diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/InternalWorkbook.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/InternalWorkbook.java
index 58f86ef36c..b6d60ec471 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/InternalWorkbook.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/InternalWorkbook.java
@@ -776,7 +776,6 @@ public final class InternalWorkbook {
      * make the tabid record look like the current situation.
      */
     private void fixTabIdRecord() {
-        Record rec = records.get(records.getTabpos());
 
         // see bug 55982, quite a number of documents do not have a TabIdRecord and
         // thus there is no way to do the fixup here,
@@ -785,6 +784,8 @@ public final class InternalWorkbook {
             return;
         }
 
+        Record rec = records.get(records.getTabpos());
+
         TabIdRecord tir = ( TabIdRecord ) rec;
         short[]     tia = new short[ boundsheets.size() ];
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/WorkbookRecordList.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/WorkbookRecordList.java
index c86a865598..2f97ed0163 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/WorkbookRecordList.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/WorkbookRecordList.java
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public final class WorkbookRecordList {
     /** holds the position of the last bound sheet */
 	private int bspos;
     /** holds the position of the tabid record */
-	private int tabpos;
+	private int tabpos = -1;
     /** hold the position of the last font record */
 	private int fontpos;
     /** hold the position of the last extended font record */
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/TestWorkbookRecordList.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/TestWorkbookRecordList.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..53fd549842
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/model/TestWorkbookRecordList.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package org.apache.poi.hssf.model;
+
+import org.apache.poi.hssf.record.chart.ChartRecord;
+import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFWorkbook;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import static org.apache.poi.hssf.HSSFTestDataSamples.openSampleWorkbook;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+
+public class TestWorkbookRecordList {
+
+    @Test
+    public void tabposIsOnlyUpdatedIfWorkbookHasTabIdRecord() throws IOException {
+        try (HSSFWorkbook wb = openSampleWorkbook("55982.xls")) {
+            WorkbookRecordList records = wb.getInternalWorkbook().getWorkbookRecordList();
+            assertEquals(-1, records.getTabpos());
+
+            // Add an arbitrary record to the front of the list
+            records.add(0, new ChartRecord());
+
+            assertEquals(-1, records.getTabpos());
+        }
+    }
+}