diff --git a/base/src/main/java/proguard/fixer/kotlin/KotlinAnnotationFlagFixer.java b/base/src/main/java/proguard/fixer/kotlin/KotlinAnnotationFlagFixer.java
index c571edcb8..3fc0e9d83 100644
--- a/base/src/main/java/proguard/fixer/kotlin/KotlinAnnotationFlagFixer.java
+++ b/base/src/main/java/proguard/fixer/kotlin/KotlinAnnotationFlagFixer.java
@@ -202,8 +202,6 @@ public void visitAnyType(Clazz clazz, KotlinTypeMetadata kotlinTypeMetadata)
         kotlinTypeMetadata.typeArgumentsAccept(clazz, this);
         kotlinTypeMetadata.upperBoundsAccept(  clazz, this);
         kotlinTypeMetadata.abbreviationAccept( clazz, this);
-
-        kotlinTypeMetadata.flags.common.hasAnnotations = !kotlinTypeMetadata.annotations.isEmpty();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -213,7 +211,6 @@ public void visitFunctionReceiverType(Clazz clazz,
                                           KotlinTypeMetadata kotlinTypeMetadata)
     {
         kotlinFunctionMetadata.referencedMethodAccept(this.annotationCounter.reset());
-        kotlinTypeMetadata.flags.common.hasAnnotations = annotationCounter.getParameterAnnotationCount(0) > 0;
     }
 
     // Implementations for KotlinTypeParameterVisitor.
@@ -225,8 +222,6 @@ public void visitAnyValueParameter(Clazz                        clazz,
     public void visitAnyTypeParameter(Clazz clazz, KotlinTypeParameterMetadata kotlinTypeParameterMetadata)
     {
         kotlinTypeParameterMetadata.upperBoundsAccept(clazz, this);
-
-        kotlinTypeParameterMetadata.flags.common.hasAnnotations = !kotlinTypeParameterMetadata.annotations.isEmpty();
     }
 
     // Implementations for KotlinValueParameterVisitor.
diff --git a/docs/md/manual/releasenotes.md b/docs/md/manual/releasenotes.md
index 48dfdc347..e2119e67b 100644
--- a/docs/md/manual/releasenotes.md
+++ b/docs/md/manual/releasenotes.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 - Fix potential access issues when backporting.
 - Fix potential NoClassDefFoundError when using type specialization optimization. (#373)
+- Improve processing of Kotlin metadata flags to prevent unnecessary null checks for consumers of protected library artifacts.
 
 ## Version 7.4.1
 
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index 467552165..ff9f44d71 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 proguardVersion = 7.4.1
 
 # The version of ProGuardCORE that sub-projects are built with
-proguardCoreVersion = 9.1.0
+proguardCoreVersion = 9.1.1
 gsonVersion = 2.9.0
 kotlinVersion = 1.7.20
 target = 1.8