diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_aops.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_aops.c
index f4d3252236c1..814100d27343 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_aops.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_aops.c
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ xfs_map_blocks(
 	imap_valid = offset_fsb >= wpc->imap.br_startoff &&
 		     offset_fsb < wpc->imap.br_startoff + wpc->imap.br_blockcount;
 	if (imap_valid &&
-	    (!xfs_is_reflink_inode(ip) || wpc->io_type == XFS_IO_COW))
+	    (!xfs_inode_has_cow_data(ip) || wpc->io_type == XFS_IO_COW))
 		return 0;
 
 	if (XFS_FORCED_SHUTDOWN(mp))
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ xfs_map_blocks(
 	 * Check if this is offset is covered by a COW extents, and if yes use
 	 * it directly instead of looking up anything in the data fork.
 	 */
-	if (xfs_is_reflink_inode(ip) &&
+	if (xfs_inode_has_cow_data(ip) &&
 	    xfs_iext_lookup_extent(ip, ip->i_cowfp, offset_fsb, &icur, &imap) &&
 	    imap.br_startoff <= offset_fsb) {
 		xfs_iunlock(ip, XFS_ILOCK_SHARED);
diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_bmap_util.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_bmap_util.c
index d3a314fd721f..5c918e8bf496 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_bmap_util.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_bmap_util.c
@@ -1277,7 +1277,7 @@ xfs_prepare_shift(
 	 * we've flushed all the dirty data out to disk to avoid having
 	 * CoW extents at the wrong offsets.
 	 */
-	if (xfs_is_reflink_inode(ip)) {
+	if (xfs_inode_has_cow_data(ip)) {
 		error = xfs_reflink_cancel_cow_range(ip, offset, NULLFILEOFF,
 				true);
 		if (error)
diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_icache.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_icache.c
index 79f344fa8b14..fdae4c2d461e 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_icache.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_icache.c
@@ -1697,14 +1697,13 @@ xfs_inode_clear_eofblocks_tag(
  */
 static bool
 xfs_prep_free_cowblocks(
-	struct xfs_inode	*ip,
-	struct xfs_ifork	*ifp)
+	struct xfs_inode	*ip)
 {
 	/*
 	 * Just clear the tag if we have an empty cow fork or none at all. It's
 	 * possible the inode was fully unshared since it was originally tagged.
 	 */
-	if (!xfs_is_reflink_inode(ip) || !ifp->if_bytes) {
+	if (!xfs_inode_has_cow_data(ip)) {
 		trace_xfs_inode_free_cowblocks_invalid(ip);
 		xfs_inode_clear_cowblocks_tag(ip);
 		return false;
@@ -1742,11 +1741,10 @@ xfs_inode_free_cowblocks(
 	void			*args)
 {
 	struct xfs_eofblocks	*eofb = args;
-	struct xfs_ifork	*ifp = XFS_IFORK_PTR(ip, XFS_COW_FORK);
 	int			match;
 	int			ret = 0;
 
-	if (!xfs_prep_free_cowblocks(ip, ifp))
+	if (!xfs_prep_free_cowblocks(ip))
 		return 0;
 
 	if (eofb) {
@@ -1771,7 +1769,7 @@ xfs_inode_free_cowblocks(
 	 * Check again, nobody else should be able to dirty blocks or change
 	 * the reflink iflag now that we have the first two locks held.
 	 */
-	if (xfs_prep_free_cowblocks(ip, ifp))
+	if (xfs_prep_free_cowblocks(ip))
 		ret = xfs_reflink_cancel_cow_range(ip, 0, NULLFILEOFF, false);
 
 	xfs_iunlock(ip, XFS_MMAPLOCK_EXCL);
diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
index d6cd545f5d1d..b5c6464b2307 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
@@ -1863,7 +1863,6 @@ xfs_inactive(
 	xfs_inode_t	*ip)
 {
 	struct xfs_mount	*mp;
-	struct xfs_ifork	*cow_ifp = XFS_IFORK_PTR(ip, XFS_COW_FORK);
 	int			error;
 	int			truncate = 0;
 
@@ -1884,7 +1883,7 @@ xfs_inactive(
 		return;
 
 	/* Try to clean out the cow blocks if there are any. */
-	if (xfs_is_reflink_inode(ip) && cow_ifp->if_bytes > 0)
+	if (xfs_inode_has_cow_data(ip))
 		xfs_reflink_cancel_cow_range(ip, 0, NULLFILEOFF, true);
 
 	if (VFS_I(ip)->i_nlink != 0) {
diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.h b/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.h
index 51ae5d79de0d..9cd02852d193 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.h
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.h
@@ -198,6 +198,15 @@ static inline bool xfs_is_reflink_inode(struct xfs_inode *ip)
 	return ip->i_d.di_flags2 & XFS_DIFLAG2_REFLINK;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Check if an inode has any data in the COW fork.  This might be often false
+ * even for inodes with the reflink flag when there is no pending COW operation.
+ */
+static inline bool xfs_inode_has_cow_data(struct xfs_inode *ip)
+{
+	return ip->i_cowfp && ip->i_cowfp->if_bytes;
+}
+
 /*
  * In-core inode flags.
  */
diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_reflink.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_reflink.c
index 3143889097f1..1c59814d8bb2 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_reflink.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_reflink.c
@@ -487,7 +487,7 @@ xfs_reflink_cancel_cow_blocks(
 	struct xfs_defer_ops		*odfops = (*tpp)->t_dfops;
 	int				error = 0;
 
-	if (!xfs_is_reflink_inode(ip))
+	if (!xfs_inode_has_cow_data(ip))
 		return 0;
 	if (!xfs_iext_lookup_extent_before(ip, ifp, &end_fsb, &icur, &got))
 		return 0;
