diff --git a/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/snippets/JavaSnippetBuilder.java b/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/snippets/JavaSnippetBuilder.java
index 79c1528da..7f2c9ec7b 100644
--- a/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/snippets/JavaSnippetBuilder.java
+++ b/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/snippets/JavaSnippetBuilder.java
@@ -42,7 +42,13 @@ public class JavaSnippetBuilder{
 		DocumentEdits edit = new DocumentEdits(doc);
 		String snippet = createSnippet(template);
 
-		String indentedSnippet = indentUtil.applyIndentation(snippet, indentUtil.getReferenceIndent(query.getStart(), doc)) ;
+		String referenceIndent = indentUtil.getReferenceIndent(query.getStart(), doc);
+
+		if (!referenceIndent.contains("\t")) {
+			snippet = indentUtil.covertTabsToSpace(snippet);
+		}
+		String indentedSnippet = indentUtil.applyIndentation(snippet, referenceIndent);
+
 		edit.replace(query.getStart(), query.getEnd(), indentedSnippet);
 		return edit;
 	}
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/completion/IndentUtil.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/completion/IndentUtil.java
index 3c9947067..64bad92eb 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/completion/IndentUtil.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/completion/IndentUtil.java
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.text.IDocument;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.text.IRegion;
 
-import com.google.common.base.Strings;
-
 /**
  * Helper methods to manipulate indentation levels in yaml content.
  *
@@ -53,4 +51,8 @@ public class IndentUtil {
 		return queryPrefix.leadingWhitespace().toString();
 	}
 
+
+	public String covertTabsToSpace(String snippet) {
+		return snippet.replaceAll("\\t", "    ");
+	}
 }