diff --git a/internal/service/iam/policy_document_data_source.go b/internal/service/iam/policy_document_data_source.go
index b54afefecbd..0331409dcd4 100644
--- a/internal/service/iam/policy_document_data_source.go
+++ b/internal/service/iam/policy_document_data_source.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func DataSourcePolicyDocument() *schema.Resource {
 				Optional: true,
 				Elem: &schema.Schema{
 					Type:         schema.TypeString,
-					ValidateFunc: validation.All(validation.StringIsNotEmpty, validation.StringIsJSON),
+					ValidateFunc: validation.StringIsJSON,
 				},
 			},
 			"statement": {
@@ -139,6 +139,10 @@ func dataSourcePolicyDocumentRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) erro
 
 		// merge sourceDocs in order specified
 		for sourceJSONIndex, sourceJSON := range v.([]interface{}) {
+			if sourceJSON == nil {
+				continue
+			}
+
 			sourceDoc := &IAMPolicyDoc{}
 			if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(sourceJSON.(string)), sourceDoc); err != nil {
 				return err
diff --git a/internal/service/iam/policy_document_data_source_test.go b/internal/service/iam/policy_document_data_source_test.go
index 9d13585278c..4fae2d3cd88 100644
--- a/internal/service/iam/policy_document_data_source_test.go
+++ b/internal/service/iam/policy_document_data_source_test.go
@@ -223,19 +223,23 @@ func TestAccIAMPolicyDocumentDataSource_duplicateSid(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
-func TestAccIAMPolicyDocumentDataSource_sourcePolicyValidJson(t *testing.T) {
+func TestAccIAMPolicyDocumentDataSource_sourcePolicyValidJSON(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.ParallelTest(t, resource.TestCase{
 		PreCheck:                 func() { acctest.PreCheck(t) },
 		ErrorCheck:               acctest.ErrorCheck(t, iam.EndpointsID),
 		ProtoV5ProviderFactories: acctest.ProtoV5ProviderFactories,
 		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
 			{
-				Config:      testAccPolicyDocumentDataSourceConfig_invalidJson,
+				Config:      testAccPolicyDocumentDataSourceConfig_invalidJSON,
 				ExpectError: regexp.MustCompile(`"source_policy_documents.0" contains an invalid JSON: unexpected end of JSON input`),
 			},
 			{
-				Config:      testAccPolicyDocumentDataSourceConfig_emptyString,
-				ExpectError: regexp.MustCompile(`expected "source_policy_documents.0" to not be an empty string, got`),
+				Config: testAccPolicyDocumentDataSourceConfig_emptyString,
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("data.aws_iam_policy_document.test", "json",
+						testAccPolicyDocumentExpectedJSONNoStatement,
+					),
+				),
 			},
 		},
 	})
@@ -1297,16 +1301,20 @@ data "aws_iam_policy_document" "test" {
 
 var testAccPolicyDocumentDataSourceConfig_emptyString = `
 data "aws_iam_policy_document" "test" {
-	source_policy_documents = [""]
+  source_policy_documents = [""]
 }
 `
 
-var testAccPolicyDocumentDataSourceConfig_invalidJson = `
+var testAccPolicyDocumentDataSourceConfig_invalidJSON = `
 data "aws_iam_policy_document" "test" {
-	source_policy_documents = ["{"]
+  source_policy_documents = ["{"]
 }
 `
 
+var testAccPolicyDocumentExpectedJSONNoStatement = `{
+  "Version": "2012-10-17"
+}`
+
 func testAccPolicyDocumentExpectedJSONStatementPrincipalIdentifiersMultiplePrincipals() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf(`{
   "Version": "2012-10-17",
diff --git a/internal/service/iam/policy_model.go b/internal/service/iam/policy_model.go
index ab404f9fa36..7739c25f6da 100644
--- a/internal/service/iam/policy_model.go
+++ b/internal/service/iam/policy_model.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ const (
 type IAMPolicyDoc struct {
 	Version    string                `json:",omitempty"`
 	Id         string                `json:",omitempty"`
-	Statements []*IAMPolicyStatement `json:"Statement"`
+	Statements []*IAMPolicyStatement `json:"Statement,omitempty"`
 }
 
 type IAMPolicyStatement struct {