diff --git a/src/Hipace.cpp b/src/Hipace.cpp
index 784b0f02d7..c784d64de5 100644
--- a/src/Hipace.cpp
+++ b/src/Hipace.cpp
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ Hipace::Hipace () :
     AMREX_ALWAYS_ASSERT_WITH_MESSAGE(
         (((double(m_comms_buffer_max_leading_slices) + m_comms_buffer_max_trailing_slices)
         * amrex::ParallelDescriptor::NProcs()) > m_3D_geom[0].Domain().length(2))
-        || (m_max_step <= amrex::ParallelDescriptor::NProcs()),
+        || (m_max_step < amrex::ParallelDescriptor::NProcs()),
         "comms_buffer_max_leading_slices and comms_buffer_max_trailing_slices must be large enough"
         " to distribute all slices between all ranks if there are more timesteps than ranks");