diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index dc0e8e7c..b15920a3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 
 GITCOMMIT := $(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD)
-BUILD_FLAGS := -ldflags="-w -X github.com/kubernetes/kompose/cmd.GITCOMMIT=$(GITCOMMIT)"
+BUILD_FLAGS := -ldflags="-w -X github.com/kubernetes/kompose/pkg/version.GITCOMMIT=$(GITCOMMIT)"
 PKGS = $(shell glide novendor)
 TEST_IMAGE := kompose/tests:latest
 
diff --git a/cmd/version.go b/cmd/version.go
index ac958c72..c2f4561a 100644
--- a/cmd/version.go
+++ b/cmd/version.go
@@ -19,24 +19,17 @@ package cmd
 import (
 	"fmt"
 
+	"github.com/kubernetes/kompose/pkg/version"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
-var (
-	// VERSION  is version number that wil be displayed when running ./kompose version
-	VERSION = "1.4.0"
-	// GITCOMMIT is hash of the commit that wil be displayed when running ./kompose version
-	// this will be overwritten when running  build like this: go build -ldflags="-X github.com/kubernetes/kompose/cmd.GITCOMMIT=$(GITCOMMIT)"
-	// HEAD is default indicating that this was not set during build
-	GITCOMMIT = "HEAD"
-)
-
 // versionCmd represents the version command
 var versionCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "version",
 	Short: "Print the version of Kompose",
 	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
-		fmt.Println(VERSION + " (" + GITCOMMIT + ")")
+		// See pkg/version/version.go for more information as to why we use the git commit / hash value
+		fmt.Println(version.VERSION + " (" + version.GITCOMMIT + ")")
 	},
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/transformer/utils.go b/pkg/transformer/utils.go
index 08937405..d5568469 100644
--- a/pkg/transformer/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/transformer/utils.go
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/kubernetes/kompose/pkg/utils/docker"
 
+	"github.com/kubernetes/kompose/pkg/version"
+
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api"
 )
@@ -117,13 +119,19 @@ func ConfigAnnotations(service kobject.ServiceConfig) map[string]string {
 		annotations[key] = value
 	}
 	annotations["kompose.cmd"] = strings.Join(os.Args, " ")
-	version := exec.Command("kompose", "version")
-	out, err := version.Output()
+	versionCmd := exec.Command("kompose", "version")
+	out, err := versionCmd.Output()
 	if err != nil {
 		errors.Wrap(err, "Failed to get kompose version")
 
 	}
 	annotations["kompose.version"] = strings.Trim(string(out), " \n")
+
+	// If the version is blank (couldn't retrieve the kompose version for whatever reason)
+	if annotations["kompose.version"] == "" {
+		annotations["kompose.version"] = version.VERSION + " (" + version.GITCOMMIT + ")"
+	}
+
 	return annotations
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/version/version.go b/pkg/version/version.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5a1d3e78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/version/version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+package version
+
+var (
+	// VERSION  is version number that wil be displayed when running ./kompose version
+	VERSION = "1.4.0"
+	// GITCOMMIT is hash of the commit that wil be displayed when running ./kompose version
+	// this will be overwritten when running  build like this: go build -ldflags="-X github.com/kubernetes/kompose/pkg/version.GITCOMMIT=$(GITCOMMIT)"
+	// HEAD is default indicating that this was not set during build
+	GITCOMMIT = "HEAD"
+)
diff --git a/script/release.sh b/script/release.sh
index 71fd7424..c5fd236e 100755
--- a/script/release.sh
+++ b/script/release.sh
@@ -91,8 +91,8 @@ init_sync() {
 }
 
 replaceversion() {
-  echo "Replaced version in version.go"
-  sed -i "s/$1/$2/g" cmd/version.go
+  echo "Replaced version in pkg/version/version.go"
+  sed -i "s/$1/$2/g" pkg/version/version.go
 
   echo "Replaced version in README.md"
   sed -i "s/$1/$2/g" README.md