diff --git a/docs/qapi-code-gen.txt b/docs/qapi-code-gen.txt
index a253e27d5f..7cb852e614 100644
--- a/docs/qapi-code-gen.txt
+++ b/docs/qapi-code-gen.txt
@@ -742,7 +742,7 @@ Example:
     static void qmp_marshal_input_my_command(QDict *args, QObject **ret, Error **errp)
     {
         Error *local_err = NULL;
-        UserDefOne *retval = NULL;
+        UserDefOne *retval;
         QmpInputVisitor *mi = qmp_input_visitor_new_strict(QOBJECT(args));
         QapiDeallocVisitor *md;
         Visitor *v;
diff --git a/scripts/qapi-commands.py b/scripts/qapi-commands.py
index cfbd59c84e..8bf84a77dd 100644
--- a/scripts/qapi-commands.py
+++ b/scripts/qapi-commands.py
@@ -205,14 +205,10 @@ def gen_marshal_input(name, args, ret_type, middle_mode):
                 header=hdr)
 
     if ret_type:
-        if is_c_ptr(ret_type):
-            retval = "    %s retval = NULL;" % c_type(ret_type)
-        else:
-            retval = "    %s retval;" % c_type(ret_type)
         ret += mcgen('''
-%(retval)s
+    %(c_type)s retval;
 ''',
-                     retval=retval)
+                     c_type=c_type(ret_type))
 
     if len(args) > 0:
         ret += gen_visitor_input_containers_decl(args)