diff --git a/src/plugins/legacy_export/server/lib/import/import_dashboards.test.ts b/src/plugins/legacy_export/server/lib/import/import_dashboards.test.ts
index 9d4dbb60679461..37e00a8c67fe37 100644
--- a/src/plugins/legacy_export/server/lib/import/import_dashboards.test.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/legacy_export/server/lib/import/import_dashboards.test.ts
@@ -30,12 +30,18 @@ describe('importDashboards(req)', () => {
     savedObjectClient.bulkCreate.mockResolvedValue({ saved_objects: [] });
 
     importedObjects = [
-      { id: 'dashboard-01', type: 'dashboard', attributes: { panelJSON: '{}' }, references: [] },
+      {
+        id: 'dashboard-01',
+        type: 'dashboard',
+        attributes: { panelJSON: '{}' },
+        references: [],
+        version: 'foo',
+      },
       { id: 'panel-01', type: 'visualization', attributes: { visState: '{}' }, references: [] },
     ];
   });
 
-  test('should call bulkCreate with each asset', async () => {
+  test('should call bulkCreate with each asset, filtering out any version if present', async () => {
     await importDashboards(savedObjectClient, importedObjects, { overwrite: false, exclude: [] });
 
     expect(savedObjectClient.bulkCreate).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
diff --git a/src/plugins/legacy_export/server/lib/import/import_dashboards.ts b/src/plugins/legacy_export/server/lib/import/import_dashboards.ts
index 7b7562aecd7bd8..8c9eb2fac61aff 100644
--- a/src/plugins/legacy_export/server/lib/import/import_dashboards.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/legacy_export/server/lib/import/import_dashboards.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ export async function importDashboards(
   // docs are not seen as automatically up-to-date.
   const docs = objects
     .filter((item) => !exclude.includes(item.type))
-    .map((doc) => ({ ...doc, migrationVersion: doc.migrationVersion || {} }));
+    // filter out any document version, if present
+    .map(({ version, ...doc }) => ({ ...doc, migrationVersion: doc.migrationVersion || {} }));
 
   const results = await savedObjectsClient.bulkCreate(docs, { overwrite });
   return { objects: results.saved_objects };