diff --git a/scripts/check_version_match.py b/scripts/check_version_match.py
index 6f5eacc..3a16340 100755
--- a/scripts/check_version_match.py
+++ b/scripts/check_version_match.py
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 import subprocess
 import sys
-import tomllib
+import tomli
+
 
 ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
 
@@ -11,18 +12,18 @@
 def pyproject_version() -> str:
     pyproject_path = ROOT / "pyproject.toml"
     with pyproject_path.open("rb") as f:
-        data = tomllib.load(f)
+        data = tomli.load(f)
     return data["tool"]["poetry"]["version"]
 
 
-def latest_tag() -> str | None:
+def latest_tag() -> str:
     try:
         tag = subprocess.check_output(
             ["git", "describe", "--tags", "--abbrev=0"], cwd=ROOT, text=True
         ).strip()
         return tag.lstrip("v")
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
-        return None
+        return "0.0.0"
 
 
 def main() -> int:
diff --git a/tasks.py b/tasks.py
index d0389b1..784e529 100644
--- a/tasks.py
+++ b/tasks.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def test(c: Context) -> None:
 
 
 @task
-def check_version(c: Context) -> None:
+def checkversion(c: Context) -> None:
     """Validate that ``pyproject.toml`` matches the latest git tag.
 
     This task runs the ``scripts/check_version_match.py`` helper using Poetry