diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cc3a700d42..cd0ee7cee9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ to detail this new feature and how state transitions occur.
 
 ### Bug Fixes
 
+* (client) [\#5303](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/5303) Fix ignored error in tx generate only mode.
 * (iavl) [\#5276](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/5276) Fix potential race condition in `iavlIterator#Close`.
 * (cli) [\#4763](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/4763) Fix flag `--min-self-delegation` for staking `EditValidator`
 * (keys) Fix ledger custom coin type support bug
diff --git a/x/auth/client/utils/tx.go b/x/auth/client/utils/tx.go
index 4837639e45..265d9031bc 100644
--- a/x/auth/client/utils/tx.go
+++ b/x/auth/client/utils/tx.go
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ func buildUnsignedStdTxOffline(txBldr authtypes.TxBuilder, cliCtx context.CLICon
 
 	stdSignMsg, err := txBldr.BuildSignMsg(msgs)
 	if err != nil {
-		return stdTx, nil
+		return stdTx, err
 	}
 
 	return authtypes.NewStdTx(stdSignMsg.Msgs, stdSignMsg.Fee, nil, stdSignMsg.Memo), nil