diff --git a/litellm/main.py b/litellm/main.py
index 03a96b58d8..00255c18ce 100644
--- a/litellm/main.py
+++ b/litellm/main.py
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ def completion(
                 model=deployment_id
                 custom_llm_provider="azure"
         model, custom_llm_provider, dynamic_api_key, api_base = get_llm_provider(model=model, custom_llm_provider=custom_llm_provider, api_base=api_base)
-        custom_prompt_dict = None
+        custom_prompt_dict = {} # type: ignore
         if initial_prompt_value or roles or final_prompt_value or bos_token or eos_token:
             custom_prompt_dict = {model: {}}
             if initial_prompt_value: