diff --git a/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/tagprocessor/InternalTagsAdder.java b/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/tagprocessor/InternalTagsAdder.java
index 6fed132a68f..6e6a6397d1e 100644
--- a/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/tagprocessor/InternalTagsAdder.java
+++ b/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/tagprocessor/InternalTagsAdder.java
@@ -11,29 +11,35 @@
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 
 public final class InternalTagsAdder extends TagsPostProcessor {
-  private final UTF8BytesString ddService;
-  private final UTF8BytesString version;
+  private final TagMap.Entry baseServiceEntry;
+  private final TagMap.Entry versionEntry;
 
   public InternalTagsAdder(@Nullable final String ddService, @Nullable final String version) {
-    this.ddService = ddService != null ? UTF8BytesString.create(ddService) : null;
-    this.version = version != null && !version.isEmpty() ? UTF8BytesString.create(version) : null;
+    this.baseServiceEntry =
+        ddService != null
+            ? TagMap.Entry.create(DDTags.BASE_SERVICE, UTF8BytesString.create(ddService))
+            : null;
+    this.versionEntry =
+        version != null && !version.isEmpty()
+            ? TagMap.Entry.create(VERSION, UTF8BytesString.create(version))
+            : null;
   }
 
   @Override
   public void processTags(
       TagMap unsafeTags, DDSpanContext spanContext, List<AgentSpanLink> spanLinks) {
-    if (spanContext == null || ddService == null) {
+    if (spanContext == null || baseServiceEntry == null) {
       return;
     }
 
-    if (!ddService.toString().equalsIgnoreCase(spanContext.getServiceName())) {
+    if (!baseServiceEntry.stringValue().equalsIgnoreCase(spanContext.getServiceName())) {
       // service name !=  DD_SERVICE
-      unsafeTags.set(DDTags.BASE_SERVICE, ddService);
+      unsafeTags.set(baseServiceEntry);
     } else {
       // as per config consistency, the version tag is added across tracers only if
       // the service name is DD_SERVICE and version  tag is not manually set
-      if (version != null && !unsafeTags.containsKey(VERSION)) {
-        unsafeTags.set(VERSION, version);
+      if (versionEntry != null && !unsafeTags.containsKey(VERSION)) {
+        unsafeTags.set(versionEntry);
       }
     }
   }