diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/encoder_xml.go b/pkg/yqlib/encoder_xml.go
index 652d574..0e605c7 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/encoder_xml.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/encoder_xml.go
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ func (e *xmlEncoder) Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
 	encoder.Indent("", e.indentString)
 	var newLine xml.CharData = []byte("\n")
 
-	if node.Tag == "!!map" {
+	if node.Kind == MappingNode {
 		// make sure <?xml .. ?> processing instructions are encoded first
 		for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
 			key := node.Content[i]
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/xml_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/xml_test.go
index 7628ae1..9320f6d 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/xml_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/xml_test.go
@@ -557,6 +557,20 @@ var xmlScenarios = []formatScenario{
 		expectedError: "cannot encode !!seq to XML - only maps can be encoded",
 		scenarioType:  "encode-error",
 	},
+	{
+		description:   "arrays tagged as maps cannot be encoded",
+		skipDoc:       true,
+		input:         "!!map [cat, dog, fish]",
+		expectedError: "cannot encode !!map to XML - only maps can be encoded",
+		scenarioType:  "encode-error",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "proc instructions of a map with a custom tag",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "!custom\n+p_xml: version=\"1.0\"\na: b\n",
+		expected:     "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>\n<a>b</a>\n",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+	},
 	{
 		description:    "Encode xml: attributes with content",
 		subdescription: "Fields with the matching xml-content-name is assumed to be content.",