diff --git a/plugins/todo-backend/README.md b/plugins/todo-backend/README.md
index 0e455977f9..e5f465466d 100644
--- a/plugins/todo-backend/README.md
+++ b/plugins/todo-backend/README.md
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ export default async function createPlugin({
 
 ## Parser Configuration
 
-The `TodoScmReader` accepts a `TodoParser` option, which can be used to configure your own parser. The default one is based on [Leasot](https://github.com/pgilad/leasot) and supports a wide range of languages. You can change the list of supported tags by configuring your own version of the built-in parser, for example:
+The `TodoScmReader` accepts a `TodoParser` option, which can be used to configure your own parser. The default one is based on [Leasot](https://github.com/pgilad/leasot) and supports a wide range of languages. You can add to the list of supported tags by configuring your own version of the built-in parser, for example:
 
 ```ts
 import {
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ const todoReader = TodoScmReader.fromConfig(config, {
   logger,
   reader,
   parser: createTodoParser({
-    tags: ['TODO', 'FIXME', 'NOTE', 'XXX'],
+    additionalTags: ['NOTE', 'XXX'],
   }),
 });
 ```
diff --git a/plugins/todo-backend/src/lib/TodoReader/createTodoParser.test.ts b/plugins/todo-backend/src/lib/TodoReader/createTodoParser.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0afe2c3420
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/todo-backend/src/lib/TodoReader/createTodoParser.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2021 Spotify AB
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import { createTodoParser } from './createTodoParser';
+
+const comment = '//'; // just so we don't have all of these should up as TODOs :D
+
+describe('createTodoParser', () => {
+  it('should create a parser that parses TODOs', () => {
+    const parser = createTodoParser();
+
+    const output = parser({
+      path: 'my-file.js',
+      content: `
+      ${comment} TODO(user1): todo 1
+      ${comment}TODO(user2): todo 2
+      ${comment}todo: todo 3
+      ${comment}@todo: todo 4
+
+      ${comment}@fixme(user5): todo 5
+      ${comment} @TODO: todo 6 /user6
+      ${comment} FIXME: todo 7 /user7
+    `,
+    });
+    expect(output).toEqual([
+      {
+        text: 'todo 1',
+        author: 'user1',
+        lineNumber: 2,
+        tag: 'TODO',
+      },
+      {
+        text: 'todo 2',
+        author: 'user2',
+        lineNumber: 3,
+        tag: 'TODO',
+      },
+      {
+        text: 'todo 3',
+        lineNumber: 4,
+        tag: 'TODO',
+      },
+      {
+        text: 'todo 4',
+        lineNumber: 5,
+        tag: 'TODO',
+      },
+      {
+        text: 'todo 5',
+        author: 'user5',
+        lineNumber: 7,
+        tag: 'FIXME',
+      },
+      {
+        text: 'todo 6',
+        author: 'user6',
+        lineNumber: 8,
+        tag: 'TODO',
+      },
+      {
+        text: 'todo 7',
+        author: 'user7',
+        lineNumber: 9,
+        tag: 'FIXME',
+      },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('should support custom tags', () => {
+    const content = `
+      ${comment} TODO: todo 1
+      ${comment} MYTAG: todo 2
+      ${comment} MYTAG(user): todo 3
+    `;
+    expect(
+      createTodoParser()({
+        path: 'my-file.js',
+        content,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual([{ text: 'todo 1', tag: 'TODO', lineNumber: 2 }]);
+    expect(
+      createTodoParser({ additionalTags: ['MYTAG'] })({
+        path: 'my-file.js',
+        content,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual([
+      { text: 'todo 1', tag: 'TODO', lineNumber: 2 },
+      { text: 'todo 2', tag: 'MYTAG', lineNumber: 3 },
+      { text: 'todo 3', author: 'user', tag: 'MYTAG', lineNumber: 4 },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('should support multiple languages', () => {
+    const parser = createTodoParser();
+
+    const content = `
+      -- TODO: todo 1
+      # TODO: todo 2
+      ${comment} TODO: todo 3
+      ${comment[0]}* TODO: todo 4 */
+    `;
+    const todo1 = { text: 'todo 1', tag: 'TODO', lineNumber: 2 };
+    const todo2 = { text: 'todo 2', tag: 'TODO', lineNumber: 3 };
+    const todo3 = { text: 'todo 3', tag: 'TODO', lineNumber: 4 };
+    const todo4 = { text: 'todo 4', tag: 'TODO', lineNumber: 5 };
+
+    expect(parser({ path: 'f.py', content })).toEqual([todo2]);
+    expect(parser({ path: 'f.lua', content })).toEqual([todo1]);
+    expect(parser({ path: 'f.java', content })).toEqual([todo3, todo4]);
+    expect(parser({ path: 'f.sh', content })).toEqual([todo2]);
+    expect(parser({ path: 'f.sql', content })).toEqual([todo1, todo3, todo4]);
+    expect(parser({ path: 'f.json', content })).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/plugins/todo-backend/src/lib/TodoReader/createTodoParser.ts b/plugins/todo-backend/src/lib/TodoReader/createTodoParser.ts
index 1abbb901db..79d54e2769 100644
--- a/plugins/todo-backend/src/lib/TodoReader/createTodoParser.ts
+++ b/plugins/todo-backend/src/lib/TodoReader/createTodoParser.ts
@@ -19,23 +19,22 @@ import { parse } from 'leasot';
 import { TodoParser } from './types';
 
 export type TodoParserOptions = {
-  tags?: string[];
+  /** Custom tags to support in addition to TODO and FIXME */
+  additionalTags?: string[];
 };
 
 export function createTodoParser(options: TodoParserOptions = {}): TodoParser {
-  const { tags = ['TODO', 'FIXME'] } = options;
-
   return ({ content, path }) => {
     try {
       const comments = parse(content, {
-        customTags: tags,
+        customTags: options.additionalTags,
         extension: extname(path),
       });
 
       return comments.map(comment => ({
         text: comment.text,
         tag: comment.tag,
-        author: comment.ref,
+        author: comment.ref || undefined,
         lineNumber: comment.line,
       }));
     } catch /* ignore unsupported extensions */ {