Let Y be an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck diffusion governed by a stationary and ergodic Markov jump process X: dY_t=a(X_t)Y_t dt+σ(X_t) dW_t, Y₀=y₀. Ergodicity conditions for Y have been obtained. Here we investigate the tail propriety of the stationary distribution of this model. A characterization of either heavy or light tail case is established. The method is based on a renewal theorem for systems of equations with distributions on ℝ.