:attribute name="skip-limit" type="xsd:string" use="optional">
 					<xsd:annotation>
 						<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserTests.java
index 59a9ddab2..cec5fa8f0 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserTests.java
@@ -16,10 +16,16 @@
 package org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
+import java.util.Map;
+
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.step.item.FaultTolerantStepFactoryBean;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.step.tasklet.TaskletStep;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.parsing.BeanDefinitionParsingException;
+import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
 
 
@@ -28,6 +34,18 @@ import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
  */
 public class StepParserTests {
 	
+	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+	@Test
+	public void testTaskletStepAttributes() throws Exception {
+		ConfigurableApplicationContext ctx = 
+			new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserTaskletAttributesTests-context.xml");
+		Map<String, Object> beans = ctx.getBeansOfType(FaultTolerantStepFactoryBean.class);
+		String factoryName = (String) beans.keySet().toArray()[0];
+		FaultTolerantStepFactoryBean<Object, Object> factory = (FaultTolerantStepFactoryBean<Object, Object>) beans.get(factoryName);
+		TaskletStep bean = (TaskletStep) factory.getObject();
+		assertEquals("wrong start-limit:", 25, bean.getStartLimit());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testTaskletStepWithBadStepListener() throws Exception {
 		loadContextWithBadListener("org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserBadStepListenerTests-context.xml");
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserTaskletAttributesTests-context.xml b/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserTaskletAttributesTests-context.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9c8c57839
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/StepParserTaskletAttributesTests-context.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch" xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch/spring-batch-2.0.xsd
+	http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd">
+
+	<job id="job">
+		<step name="step">
+			<tasklet reader="reader" processor="processor" writer="writer"
+					start-limit="25" allow-start-if-complete="true"
+					commit-interval="10" skip-limit="20" 
+					retry-limit="3" cache-capacity="100"
+					transaction-attribute="PROPAGATION_REQUIRED,ISOLATION_DEFAULT,timeout_10,-org.springframework.dao.DataIntegrityViolationException" 
+					is-reader-transactional-queue="true"
+					task-executor="taskExecutor">
+				<retry-listeners>
+					<listener class="org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml.TestRetryListener"/>
+				</retry-listeners>
+				<streams>
+					<stream ref="reader"/>
+				</streams>
+				<fatal-exception-classes>
+					org.springframework.jdbc.BadSqlGrammarException
+				</fatal-exception-classes>
+				<skippable-exception-classes>
+					org.springframework.dao.DataIntegrityViolationException
+				</skippable-exception-classes>
+			</tasklet>
+			<listeners>
+				<listener ref="listener"/>
+			</listeners>
+		</step>
+	</job>
+
+	<beans:bean id="reader" class="org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml.TestReader"/>
+	
+	<beans:bean id="processor" class="org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml.TestProcessor"/>
+	
+	<beans:bean id="writer" class="org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml.TestWriter"/>
+
+	<beans:bean id="listener" class="org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml.TestListener"/>
+	
+	<beans:bean id="taskExecutor" class="org.springframework.scheduling.concurrent.ConcurrentTaskExecutor"/>
+
+	<beans:bean id="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.batch.support.transaction.ResourcelessTransactionManager" />
+
+	<beans:bean id="jobRepository" class="org.springframework.batch.core.repository.support.MapJobRepositoryFactoryBean">
+		<beans:property name="transactionManager" ref="transactionManager" />
+	</beans:bean>
+
+</beans:beans>
\ No newline at end of file