diff --git a/src/julia-syntax.scm b/src/julia-syntax.scm
index 3c37a6a9f8759..f762753a5f80f 100644
--- a/src/julia-syntax.scm
+++ b/src/julia-syntax.scm
@@ -1695,7 +1695,7 @@
             (expand-forms `(call (top broadcast!) ,(from-lambda (cadr e)) ,lhs-view ,@(caddr e))))
         (if (null? lhs)
             (expand-forms e)
-            (expand-forms `(call (top broadcast!) identity ,lhs-view ,e))))))
+            (expand-forms `(call (top broadcast!) (top identity) ,lhs-view ,e))))))
 
 ;; table mapping expression head to a function expanding that form
 (define expand-table
diff --git a/test/broadcast.jl b/test/broadcast.jl
index 7cc1ceffa500f..dfbbeed1c8950 100644
--- a/test/broadcast.jl
+++ b/test/broadcast.jl
@@ -284,6 +284,10 @@ let d = Dict(:foo => [1,3,7], (3,4) => [5,9])
     d[3,4] .-= 1
     @test d[3,4] == [4,8]
 end
+let identity = error, x = [1,2,3]
+    x .= 1 # make sure it goes to broadcast!(Base.identity, ...), not identity
+    @test x == [1,1,1]
+end
 
 # PR 16988
 @test Base.promote_op(+, Bool) === Int