diff --git a/src/msw/dc.cpp b/src/msw/dc.cpp
index 675447f..eedf917 100644
--- a/src/msw/dc.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/dc.cpp
@@ -1710,9 +1710,10 @@ wxCoord wxMSWDCImpl::GetCharWidth() const
     return lpTextMetric.tmAveCharWidth;
 }
 
-void wxMSWDCImpl::DoGetTextExtent(const wxString& string, wxCoord *x, wxCoord *y,
-                           wxCoord *descent, wxCoord *externalLeading,
-                           const wxFont *font) const
+void wxMSWDCImpl::DoGetTextExtent(const wxString& stringOrig,
+                                  wxCoord *x, wxCoord *y,
+                                  wxCoord *descent, wxCoord *externalLeading,
+                                  const wxFont *font) const
 {
 #ifdef __WXMICROWIN__
     if (!GetHDC())
@@ -1737,6 +1738,14 @@ void wxMSWDCImpl::DoGetTextExtent(const wxString& string, wxCoord *x, wxCoord *y
         hfontOld = 0;
     }
 
+    // GetTextExtentPoint32() doesn't handle TABs correctly so expand them
+    // manually or the returned string would be too small
+    //
+    // notice that MSW allows changing the number of spaces per TAB (e.g. using
+    // DT_TABSTOP flag of DrawText()) but wx API does not so we can safely
+    // assume that TABs are always rendered as 8 spaces
+    wxString string(stringOrig);
+    string.Replace(wxT("\t"), wxT("        "));
     SIZE sizeRect;
     const size_t len = string.length();
     if ( !::GetTextExtentPoint32(GetHdc(), string.wx_str(), len, &sizeRect) )