diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTable.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTable.java
index 944612c44..4aa854946 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTable.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTable.java
@@ -58,8 +58,11 @@ public class VariantsToTable extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
     public int MAX_RECORDS = -1;
     int nRecords = 0;
 
-    @Argument(fullName="ignoreMultiAllelic", shortName="IMA", doc="If provided, we will not require the site to be biallelic", required=false)
-    public boolean ignoreMultiAllelic = false;
+    @Argument(fullName="keepMultiAllelic", shortName="KMA", doc="If provided, we will not require the site to be biallelic", required=false)
+    public boolean keepMultiAllelic = false;
+
+    @Argument(fullName="allowMissingData", shortName="AMD", doc="If provided, we will not require every record to contain every field", required=false)
+    public boolean ALLOW_MISSING_DATA = false;
 
     public void initialize() {
         out.println(Utils.join("\t", fieldsToTake));
@@ -119,8 +122,8 @@ public class VariantsToTable extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
         if ( ++nRecords < MAX_RECORDS || MAX_RECORDS == -1 ) {
             Collection<VariantContext> vcs = tracker.getAllVariantContexts(ref, context.getLocation());
             for ( VariantContext vc : vcs) {
-                if ( (! ignoreMultiAllelic || vc.isBiallelic()) && ( showFiltered || vc.isNotFiltered() ) ) {
-                    List<String> vals = extractFields(vc, fieldsToTake);
+                if ( (keepMultiAllelic || vc.isBiallelic()) && ( showFiltered || vc.isNotFiltered() ) ) {
+                    List<String> vals = extractFields(vc, fieldsToTake, ALLOW_MISSING_DATA);
                     out.println(Utils.join("\t", vals));
                 }
             }
@@ -139,7 +142,7 @@ public class VariantsToTable extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
         return s.endsWith("*");
     }
 
-    public static List<String> extractFields(VariantContext vc, List<String> fields) {
+    public static List<String> extractFields(VariantContext vc, List<String> fields, boolean allowMissingData) {
         List<String> vals = new ArrayList<String>();
 
         for ( String field : fields ) {
@@ -162,6 +165,8 @@ public class VariantsToTable extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
                     Collections.sort(toVal);
                     val = Utils.join(",", toVal);
                 }
+            } else if ( ! allowMissingData ) {
+                throw new UserException(String.format("Missing field %s in vc %s at %s", field, vc.getSource(), vc));
             }
 
             vals.add(val);
diff --git a/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTableIntegrationTest.java b/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTableIntegrationTest.java
index 83c0e6a90..72647c8e1 100644
--- a/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTableIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTableIntegrationTest.java
@@ -33,16 +33,24 @@ import java.util.*;
 import java.io.File;
 
 public class VariantsToTableIntegrationTest extends WalkerTest {
+    private String variantsToTableCmd(String moreArgs) {
+        return "-R " + hg18Reference +
+                " -B:eval,vcf " + validationDataLocation + "/soap_gatk_annotated.vcf" +
+                " -T VariantsToTable" +
+                " -F CHROM -F POS -F ID -F REF -F ALT -F QUAL -F FILTER -F TRANSITION -F DP -F SB -F set -F RankSumP -F refseq.functionalClass*" +
+                " -L chr1 -KMA -o %s" + moreArgs;
+    }
+
     @Test(enabled = true)
     public void testComplexVariantsToTable() {
-        // functional class is a wild card operator
-        WalkerTestSpec spec = new WalkerTestSpec(
-                "-R " + hg18Reference +
-                        " -B:eval,vcf " + validationDataLocation + "/soap_gatk_annotated.vcf" +
-                        " -T VariantsToTable" +
-                        " -F CHROM -F POS -F ID -F REF -F ALT -F QUAL -F FILTER -F TRANSITION -F DP -F SB -F set -F RankSumP -F refseq.functionalClass*" +
-                        " -L chr1 -o %s",
+        WalkerTestSpec spec = new WalkerTestSpec(variantsToTableCmd(" -AMD"),
                 Arrays.asList("b2a3712c1bfad8f1383ffada8b5017ba"));
         executeTest("testComplexVariantsToTable", spec).getFirst();
     }
+
+    @Test(enabled = true)
+    public void testComplexVariantsToTableFail() {
+        WalkerTestSpec spec = new WalkerTestSpec(variantsToTableCmd(""), 1, UserException.class);
+        executeTest("testComplexVariantsToTable-FAIL", spec);
+    }
 }