diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/decl.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/decl.go
index 4ca2eb4740..3e55437afa 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/decl.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/decl.go
@@ -104,13 +104,7 @@ func (g *irgen) typeDecl(out *ir.Nodes, decl *syntax.TypeDecl) {
 	if decl.Alias {
 		name, _ := g.def(decl.Name)
 		g.pragmaFlags(decl.Pragma, 0)
-
-		// TODO(mdempsky): This matches how typecheckdef marks aliases for
-		// export, but this won't generalize to exporting function-scoped
-		// type aliases. We should maybe just use n.Alias() instead.
-		if ir.CurFunc == nil {
-			name.Sym().Def = ir.TypeNode(name.Type())
-		}
+		assert(name.Alias()) // should be set by irgen.obj
 
 		out.Append(ir.NewDecl(g.pos(decl), ir.ODCLTYPE, name))
 		return
diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/import.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/import.go
index 701e9001c8..c4a57806eb 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/import.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/import.go
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ func clearImports() {
 			s.Def = nil
 			continue
 		}
-		if types.IsDotAlias(s) {
+		if s.Def != nil && s.Def.Sym() != s {
 			// throw away top-level name left over
 			// from previous import . "x"
 			// We'll report errors after type checking in CheckDotImports.
diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/object.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/object.go
index 82cce1ace0..7af2fe6715 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/object.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/object.go
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ func (g *irgen) obj(obj types2.Object) *ir.Name {
 	case *types2.TypeName:
 		if obj.IsAlias() {
 			name = g.objCommon(pos, ir.OTYPE, g.sym(obj), class, g.typ(obj.Type()))
+			name.SetAlias(true)
 		} else {
 			name = ir.NewDeclNameAt(pos, ir.OTYPE, g.sym(obj))
 			g.objFinish(name, class, types.NewNamed(name))
diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/iexport.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/iexport.go
index 64d68ef625..3538c4d5a6 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/iexport.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/iexport.go
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ func (p *iexporter) doDecl(n *ir.Name) {
 		w.constExt(n)
 
 	case ir.OTYPE:
-		if types.IsDotAlias(n.Sym()) {
+		if n.Alias() {
 			// Alias.
 			w.tag('A')
 			w.pos(n.Pos())
diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/typecheck.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/typecheck.go
index 95f7b50259..9868c2d9a9 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/typecheck.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/typecheck.go
@@ -1889,11 +1889,6 @@ func typecheckdef(n *ir.Name) {
 					n.SetDiag(true)
 					goto ret
 				}
-				// For package-level type aliases, set n.Sym.Def so we can identify
-				// it as a type alias during export. See also #31959.
-				if n.Curfn == nil {
-					n.Sym().Def = n.Ntype
-				}
 			}
 			break
 		}
diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/types/pkg.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/types/pkg.go
index a6d2e2007b..f63a357f0d 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/types/pkg.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/types/pkg.go
@@ -137,7 +137,3 @@ func CleanroomDo(f func()) {
 	f()
 	pkgMap = saved
 }
-
-func IsDotAlias(sym *Sym) bool {
-	return sym.Def != nil && sym.Def.Sym() != sym
-}