diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFFormFieldObjectHelper.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFFormFieldObjectHelper.cc
index ee55157..5bcdd36 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFFormFieldObjectHelper.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFFormFieldObjectHelper.cc
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ QPDFFormFieldObjectHelper::getTopLevelField(bool* is_different)
 FormField
 FormField::root_field(bool* is_different)
 {
+    if (is_different) {
+        *is_different = false;
+    }
     if (!obj) {
         return {};
     }
diff --git a/manual/release-notes.rst b/manual/release-notes.rst
index db330b8..9ddd1f7 100644
--- a/manual/release-notes.rst
+++ b/manual/release-notes.rst
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ more detail.
       not work on some older Linux distributions. If you need support
       for an older distribution, please use version 12.2.0 or below.
 
+  - Bug fixes
+
+    - Set `is_different` flag in `QPDFFormFieldObjectHelper::getTopLevelField` to
+      false if the field is a top-level field. Previously the flag was only set
+      if the field is a top-level field.
+
   - Library Enhancements
 
     - Add ``QPDFNameTreeObjectHelper`` and ``QPDFNumberTreeObjectHelper``