diff --git a/Lib/tarfile.py b/Lib/tarfile.py
index 39f63b9cfc1ac9..30150ec6cca637 100755
--- a/Lib/tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/tarfile.py
@@ -2228,6 +2228,9 @@ def makelink(self, tarinfo, targetpath):
         try:
             # For systems that support symbolic and hard links.
             if tarinfo.issym():
+                if os.path.lexists(targetpath):
+                    # Avoid FileExistsError on following os.symlink.
+                    os.unlink(targetpath)
                 os.symlink(tarinfo.linkname, targetpath)
             else:
                 # See extract().
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
index be717e315700ca..bee00c56d61017 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
@@ -1314,10 +1314,10 @@ def test_extractall_symlinks(self):
                 f.write('something\n')
             os.symlink(source_file, target_file)
             with tarfile.open(temparchive, 'w') as tar:
-                tar.add(source_file)
-                tar.add(target_file)
+                tar.add(source_file, arcname="source")
+                tar.add(target_file, arcname="symlink")
             # Let's extract it to the location which contains the symlink
-            with tarfile.open(temparchive) as tar:
+            with tarfile.open(temparchive, errorlevel=2) as tar:
                 # this should not raise OSError: [Errno 17] File exists
                 try:
                     tar.extractall(path=tempdir)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-07-09-11-32-28.bpo-12800.fNgWwx.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-07-09-11-32-28.bpo-12800.fNgWwx.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..fdd7c5e74f33a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-07-09-11-32-28.bpo-12800.fNgWwx.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Extracting a symlink from a tarball should succeed and overwrite the symlink
+if it already exists. The fix is to remove the existing file or symlink
+before extraction. Based on patch by Chris AtLee, Jeffrey Kintscher, and
+Senthil Kumaran.