diff --git a/kernel/timer.c b/kernel/timer.c
index 7bd715fda974..353b9227c2ec 100644
--- a/kernel/timer.c
+++ b/kernel/timer.c
@@ -1252,6 +1252,12 @@ unsigned long get_next_timer_interrupt(unsigned long now)
 	struct tvec_base *base = __get_cpu_var(tvec_bases);
 	unsigned long expires;
 
+	/*
+	 * Pretend that there is no timer pending if the cpu is offline.
+	 * Possible pending timers will be migrated later to an active cpu.
+	 */
+	if (cpu_is_offline(smp_processor_id()))
+		return now + NEXT_TIMER_MAX_DELTA;
 	spin_lock(&base->lock);
 	if (time_before_eq(base->next_timer, base->timer_jiffies))
 		base->next_timer = __next_timer_interrupt(base);