diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/VariantContextUtils.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/VariantContextUtils.java
index c0d818d8b..cf541d125 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/VariantContextUtils.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/VariantContextUtils.java
@@ -403,8 +403,8 @@ public class VariantContextUtils {
             //
             if ( vc.hasAttribute(VCFConstants.DEPTH_KEY) )
                 depth += Integer.valueOf(vc.getAttributeAsString(VCFConstants.DEPTH_KEY));
-            if ( rsID == null && vc.hasAttribute(VariantContext.ID_KEY) )
-                rsID = vc.getAttributeAsString(VariantContext.ID_KEY);
+            if ( rsID == null && vc.hasID() )
+                rsID = vc.getID();
 
             for ( Map.Entry<String, Object> p : vc.getAttributes().entrySet() ) {
                 String key = p.getKey();
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/analyzeannotations/AnnotationDataManager.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/analyzeannotations/AnnotationDataManager.java
index 7513854a5..726b659e3 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/analyzeannotations/AnnotationDataManager.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/analyzeannotations/AnnotationDataManager.java
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public class AnnotationDataManager {
                 treeSet.add(datum);
             }
 
-            final boolean isNovelVariant = !infoField.get(VariantContext.ID_KEY).toString().contains("rs");
+            final boolean isNovelVariant = !vc.hasID() || !vc.getID().contains("rs");
 
             // Decide if the variant is a transition or transversion
             if( VariantContextUtils.getSNPSubstitutionType(vc).compareTo(BaseUtils.BaseSubstitutionType.TRANSITION) == 0 ) {
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/VariantEvalWalker.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/VariantEvalWalker.java
index 42eb3ba11..28a4ed90d 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/VariantEvalWalker.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/VariantEvalWalker.java
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ public class VariantEvalWalker extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> implements Tr
     }
 
     private boolean excludeComp(VariantContext vc) {
-        String id = vc != null && vc.hasAttribute(VariantContext.ID_KEY) ? vc.getAttributeAsString(VariantContext.ID_KEY) : null;
+        String id = vc != null && vc.hasID() ? vc.getID() : null;
         boolean ex = rsIDsToExclude != null && id != null && rsIDsToExclude.contains(id);
         //System.out.printf("Testing id %s ex=%b against %s%n", id, ex, vc);
         return ex;