This and the tundra bean goose were recognised as separate species by the International Ornithologists' Union and the American Ornithological Society from 2007,[2] but are still considered a single species by some other authorities (collectively called bean goose), notably BirdLife International and the IUCN.

[5] The closely related pink-footed goose (A. brachyrhynchus) has the bill short, bright pink in the middle, and the feet also pink, the upper wing-coverts being paler and greyer, nearly of the same bluish-grey as in the greylag goose.

In size and bill structure, it is very similar to the tundra bean goose subspecies Anser serrirostris rossicus, and in the past was sometimes treated as a sixth subspecies of bean goose.

The western subspecies A. f. fabalis wintering in Europe are considered to migrate across three different flyways: Western, Central and Eastern; these have been confirmed by stable isotope analysis of their flight feathers.

It is a rare winter visitor to Great Britain; there are two regular wintering flocks of taiga bean goose, in the Yare Valley, Norfolk and the Avon Valley between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland.