diff --git a/src/datasets/builder.py b/src/datasets/builder.py
index 495e6a3f8cc..d91397ff00c 100644
--- a/src/datasets/builder.py
+++ b/src/datasets/builder.py
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ class BuilderConfig:
     """
 
     name: str = "default"
-    version: Optional[Union[str, utils.Version]] = "0.0.0"
+    version: Optional[Union[utils.Version, str]] = utils.Version("0.0.0")
     data_dir: Optional[str] = None
     data_files: Optional[DataFilesDict] = None
     description: Optional[str] = None
@@ -193,8 +193,8 @@ class DatasetBuilder:
     pre-defined set of configurations in :meth:`datasets.DatasetBuilder.builder_configs`.
     """
 
-    # Default version.
-    VERSION = utils.Version("0.0.0")
+    # Default version
+    VERSION = None  # Default version set in BuilderConfig
 
     # Class for the builder config.
     BUILDER_CONFIG_CLASS = BuilderConfig
diff --git a/src/datasets/commands/dummy_data.py b/src/datasets/commands/dummy_data.py
index 91ebcb18a95..76a801e355e 100644
--- a/src/datasets/commands/dummy_data.py
+++ b/src/datasets/commands/dummy_data.py
@@ -295,14 +295,9 @@ def run(self):
         auto_generate_results = []
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
             for builder_config in builder_configs:
-                if builder_config is None:
-                    name = None
-                    version = builder_cls.VERSION
-                else:
-                    version = builder_config.version
-                    name = builder_config.name
-
+                name = builder_config.name if builder_config else None
                 dataset_builder = builder_cls(name=name, hash=dataset_module.hash, cache_dir=tmp_dir)
+                version = builder_config.version if builder_config else dataset_builder.config.version
                 mock_dl_manager = MockDownloadManager(
                     dataset_name=self._dataset_name,
                     config=builder_config,
diff --git a/tests/test_builder.py b/tests/test_builder.py
index 29659590c8d..ecc123b0067 100644
--- a/tests/test_builder.py
+++ b/tests/test_builder.py
@@ -756,3 +756,66 @@ def test_custom_writer_batch_size(tmp_path, writer_batch_size, default_writer_ba
     builder.download_and_prepare(try_from_hf_gcs=False, download_mode=DownloadMode.FORCE_REDOWNLOAD)
     dataset = builder.as_dataset("train")
     assert len(dataset.data[0].chunks) == expected_chunks
+
+
+class DummyBuilderWithVersion(GeneratorBasedBuilder):
+    VERSION = "2.0.0"
+
+    def _info(self):
+        return DatasetInfo(features=Features({"text": Value("string")}))
+
+    def _split_generators(self, dl_manager):
+        pass
+
+    def _generate_examples(self):
+        pass
+
+
+class DummyBuilderWithBuilderConfigs(GeneratorBasedBuilder):
+    BUILDER_CONFIGS = [BuilderConfig(name="custom", version="2.0.0")]
+
+    def _info(self):
+        return DatasetInfo(features=Features({"text": Value("string")}))
+
+    def _split_generators(self, dl_manager):
+        pass
+
+    def _generate_examples(self):
+        pass
+
+
+class CustomBuilderConfig(BuilderConfig):
+    def __init__(self, date=None, language=None, version="2.0.0", **kwargs):
+        name = f"{date}.{language}"
+        super().__init__(name=name, version=version, **kwargs)
+        self.date = date
+        self.language = language
+
+
+class DummyBuilderWithCustomBuilderConfigs(GeneratorBasedBuilder):
+    BUILDER_CONFIGS = [CustomBuilderConfig(date="20220501", language="en")]
+    BUILDER_CONFIG_CLASS = CustomBuilderConfig
+
+    def _info(self):
+        return DatasetInfo(features=Features({"text": Value("string")}))
+
+    def _split_generators(self, dl_manager):
+        pass
+
+    def _generate_examples(self):
+        pass
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "builder_class, kwargs",
+    [
+        (DummyBuilderWithVersion, {}),
+        (DummyBuilderWithBuilderConfigs, {"name": "custom"}),
+        (DummyBuilderWithCustomBuilderConfigs, {"name": "20220501.en"}),
+        (DummyBuilderWithCustomBuilderConfigs, {"date": "20220501", "language": "ca"}),
+    ],
+)
+def test_builder_config_version(builder_class, kwargs, tmp_path):
+    cache_dir = str(tmp_path)
+    builder = builder_class(cache_dir=cache_dir, **kwargs)
+    assert builder.config.version == "2.0.0"
diff --git a/tests/test_dataset_common.py b/tests/test_dataset_common.py
index 55986c8f432..e7fb64e2ea0 100644
--- a/tests/test_dataset_common.py
+++ b/tests/test_dataset_common.py
@@ -136,10 +136,7 @@ def check_load_dataset(self, dataset_name, configs, is_local=False, use_local_du
                     logger.info("Skip tests for this dataset for now")
                     return
 
-                if config is not None:
-                    version = config.version
-                else:
-                    version = dataset_builder.VERSION
+                version = config.version if config else dataset_builder.config.version
 
                 def check_if_url_is_valid(url):
                     if is_remote_url(url) and "\\" in url: