diff --git a/README.org b/README.org
index a4246d7..77da168 100644
--- a/README.org
+++ b/README.org
@@ -304,6 +304,8 @@ tags that are most likely typos or abandoned
     - tagging lnk files within tagtrees also tag their original files
     - .filetags files can now be .lnk files as well
     - the unit tests now work on Windows and test some Windows specialities
+- 2018-04-18:
+  - comments in =.filetags= files that contain the controlled vocabulary
 
 ** Get the most out of filetags: controlled vocabulary ~.filetags~
 :PROPERTIES:
@@ -326,6 +328,10 @@ Of course, you can remove existing tags by prepending a =-= character
 to the tag: =-tagname=. This also works interactively using the tab
 completion feature.
 
+You can use comments in =.filetags= files: everything after a =#=
+character is considered a comment. You can even add a comment after a
+tag like "=mytag   # this is a test tag=".
+
 ** Mutually exclusive tags
 
 If you enter multiple tags in the same line in ~.filetags~, they are
diff --git a/filetags/__init__.py b/filetags/__init__.py
index cf84e3b..03cca28 100755
--- a/filetags/__init__.py
+++ b/filetags/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-PROG_VERSION = "Time-stamp: <2018-04-15 11:47:48 vk>"
+PROG_VERSION = "Time-stamp: <2018-04-18 09:51:07 karl.voit>"
 
 # TODO:
 # - fix parts marked with «FIXXME»
@@ -1677,7 +1677,14 @@ def locate_and_parse_controlled_vocabulary(startfile):
                 global controlled_vocabulary_filename
                 controlled_vocabulary_filename = filename
                 for rawline in filehandle:
-                    line = rawline.strip()
+
+                    # remove everyting after the first hash character (which is a comment separator)
+                    line = rawline.strip().split('#')[0].strip()  # split and take everything before the first '#' as new "line"
+
+                    if len(line) == 0:
+                        # nothing left, line consisted only of a comment or was empty
+                        continue
+
                     if BETWEEN_TAG_SEPARATOR in line:
                         ## if multiple tags are in one line, they are mutually exclusive: only has can be set via filetags
                         logging.debug('locate_and_parse_controlled_vocabulary: found unique tags: %s' %
@@ -1688,10 +1695,12 @@ def locate_and_parse_controlled_vocabulary(startfile):
                             tags.append(tag)
                     else:
                         tags.append(line)
+
             logging.debug('locate_and_parse_controlled_vocabulary: controlled vocabulary has %i tags' %
                           len(tags))
             logging.debug('locate_and_parse_controlled_vocabulary: controlled vocabulary has %i groups of unique tags' %
                           (len(unique_tags) - 1))
+
             return tags
         else:
             logging.debug('locate_and_parse_controlled_vocabulary: controlled vocabulary is a non-existing file')
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests.py b/tests/unit_tests.py
index 3c9a1e2..dbfe2f7 100755
--- a/tests/unit_tests.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-# Time-stamp: <2018-04-05 18:13:07 karl.voit>
+# Time-stamp: <2018-04-17 19:16:42 karl.voit>
 
 # invoke tests using following command line:
 # ~/src/vktag % PYTHONPATH="~/src/filetags:" tests/unit_tests.py --verbose
@@ -296,8 +296,8 @@ class TestLocateAndParseControlledVocabulary(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
 
         # create temporary directories:
-        self.tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='TextControlledVocabulary_')
-        print("\nTextControlledVocabulary: tempdir: " + self.tempdir + '  <<<' + '#' * 10)
+        self.tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='TestControlledVocabulary_')
+        print("\nTestControlledVocabulary: tempdir: " + self.tempdir + '  <<<' + '#' * 10)
         self.subdir1 = os.path.join(self.tempdir, 'subdir1')
         os.makedirs(self.subdir1)
         self.subdir2 = os.path.join(self.tempdir, 'subdir2')
@@ -424,9 +424,61 @@ class TestLocateAndParseControlledVocabulary(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def NOtest_find_cv_in_home_as_last_fallback_when_no_other_cv_is_around(self):
 
-        # I don't want to mess around in $HOME for testing purposes.
+        # Currently disabled because I don't want to mess around in $HOME for testing purposes.
         pass
 
+    def test_comment_line_in_cv(self):
+        """
+        This tests does not use the setup from the test class. However, it does use several
+        other util functions defined in this class. Therefore, I set up a different test
+        case here and re-use the util functions.
+
+        Test CV file looks like:
+
+        foo
+        # comment
+        bar
+        ## another comment
+        baz
+        #
+        tag #inline-comment
+
+        This should result in following CV: ["foo", "bar", "baz", "tag"] and not more.
+
+        """
+
+        tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='TestControlledVocabulary_Comments_line_')
+        print("\ntempdir: " + tempdir + '  <<<' + '#' * 10)
+        assert(os.path.isdir(tempdir))
+
+        # create Controlled vocabulary files:
+        cv_file = os.path.join(tempdir, '.filetags')
+        self.create_file(cv_file, "foo\n# comment\nbar\n## another comment\nbaz\n#\ntag #inline-comment\n\n")
+        assert(os.path.isfile(cv_file))
+
+        # setup complete
+
+        cv = filetags.locate_and_parse_controlled_vocabulary(cv_file)
+        self.assertEqual(set(cv), set(["foo", "bar", "baz", "tag"]))
+
+
+    def test_include_lines_in_cv(self):
+        """
+        This tests does not use the setup from the test class. However, it does use several
+        other util functions defined in this class. Therefore, I set up a different test
+        case here and re-use the util functions.
+
+        Setup looks like this:
+        tmpdir
+             `- subdir1
+                      |
+                       `- .filetags with a reference to subdir2/included_filetags
+              - subdir2
+                      |
+                       `- included_filetags with additional tags
+        """
+        pass  # FIXXME: implement
+
 
 class TestFileWithoutTags(unittest.TestCase):