diff --git a/frontends/verific/verific.cc b/frontends/verific/verific.cc
index 6000df9e6..be417c9dc 100644
--- a/frontends/verific/verific.cc
+++ b/frontends/verific/verific.cc
@@ -251,6 +251,14 @@ static const RTLIL::Const verific_const(const char *value, bool allow_string = t
 	return c;
 }
 
+static const std::string verific_unescape(const char *value)
+{
+	std::string val = std::string(value);
+	if (val.size()>1 && val[0]=='\"' && val.back()=='\"')
+		return val.substr(1,val.size()-2);
+	return value;
+}
+
 void VerificImporter::import_attributes(dict<RTLIL::IdString, RTLIL::Const> &attributes, DesignObj *obj, Netlist *nl)
 {
 	MapIter mi;
@@ -1109,13 +1117,13 @@ bool VerificImporter::import_netlist_instance_cells(Instance *inst, RTLIL::IdStr
 		RTLIL::SigSpec sig_set_mask = operatorInport(inst, "set_mask");
 		RTLIL::SigSpec sig_clr_mask = operatorInport(inst, "clr_mask");
 		RTLIL::SigSpec sig_o = operatorOutput(inst);
-		std::string tag = inst->GetAtt("tag") ? inst->GetAttValue("tag") : "";
+		std::string tag = inst->GetAtt("tag") ? verific_unescape(inst->GetAttValue("tag")) : "";
 		module->connect(sig_o, module->SetTag(new_verific_id(inst), tag, sig_expr, sig_set_mask, sig_clr_mask));
 		return true;
 	}
 	if (inst->Type() == OPER_YOSYSHQ_GET_TAG)
 	{
-		std::string tag = inst->GetAtt("tag") ? inst->GetAttValue("tag") : "";
+		std::string tag = inst->GetAtt("tag") ? verific_unescape(inst->GetAttValue("tag")) : "";
 		module->connect(operatorOutput(inst),module->GetTag(new_verific_id(inst), tag, operatorInput(inst)));
 		return true;
 	}
@@ -1124,13 +1132,13 @@ bool VerificImporter::import_netlist_instance_cells(Instance *inst, RTLIL::IdStr
 		RTLIL::SigSpec sig_signal = operatorInport(inst, "signal");
 		RTLIL::SigSpec sig_set_mask = operatorInport(inst, "set_mask");
 		RTLIL::SigSpec sig_clr_mask = operatorInport(inst, "clr_mask");
-		std::string tag = inst->GetAtt("tag") ? inst->GetAttValue("tag") : "";
+		std::string tag = inst->GetAtt("tag") ? verific_unescape(inst->GetAttValue("tag")) : "";
 		module->addOverwriteTag(new_verific_id(inst), tag, sig_signal, sig_set_mask, sig_clr_mask);
 		return true;
 	}
 	if (inst->Type() == OPER_YOSYSHQ_ORIGINAL_TAG)
 	{
-		std::string tag = inst->GetAtt("tag") ? inst->GetAttValue("tag") : "";
+		std::string tag = inst->GetAtt("tag") ? verific_unescape(inst->GetAttValue("tag")) : "";
 		module->connect(operatorOutput(inst),module->OriginalTag(new_verific_id(inst), tag, operatorInput(inst)));
 		return true;
 	}