diff --git a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
index b05c971fe..00993e0fa 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
@@ -518,9 +518,9 @@ func initDefaultTitleBody(ctx CreateContext, state *shared.IssueMetadataState, u
 	return nil
 }
 
-// determineTrackingBranch is intended to try and find a remote branch on the same commit as the currently checked out
+// tryDetermineTrackingRef is intended to try and find a remote branch on the same commit as the currently checked out
 // HEAD, i.e. the local branch.
-func determineTrackingBranch(gitClient *git.Client, remotes ghContext.Remotes, localBranchName string, headBranchConfig git.BranchConfig) *git.TrackingRef {
+func tryDetermineTrackingRef(gitClient *git.Client, remotes ghContext.Remotes, localBranchName string, headBranchConfig git.BranchConfig) (git.TrackingRef, bool) {
 	// To try and determine the tracking ref for a local branch, we first construct a collection of refs
 	// that might be tracking, given the current branch's config, and the list of known remotes.
 	refsForLookup := []string{"HEAD"}
@@ -557,12 +557,11 @@ func determineTrackingBranch(gitClient *git.Client, remotes ghContext.Remotes, l
 				continue
 			}
 			// Otherwise we can parse the returned ref into a tracking ref and return that
-			trackingRef := mustParseTrackingRef(r.Name)
-			return &trackingRef
+			return mustParseTrackingRef(r.Name), true
 		}
 	}
 
-	return nil
+	return git.TrackingRef{}, false
 }
 
 func mustParseTrackingRef(text string) git.TrackingRef {
@@ -665,14 +664,14 @@ func NewCreateContext(opts *CreateOptions) (*CreateContext, error) {
 	headBranchConfig := gitClient.ReadBranchConfig(context.Background(), headBranch)
 	if isPushEnabled {
 		// determine whether the head branch is already pushed to a remote
-		if pushedTo := determineTrackingBranch(gitClient, remotes, headBranch, headBranchConfig); pushedTo != nil {
+		if trackingRef, found := tryDetermineTrackingRef(gitClient, remotes, headBranch, headBranchConfig); found {
 			isPushEnabled = false
-			if r, err := remotes.FindByName(pushedTo.RemoteName); err == nil {
+			if r, err := remotes.FindByName(trackingRef.RemoteName); err == nil {
 				headRepo = r
 				headRemote = r
-				headBranchLabel = pushedTo.BranchName
+				headBranchLabel = trackingRef.BranchName
 				if !ghrepo.IsSame(baseRepo, headRepo) {
-					headBranchLabel = fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", headRepo.RepoOwner(), pushedTo.BranchName)
+					headBranchLabel = fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", headRepo.RepoOwner(), trackingRef.BranchName)
 				}
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go
index 8d5a1d1b3..acb35f557 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go
@@ -1622,12 +1622,12 @@ func Test_createRun(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func Test_determineTrackingBranch(t *testing.T) {
+func Test_tryDetermineTrackingRef(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name     string
 		cmdStubs func(*run.CommandStubber)
 		remotes  context.Remotes
-		assert   func(ref *git.TrackingRef, t *testing.T)
+		assert   func(ref git.TrackingRef, found bool, t *testing.T)
 	}{
 		{
 			name: "empty",
@@ -1635,8 +1635,9 @@ func Test_determineTrackingBranch(t *testing.T) {
 				cs.Register(`git config --get-regexp.+branch\\\.feature\\\.`, 0, "")
 				cs.Register(`git show-ref --verify -- HEAD`, 0, "abc HEAD")
 			},
-			assert: func(ref *git.TrackingRef, t *testing.T) {
-				assert.Nil(t, ref)
+			assert: func(ref git.TrackingRef, found bool, t *testing.T) {
+				assert.Zero(t, ref)
+				assert.False(t, found)
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -1655,8 +1656,9 @@ func Test_determineTrackingBranch(t *testing.T) {
 					Repo:   ghrepo.New("octocat", "Spoon-Knife"),
 				},
 			},
-			assert: func(ref *git.TrackingRef, t *testing.T) {
-				assert.Nil(t, ref)
+			assert: func(ref git.TrackingRef, found bool, t *testing.T) {
+				assert.Zero(t, ref)
+				assert.False(t, found)
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -1679,9 +1681,12 @@ func Test_determineTrackingBranch(t *testing.T) {
 					Repo:   ghrepo.New("octocat", "Spoon-Knife"),
 				},
 			},
-			assert: func(ref *git.TrackingRef, t *testing.T) {
-				assert.Equal(t, "upstream", ref.RemoteName)
-				assert.Equal(t, "feature", ref.BranchName)
+			assert: func(ref git.TrackingRef, found bool, t *testing.T) {
+				assert.Equal(t, git.TrackingRef{
+					RemoteName: "upstream",
+					BranchName: "feature",
+				}, ref)
+				assert.True(t, found)
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -1702,8 +1707,9 @@ func Test_determineTrackingBranch(t *testing.T) {
 					Repo:   ghrepo.New("hubot", "Spoon-Knife"),
 				},
 			},
-			assert: func(ref *git.TrackingRef, t *testing.T) {
-				assert.Nil(t, ref)
+			assert: func(ref git.TrackingRef, found bool, t *testing.T) {
+				assert.Zero(t, ref)
+				assert.False(t, found)
 			},
 		},
 	}
@@ -1719,8 +1725,9 @@ func Test_determineTrackingBranch(t *testing.T) {
 				GitPath: "some/path/git",
 			}
 			headBranchConfig := gitClient.ReadBranchConfig(ctx.Background(), "feature")
-			ref := determineTrackingBranch(gitClient, tt.remotes, "feature", headBranchConfig)
-			tt.assert(ref, t)
+			ref, found := tryDetermineTrackingRef(gitClient, tt.remotes, "feature", headBranchConfig)
+
+			tt.assert(ref, found, t)
 		})
 	}
 }