diff --git a/cmd/task/task.go b/cmd/task/task.go
index f314470317..e92844270a 100644
--- a/cmd/task/task.go
+++ b/cmd/task/task.go
@@ -265,8 +265,7 @@ func run() error {
 	}
 
 	if (listOptions.ShouldListTasks()) && flags.silent {
-		e.ListTaskNames(flags.listAll)
-		return nil
+		return e.ListTaskNames(flags.listAll)
 	}
 
 	if err := e.Setup(); err != nil {
diff --git a/help.go b/help.go
index b7f0dfc309..afb16e532c 100644
--- a/help.go
+++ b/help.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"log"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"text/tabwriter"
@@ -121,12 +120,15 @@ func (e *Executor) ListTasks(o ListOptions) (bool, error) {
 // ListTaskNames prints only the task names in a Taskfile.
 // Only tasks with a non-empty description are printed if allTasks is false.
 // Otherwise, all task names are printed.
-func (e *Executor) ListTaskNames(allTasks bool) {
+func (e *Executor) ListTaskNames(allTasks bool) error {
+	// if called from cmd/task.go, e.Logger has not yet been initialized
+	if e.Logger == nil {
+		e.setupLogger()
+	}
 	// if called from cmd/task.go, e.Taskfile has not yet been parsed
 	if e.Taskfile == nil {
 		if err := e.readTaskfile(); err != nil {
-			log.Fatal(err)
-			return
+			return err
 		}
 	}
 	// use stdout if no output defined
@@ -157,6 +159,7 @@ func (e *Executor) ListTaskNames(allTasks bool) {
 	for _, t := range taskNames {
 		fmt.Fprintln(w, t)
 	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (e *Executor) ToEditorOutput(tasks []*ast.Task, noStatus bool) (*editors.Taskfile, error) {