diff --git a/src/codegen.cpp b/src/codegen.cpp
index beee67888..a035c6b33 100644
--- a/src/codegen.cpp
+++ b/src/codegen.cpp
@@ -3564,7 +3564,8 @@ static LLVMValueRef ir_render_var_ptr(CodeGen *g, IrExecutable *executable, IrIn
 static LLVMValueRef ir_render_return_ptr(CodeGen *g, IrExecutable *executable,
         IrInstructionReturnPtr *instruction)
 {
-    assert(g->cur_ret_ptr != nullptr || !type_has_bits(instruction->base.value.type));
+    src_assert(g->cur_ret_ptr != nullptr || !type_has_bits(instruction->base.value.type),
+            instruction->base.source_node);
     return g->cur_ret_ptr;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/ir.cpp b/src/ir.cpp
index df7a59360..b3d5109e9 100644
--- a/src/ir.cpp
+++ b/src/ir.cpp
@@ -14866,7 +14866,11 @@ static IrInstruction *ir_resolve_result(IrAnalyze *ira, IrInstruction *suspend_s
         }
         case ResultLocIdReturn: {
             bool is_comptime = value != nullptr && value->value.special != ConstValSpecialRuntime;
-            if (is_comptime) return nullptr;
+            if (is_comptime)
+                return nullptr;
+            if (!type_has_bits(ira->explicit_return_type) || !handle_is_ptr(ira->explicit_return_type))
+                return nullptr;
+
             ZigType *ptr_return_type = get_pointer_to_type(ira->codegen, ira->explicit_return_type, false);
             result_loc->written = true;
             result_loc->resolved_loc = ir_build_return_ptr(ira, result_loc->source_instruction, ptr_return_type);