diff --git a/integration_tests/models/generic_tests/recency_with_where_filter.sql b/integration_tests/models/generic_tests/recency_with_where_filter.sql
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0dcc2ff3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration_tests/models/generic_tests/recency_with_where_filter.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+-- Test model with data that's intentionally old
+-- This simulates a scenario where we have data but it's all outside the recency window
+-- this should fail with a where clause but currently it would pass
+select
+    1 as id,
+    {{ dbt.dateadd('day', -10, dbt.current_timestamp()) }} as created_at
+
+union all
+
+select
+    2 as id,
+    {{ dbt.dateadd('day', -15, dbt.current_timestamp()) }} as created_at
diff --git a/integration_tests/models/generic_tests/schema.yml b/integration_tests/models/generic_tests/schema.yml
index b12e3c7f..db5449dc 100644
--- a/integration_tests/models/generic_tests/schema.yml
+++ b/integration_tests/models/generic_tests/schema.yml
@@ -261,3 +261,19 @@ models:
           compare_model: ref('data_test_equality_a')
           exclude_columns:
             - col_c
+
+  - name: recency_with_where_filter
+    data_tests:
+      # This test should FAIL and return 0 rows (test failure) because when we filter to id = 3,
+      # no records match the where condition, so most_recent will be null.
+      # Before the fix: test would incorrectly PASS (no rows returned)
+      # After the fix: test should correctly FAIL (returns the null row)
+      - dbt_utils.recency:
+          datepart: day
+          field: created_at
+          ignore_time_component: true
+          interval: 5
+          config:
+            where: "id = 3"  # This filters to no records since only id 1,2 exist
+            error_if: "<1"
+            warn_if: "<0"
diff --git a/macros/generic_tests/recency.sql b/macros/generic_tests/recency.sql
index 7fe2cafd..8ffd3c91 100644
--- a/macros/generic_tests/recency.sql
+++ b/macros/generic_tests/recency.sql
@@ -37,5 +37,6 @@ select
 
 from recency
 where most_recent < {{ threshold }}
+   or most_recent is null
 
 {% endmacro %}