diff --git a/src/uu/expand/src/expand.rs b/src/uu/expand/src/expand.rs
index 4377f3083..2094631b7 100644
--- a/src/uu/expand/src/expand.rs
+++ b/src/uu/expand/src/expand.rs
@@ -338,11 +338,6 @@ fn open(path: &str) -> BufReader<Box<dyn Read + 'static>> {
 /// in the `tabstops` slice is interpreted as a relative number of
 /// spaces, which this function will return for every input value of
 /// `col` beyond the end of the second-to-last element of `tabstops`.
-///
-/// If `remaining_mode` is [`RemainingMode::Plus`], then the last entry
-/// in the `tabstops` slice is interpreted as a relative number of
-/// spaces, which this function will return for every input value of
-/// `col` beyond the end of the second-to-last element of `tabstops`.
 fn next_tabstop(tabstops: &[usize], col: usize, remaining_mode: &RemainingMode) -> usize {
     let num_tabstops = tabstops.len();
     match remaining_mode {
@@ -350,13 +345,11 @@ fn next_tabstop(tabstops: &[usize], col: usize, remaining_mode: &RemainingMode)
             Some(t) => t - col,
             None => {
                 let step_size = tabstops[num_tabstops - 1];
-                let last_before_repeating = tabstops[num_tabstops-2];
-                let mut r = last_before_repeating+step_size;
+                let last_fixed_tabstop = tabstops[num_tabstops-2];
+                let characters_since_last_tabstop = col-last_fixed_tabstop;
 
-                while col >= r {
-                    r += step_size;
-                }
-                r - col
+                let steps_required = 1 + characters_since_last_tabstop/step_size;
+                steps_required*step_size-characters_since_last_tabstop
             }
         },
         RemainingMode::Slash => match tabstops[0..num_tabstops - 1].iter().find(|&&t| t > col) {
@@ -498,8 +491,8 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn test_next_tabstop_remaining_mode_plus() {
         assert_eq!(next_tabstop(&[1, 5], 0, &RemainingMode::Plus), 1);
-        assert_eq!(next_tabstop(&[1, 5], 3, &RemainingMode::Plus), 4);
-        assert_eq!(next_tabstop(&[1, 5], 6, &RemainingMode::Plus), 4);
+        assert_eq!(next_tabstop(&[1, 5], 3, &RemainingMode::Plus), 3);
+        assert_eq!(next_tabstop(&[1, 5], 6, &RemainingMode::Plus), 5);
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_expand.rs b/tests/by-util/test_expand.rs
index d4fbf9f95..3436b02e9 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_expand.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_expand.rs
@@ -350,21 +350,41 @@ fn test_ignore_initial_plus_slash_combination() {
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn test_comma_with_plus_and_multi_character_values() {
+fn test_comma_with_plus_1() {
     new_ucmd!()
         .args(&["--tabs=3,+6"])
-        .pipe_in("\taaa\tbbb\tccc")
+        .pipe_in("\t111\t222\t333")
         .succeeds()
         //               01234567890
-        .stdout_is("   aaa   bbb   ccc");
+        .stdout_is("   111   222   333");
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn test_comma_with_plus_and_multi_character_values() {
+fn test_comma_with_plus_2() {
     new_ucmd!()
-        .args(&["--tabs=3,+6"])
-        .pipe_in("\taaa\tbbb\tccc")
+        .args(&["--tabs=1,+5"])
+        .pipe_in("\ta\tb\tc")
         .succeeds()
         //               01234567890
-        .stdout_is("   aaa   bbb   ccc");
+        .stdout_is(" a    b    c");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_comma_with_plus_3() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["--tabs=2,+5"])
+        .pipe_in("a\tb\tc")
+        .succeeds()
+        //               01234567890
+        .stdout_is("a b    c");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_comma_with_plus_4() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["--tabs=1,3,+5"])
+        .pipe_in("a\tb\tc")
+        .succeeds()
+        //               01234567890
+        .stdout_is("a  b    c");
 }