diff --git a/crates/nu-command/src/filesystem/touch.rs b/crates/nu-command/src/filesystem/touch.rs
index 08843b11f..0253e7e31 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/src/filesystem/touch.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/src/filesystem/touch.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 use filetime::FileTime;
-#[allow(deprecated)]
-use nu_engine::{command_prelude::*, current_dir};
+use nu_engine::command_prelude::*;
 use nu_path::expand_path_with;
 use nu_protocol::NuGlob;
 
-use std::{fs::OpenOptions, path::Path, time::SystemTime};
+use std::{fs::OpenOptions, time::SystemTime};
 
 use super::util::get_rest_for_glob_pattern;
 
@@ -69,6 +68,8 @@ impl Command for Touch {
         let no_create: bool = call.has_flag(engine_state, stack, "no-create")?;
         let files: Vec<Spanned<NuGlob>> = get_rest_for_glob_pattern(engine_state, stack, call, 0)?;
 
+        let cwd = engine_state.cwd(Some(stack))?;
+
         if files.is_empty() {
             return Err(ShellError::MissingParameter {
                 param_name: "requires file paths".to_string(),
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ impl Command for Touch {
         }
 
         if let Some(reference) = reference {
-            let reference_path = Path::new(&reference.item);
+            let reference_path = nu_path::expand_path_with(reference.item, &cwd, true);
             if !reference_path.exists() {
                 return Err(ShellError::FileNotFoundCustom {
                     msg: "Reference path not found".into(),
@@ -114,9 +115,6 @@ impl Command for Touch {
                 })?;
         }
 
-        #[allow(deprecated)]
-        let cwd = current_dir(engine_state, stack)?;
-
         for glob in files {
             let path = expand_path_with(glob.item.as_ref(), &cwd, glob.item.is_expand());
 
diff --git a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/touch.rs b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/touch.rs
index 26d032572..5f454cdec 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/touch.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/touch.rs
@@ -515,3 +515,16 @@ fn respects_cwd() {
         assert!(path.exists());
     })
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn reference_respects_cwd() {
+    Playground::setup("touch_reference_respects_cwd", |dirs, _sandbox| {
+        nu!(
+            cwd: dirs.test(),
+            "mkdir 'dir'; cd 'dir'; touch 'ref.txt'; touch --reference 'ref.txt' 'foo.txt'"
+        );
+
+        let path = dirs.test().join("dir/foo.txt");
+        assert!(path.exists());
+    })
+}