diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7e01f27..2c2dd30 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-- INTERNAL
-  - migrate to thegeeklab namespace
+- BUGFIX
+  - fix missing `__ansible_action_meta__` in normalized tasks (https://github.com/thegeeklab/ansible-later/issues/37)
diff --git a/ansiblelater/rules/ansiblefiles.py b/ansiblelater/rules/ansiblefiles.py
index 9e13f07..53007cf 100644
--- a/ansiblelater/rules/ansiblefiles.py
+++ b/ansiblelater/rules/ansiblefiles.py
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ def check_command_has_changes(candidate, settings):
             if task["action"]["__ansible_module__"] in commands:
                 if (
                     "changed_when" not in task and "when" not in task
-                    and "when" not in task["__ansible_action_meta__"]
+                    and "when" not in task.get("__ansible_action_meta__", [])
                     and "creates" not in task["action"] and "removes" not in task["action"]
                 ):
                     errors.append(Error(task["__line__"], description))