diff --git a/cmd/helm/flags.go b/cmd/helm/flags.go
index 92857a81784..87dc23fdc38 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/flags.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -66,11 +67,14 @@ func bindOutputFlag(cmd *cobra.Command, varRef *output.Format) {
 
 	err := cmd.RegisterFlagCompletionFunc(outputFlag, func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
 		var formatNames []string
-		for _, format := range output.Formats() {
+		for format, desc := range output.FormatsWithDesc() {
 			if strings.HasPrefix(format, toComplete) {
-				formatNames = append(formatNames, format)
+				formatNames = append(formatNames, fmt.Sprintf("%s\t%s", format, desc))
 			}
 		}
+
+		// Sort the results to get a deterministic order for the tests
+		sort.Strings(formatNames)
 		return formatNames, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveNoFileComp
 	})
 
diff --git a/cmd/helm/testdata/output/output-comp.txt b/cmd/helm/testdata/output/output-comp.txt
index e7799a56b9c..6232b2928bd 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/testdata/output/output-comp.txt
+++ b/cmd/helm/testdata/output/output-comp.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-table
-json
-yaml
+json	Output result in JSON format
+table	Output result in human-readable format
+yaml	Output result in YAML format
 :4
 Completion ended with directive: ShellCompDirectiveNoFileComp
diff --git a/pkg/cli/output/output.go b/pkg/cli/output/output.go
index e4eb046fc44..a46c977ad97 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/output/output.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/output/output.go
@@ -40,6 +40,16 @@ func Formats() []string {
 	return []string{Table.String(), JSON.String(), YAML.String()}
 }
 
+// FormatsWithDesc returns a list of the string representation of the supported formats
+// including a description
+func FormatsWithDesc() map[string]string {
+	return map[string]string{
+		Table.String(): "Output result in human-readable format",
+		JSON.String():  "Output result in JSON format",
+		YAML.String():  "Output result in YAML format",
+	}
+}
+
 // ErrInvalidFormatType is returned when an unsupported format type is used
 var ErrInvalidFormatType = fmt.Errorf("invalid format type")