diff --git a/app/models/tag.rb b/app/models/tag.rb
index 008c1735806..3146d720cd2 100644
--- a/app/models/tag.rb
+++ b/app/models/tag.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@ class Tag < ApplicationRecord
   def self.list(object, options = {})
     ns = get_namespace(options)
     if ns[0..7] == "/virtual"
-      predicate = ns.split("/")[2..-1] # throw away /virtual
+      ns.gsub!('/virtual/','')  # throw away /virtual
+      ns, virtual_custom_attribute = MiqExpression.escape_virtual_custom_attribute(ns)
+      predicate = ns.split("/")
+      predicate.map!{ |x| URI::RFC2396_Parser.new.unescape(x) } if virtual_custom_attribute
+
       begin
         predicate.inject(object) { |target, method| target.public_send method }
       rescue NoMethodError
diff --git a/lib/miq_expression.rb b/lib/miq_expression.rb
index 2321bd86709..00893dfb9a5 100644
--- a/lib/miq_expression.rb
+++ b/lib/miq_expression.rb
@@ -1051,8 +1051,19 @@ def self.preprocess_managed_tag(tag)
     tag
   end
 
+  def self.escape_virtual_custom_attribute(attribute)
+    if attribute.include?(CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX)
+      uri_parser = URI::RFC2396_Parser.new
+      [uri_parser.escape(attribute, /[^A-Za-z0-9:\-_]/), true]
+    else
+      [attribute, false]
+    end
+  end
+
   def self.value2tag(tag, val = nil)
+    tag, virtual_custom_attribute = escape_virtual_custom_attribute(tag)
     model, *values = tag.to_s.gsub(/[\.-]/, "/").split("/") # replace model path ".", column name "-" with "/"
+    values.map!{ |x|  URI::RFC2396_Parser.new.unescape(x) } if virtual_custom_attribute
 
     case values.first
     when "user_tag"
diff --git a/lib/miq_expression/field.rb b/lib/miq_expression/field.rb
index e9462ea5f9a..5293f1d06ef 100644
--- a/lib/miq_expression/field.rb
+++ b/lib/miq_expression/field.rb
@@ -3,14 +3,19 @@ class MiqExpression::Field < MiqExpression::Target
 (?<model_name>([[:upper:]][[:alnum:]]*(::)?)+)
 (?!.*\b(managed|user_tag)\b)
 \.?(?<associations>[a-z][0-9a-z_\.]+)?
--(?<column>[a-z]+(_[[:alnum:]]+)*)
+-
+(?:
+  (?<virtual_custom_column>#{CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX}[a-z]+[_\-.\/[:alnum:]]*)|
+  (?<column>[a-z]+(_[[:alnum:]]+)*)
+)
 /x
 
   delegate :eq, :not_eq, :lteq, :gteq, :lt, :gt, :between, :to => :arel_attribute
 
   def self.parse(field)
     parsed_params = parse_params(field) || return
-    new(parsed_params[:model_name], parsed_params[:associations], parsed_params[:column])
+    new(parsed_params[:model_name], parsed_params[:associations], parsed_params[:column] ||
+        parsed_params[:virtual_custom_column])
   end
 
   def self.is_field?(field)
diff --git a/spec/models/miq_report_spec.rb b/spec/models/miq_report_spec.rb
index 65f1b92691e..de8027d6307 100644
--- a/spec/models/miq_report_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/miq_report_spec.rb
@@ -81,16 +81,16 @@
 
   context "report with virtual dynamic custom attributes" do
     let(:options)              { {:targets_hash => true, :userid => "admin"} }
-    let(:custom_column_key_1)  { 'ATTR_Name_1' }
-    let(:custom_column_key_2)  { 'ATTR_Name_2' }
+    let(:custom_column_key_1)  { 'kubernetes.io/hostname' }
+    let(:custom_column_key_2)  { 'manageiq.org' }
     let(:custom_column_key_3)  { 'ATTR_Name_3' }
     let(:custom_column_value)  { 'value1' }
     let(:user)                 { FactoryGirl.create(:user_with_group) }
     let(:ems)                  { FactoryGirl.create(:ems_vmware) }
     let!(:vm_1)                { FactoryGirl.create(:vm_vmware) }
     let!(:vm_2)                { FactoryGirl.create(:vm_vmware, :retired => false, :ext_management_system => ems) }
-    let(:virtual_column_key_1) { "#{CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX}ATTR_Name_1" }
-    let(:virtual_column_key_2) { "#{CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX}ATTR_Name_2" }
+    let(:virtual_column_key_1) { "#{CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX}kubernetes.io/hostname" }
+    let(:virtual_column_key_2) { "#{CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX}manageiq.org" }
     let(:virtual_column_key_3) { "#{CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX}ATTR_Name_3" }
     let(:miq_task)             { FactoryGirl.create(:miq_task) }
 
@@ -111,9 +111,9 @@
       MiqReport.new(
         :name => "Custom VM report", :title => "Custom VM report", :rpt_group => "Custom", :rpt_type => "Custom",
         :db        => "ManageIQ::Providers::InfraManager::Vm",
-        :cols      => %w(name virtual_custom_attribute_ATTR_Name_1 virtual_custom_attribute_ATTR_Name_2),
+        :cols      => %w(name virtual_custom_attribute_kubernetes.io/hostname virtual_custom_attribute_manageiq.org),
         :include   => {:custom_attributes => {}},
-        :col_order => %w(name virtual_custom_attribute_ATTR_Name_1 virtual_custom_attribute_ATTR_Name_2),
+        :col_order => %w(name virtual_custom_attribute_kubernetes.io/hostname virtual_custom_attribute_manageiq.org),
         :headers   => ["Name", custom_column_key_1, custom_column_key_1],
         :order     => "Ascending"
       )
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@
       end
 
       expected_results = ["name" => vm_1.name, virtual_column_key_1 => custom_column_value, virtual_column_key_2 => nil]
+
       expect(report_result).to match_array(expected_results)
     end