diff --git a/lib/transaction/transaction.js b/lib/transaction/transaction.js
index 4dc66f4..3fe454b 100644
--- a/lib/transaction/transaction.js
+++ b/lib/transaction/transaction.js
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ function Transaction(serialized) {
   this.inputs = [];
   this.outputs = [];
   this.witness = [];
-  this._hasWitness = false;
   this._inputAmount = undefined;
   this._outputAmount = undefined;
 
@@ -59,7 +58,6 @@ function Transaction(serialized) {
     this._newTransaction();
   }
 }
-var SERIALIZE_TRANSACTION_WITNESS = 0x40000000;
 var CURRENT_VERSION = 1;
 var DEFAULT_NLOCKTIME = 0;
 var MAX_BLOCK_SIZE = 1000000;
@@ -293,15 +291,18 @@ Transaction.prototype.inspect = function() {
   return '<Transaction: ' + this.uncheckedSerialize() + '>';
 };
 
-Transaction.prototype.toBuffer = function(nonWitness) {
+Transaction.prototype.toBuffer = function(noWitness) {
   var writer = new BufferWriter();
-  return this.toBufferWriter(writer, nonWitness).toBuffer();
+  return this.toBufferWriter(writer, noWitness).toBuffer();
 };
 
-Transaction.prototype.toBufferWriter = function(writer, nonWitness) {
-  writer.writeInt32LE(this.version);      
-  writer.writeUInt32LE(this.version);
-  if (this._hasWitness && !nonWitness) {
+Transaction.prototype.hasWitness = function() {
+  return this.witness && this.witness.length > 0;
+};
+
+Transaction.prototype.toBufferWriter = function(writer, noWitness) {
+  writer.writeInt32LE(this.version);
+  if (this.hasWitness() && !noWitness) {
     writer.write(new Buffer('0001', 'hex'));
   }
   writer.writeVarintNum(this.inputs.length);
@@ -312,7 +313,7 @@ Transaction.prototype.toBufferWriter = function(writer, nonWitness) {
   _.each(this.outputs, function(output) {
     output.toBufferWriter(writer);
   });
-  if (this._hasWitness && !nonWitness) {
+  if (this.hasWitness() && !noWitness) {
     this._toBufferWriterWitness(writer);
   }
   writer.writeUInt32LE(this.nLockTime);
@@ -339,10 +340,10 @@ Transaction.prototype.fromBufferReader = function(reader) {
   var sizeTxIns = reader.readVarintNum();
 
   // check for segwit
-  this._hasWitness = false;
+  var hasWitness = false;
   if (sizeTxIns === 0 && reader.buf[reader.pos] !== 0) {
     reader.pos += 1;
-    this._hasWitness = true;
+    hasWitness = true;
     sizeTxIns = reader.readVarintNum();
   }
 
@@ -356,7 +357,7 @@ Transaction.prototype.fromBufferReader = function(reader) {
     this.outputs.push(Output.fromBufferReader(reader));
   }
 
-  if (this._hasWitness) {
+  if (hasWitness) {
     this._fromBufferReaderScriptWitnesses(reader);
   }
 
@@ -366,6 +367,7 @@ Transaction.prototype.fromBufferReader = function(reader) {
 
 Transaction.prototype._fromBufferReaderScriptWitnesses = function(reader) {
   var itemCount = reader.readVarintNum();
+  this.witness = [];
   for (var i = 0; i < itemCount; i++) {
     var size = reader.readVarintNum();
     var item = reader.read(size);
diff --git a/test/transaction/transaction.js b/test/transaction/transaction.js
index 58d16fe..b13e610 100644
--- a/test/transaction/transaction.js
+++ b/test/transaction/transaction.js
@@ -1235,11 +1235,12 @@ describe('Transaction', function() {
       var flag = new Buffer('01', 'hex'); //non zero
       var inputCount = new Buffer('00', 'hex');
       var outputCount = new Buffer('00', 'hex');
-      var witness = new Buffer('00', 'hex');
+      var witness = new Buffer('01', 'hex');
+      var witnessItems = new Buffer('00', 'hex');
       var locktime = new Buffer('00000000', 'hex');
-      var txBuffer = Buffer.concat([version, marker, flag, inputCount, outputCount, witness, locktime]);
+      var txBuffer = Buffer.concat([version, marker, flag, inputCount, outputCount, witness, witnessItems, locktime]);
       var tx = bitcore.Transaction().fromBuffer(txBuffer);
-      tx._hasWitness.should.equal(true);
+      tx.hasWitness().should.equal(true);
     });
     it('correctly calculate hash for segwit transaction', function() {
       var txBuffer = new Buffer('01000000000101b0e5caa7e37d4b8530c3e1071a36dd5e05d1065cf7224ddff42c69e3387689870000000000ffffffff017b911100000000001600144ff831574da8bef07f8bc97244a1666147b071570247304402203fcbcfddbd6ca3a90252610dd63f1be50b2d926b8d87c912da0a3e42bb03fba002202a90c8aad75da22b0549c72618b754114583e934c0b0d2ccd6c13fcd859ba4ed01210363f3f47f4555779de405eab8d0dc8c2a4f3e09f4171a3fa47c7a77715795319800000000', 'hex');