diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/languages/GoClientCodegen.java b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/languages/GoClientCodegen.java
index ef0ea2e5142..dc78508c89e 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/languages/GoClientCodegen.java
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/languages/GoClientCodegen.java
@@ -375,6 +375,15 @@ public class GoClientCodegen extends DefaultCodegen implements CodegenConfig {
             if (_import.startsWith(apiPackage()))
                 iterator.remove();
         }
+        // if the return type is not primitive, import encoding/json
+        for (CodegenOperation operation : operations) {
+            if(operation.returnBaseType != null && needToImport(operation.returnBaseType)) {
+                Map<String, String> newImportMap2 = new HashMap<String, String>();
+                newImportMap2.put("import", "encoding/json");
+                imports.add(newImportMap2);
+                break; //just need to import once
+            }
+        }
 
         // recursivly add import for mapping one type to multipe imports
         List<Map<String, String>> recursiveImports = (List<Map<String, String>>) objs.get("imports");
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/resources/go/api.mustache b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/resources/go/api.mustache
index 6e540d3f876..9b8998cf614 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/resources/go/api.mustache
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/resources/go/api.mustache
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ package {{packageName}}
 import (
     "strings"
     "fmt"
-    "encoding/json"
     "errors"
 {{#imports}}    "{{import}}"
 {{/imports}}
diff --git a/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/pet_api.go b/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/pet_api.go
index 423e8a795a7..8bdc25596fe 100644
--- a/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/pet_api.go
+++ b/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/pet_api.go
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@ package swagger
 import (
     "strings"
     "fmt"
-    "encoding/json"
     "errors"
     "os"
     "io/ioutil"
+    "encoding/json"
 )
 
 type PetApi struct {
diff --git a/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/store_api.go b/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/store_api.go
index a8b48f63b39..4a9bd178522 100644
--- a/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/store_api.go
+++ b/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/store_api.go
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ package swagger
 import (
     "strings"
     "fmt"
-    "encoding/json"
     "errors"
+    "encoding/json"
 )
 
 type StoreApi struct {
diff --git a/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/user_api.go b/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/user_api.go
index 228c8d3f9bd..405c7af99ae 100644
--- a/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/user_api.go
+++ b/samples/client/petstore/go/go-petstore/user_api.go
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ package swagger
 import (
     "strings"
     "fmt"
-    "encoding/json"
     "errors"
+    "encoding/json"
 )
 
 type UserApi struct {