diff --git a/lib/package-managers/gitTags.js b/lib/package-managers/gitTags.js
index bf487272..e4e999c5 100644
--- a/lib/package-managers/gitTags.js
+++ b/lib/package-managers/gitTags.js
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ const getSortedVersions = async (name, declaration, options) => {
 
   // eslint-disable-next-line fp/no-mutating-methods
   const tags = [...tagMap.keys()]
-    .map(tag => versionUtil.isSimpleVersion(tag) ? tag + '.0.0' : tag)
+    .map(versionUtil.fixPseudoVersion)
     // do not pass semver.valid reference directly since the mapping index will be interpreted as the loose option
     // https://github.com/npm/node-semver#functions
     .filter(tag => semver.valid(tag))
diff --git a/lib/version-util.js b/lib/version-util.js
index 03904b9c..deb1735d 100644
--- a/lib/version-util.js
+++ b/lib/version-util.js
@@ -232,7 +232,48 @@ function isPre(version) {
 }
 
 /** Checks if a string is a simple version in the format "v1". */
-const isSimpleVersion = s => /^[vV]?\d+$/.test(s)
+const isMissingMinorAndPatch = s => /^[vV]?\d+$/.test(s)
+
+/** Checks if a version string is missing its match component, e.g. "1.0". */
+const isMissingPatch = s => /^[vV]?\d+\.\d+$/.test(s)
+
+/** Removes a leading 'v' or 'V' from a pseudo version.. */
+const fixLeadingV = s => s.replace(/^[vV]/, '')
+
+/** Converts a pseudo version that is missing its minor and patch components into a valid semver version. NOOP for valid semver versions. */
+const fixMissingMinorAndPatch = s => isMissingMinorAndPatch(s) ? s + '.0.0' : s
+
+/** Converts a pseudo version that is missing its patch component into a valid semver version. NOOP for valid semver versions. */
+const fixMissingPatch = s => isMissingPatch(s) ? s + '.0' : s
+
+/** Converts a pseudo version into a valid semver version. NOOP for valid semver versions. */
+const fixPseudoVersion = _.flow(fixLeadingV, fixMissingMinorAndPatch, fixMissingPatch)
+
+/** Reverts a valid semver version to a pseudo version that is missing its minor and patch components. NOOP If the original version was a valid semver version. */
+const revertMissingMinorAndPatch = _.curry((current, latest) =>
+  isMissingMinorAndPatch(current)
+    ? latest.slice(0, latest.length - '.0.0'.length)
+    : latest)
+
+/** Reverts a valid semver version to a pseudo version that is missing its patch components. NOOP If the original version was a valid semver version. */
+const revertMissingPatch = _.curry((current, latest) =>
+  isMissingPatch(current)
+    ? latest.slice(0, latest.length - '.0'.length)
+    : latest)
+
+/** Reverts a valid semver version to a pseudo version with a leading 'v'. NOOP If the original version was a valid semver version. */
+const revertLeadingV = _.curry((current, latest) =>
+  v(current)
+    ? v(current) + latest
+    : latest)
+
+/** Reverts a valid semver version to a pseudo version. NOOP If the original version was a valid semver version. */
+const revertPseudoVersion = (current, latest) =>
+  _.flow(
+    revertLeadingV(current),
+    revertMissingMinorAndPatch(current),
+    revertMissingPatch(current)
+  )(latest)
 
 /**
  * Returns 'v' if the string starts with a v, otherwise returns empty string.
@@ -383,14 +424,7 @@ function upgradeDependencyDeclaration(declaration, latestVersion, options = {})
 const upgradeGithubUrl = (declaration, upgraded) => {
   const tag = decodeURIComponent(parseGithubUrl(declaration).branch)
     .replace(/^semver:/, '')
-  // if the tag does not start with "v", remove it from upgraded
-  const upgradedNormalized = !tag.startsWith('v') && upgraded.startsWith('v')
-    ? upgraded.slice(1)
-    : upgraded
-  const upgradedWithSimpleStripped = isSimpleVersion(tag)
-    ? upgradedNormalized.replace('.0.0', '')
-    : upgradedNormalized
-  return declaration.replace(tag, upgradeDependencyDeclaration(tag, upgradedWithSimpleStripped))
+  return declaration.replace(tag, upgradeDependencyDeclaration(tag, revertPseudoVersion(tag, upgraded)))
 }
 
 module.exports = {
@@ -401,8 +435,9 @@ module.exports = {
   getPrecision,
   setPrecision,
   addWildCard,
+  fixPseudoVersion,
+  revertPseudoVersion,
   isPre,
-  isSimpleVersion,
   isWildCard,
   isWildPart,
   colorizeDiff,
diff --git a/lib/versionmanager.js b/lib/versionmanager.js
index cf3bb762..ceb72588 100644
--- a/lib/versionmanager.js
+++ b/lib/versionmanager.js
@@ -108,17 +108,21 @@ function isUpgradeable(current, latest) {
   }
 
   const version = versionUtil.stringify(range)
-  const latestNormalized = versionUtil.isSimpleVersion(latest)
-    ? latest.replace('v', '') + '.0.0'
-    : latest
+
+  // allow upgrading of pseudo versions such as "v1" or "1.0"
+  const latestNormalized = versionUtil.fixPseudoVersion(latest)
+
+  const isValidCurrent = Boolean(semver.validRange(version))
+  const isValidLatest = Boolean(semver.valid(latestNormalized))
 
   // make sure it is a valid range
   // not upgradeable if the latest version satisfies the current range
   // not upgradeable if the specified version is newer than the latest (indicating a prerelease version)
   // NOTE: When "<" is specified with a single digit version, e.g. "<7", and has the same major version as the latest, e.g. "7", isSatisfied(latest, version) will return true since it ignores the "<". In this case, test the original range (current) rather than the versionUtil output (version).
-  return Boolean(semver.validRange(version)) &&
-        !isSatisfied(latestNormalized, range.operator === '<' ? current : version) &&
-        !semver.ltr(latestNormalized, version)
+  return isValidCurrent &&
+    isValidLatest &&
+    !isSatisfied(latestNormalized, range.operator === '<' ? current : version) &&
+    !semver.ltr(latestNormalized, version)
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/test/versionmanager.test.js b/test/versionmanager.test.js
index 613f2722..2d596abc 100644
--- a/test/versionmanager.test.js
+++ b/test/versionmanager.test.js
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ describe('versionmanager', () => {
 
     it('upgrade simple, non-semver versions', () => {
       vm.upgradeDependencies({ foo: '1' }, { foo: '2' }).should.eql({ foo: '2' })
-      vm.upgradeDependencies({ mongodb: '0.5' }, { mongodb: '1.4.30' }).should.eql({ mongodb: '1.4' })
+      vm.upgradeDependencies({ foo: '1.0' }, { foo: '1.1' }).should.eql({ foo: '1.1' })
       vm.upgradeDependencies({ 'ncu-test-simple-tag': 'v1' }, { 'ncu-test-simple-tag': 'v3' }).should.eql({ 'ncu-test-simple-tag': 'v3' })
     })