diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/RefasterScanner.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/RefasterScanner.java
index 95d0423888f..04828f74599 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/RefasterScanner.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/RefasterScanner.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import com.sun.source.tree.DoWhileLoopTree;
 import com.sun.source.tree.IfTree;
 import com.sun.source.tree.MethodTree;
+import com.sun.source.tree.PackageTree;
 import com.sun.source.tree.ParenthesizedTree;
 import com.sun.source.tree.SynchronizedTree;
 import com.sun.source.tree.Tree;
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ public Void visitVariable(VariableTree node, Context context) {
 
   @Override
   public Void scan(Tree tree, Context context) {
-    if (tree == null) {
+    if (tree == null || tree instanceof PackageTree) {
       return null;
     }
     JCCompilationUnit compilationUnit = context.get(JCCompilationUnit.class);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/UFreeIdent.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/UFreeIdent.java
index ffe9391f4cf..ce36e1be62e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/UFreeIdent.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/UFreeIdent.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 import com.sun.source.tree.Tree;
 import com.sun.source.util.TreeScanner;
 import com.sun.tools.javac.code.Symbol;
+import com.sun.tools.javac.code.Symbol.MethodSymbol;
+import com.sun.tools.javac.code.Symbol.TypeSymbol;
 import com.sun.tools.javac.tree.JCTree.JCExpression;
 import com.sun.tools.javac.util.Names;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
@@ -99,7 +101,14 @@ public Boolean visitIdentifier(IdentifierTree ident, Void v) {
       if (!isGood) {
         return Choice.none();
       } else if (currentBinding == null) {
+        Symbol currentExprSymbol = ASTHelpers.getSymbol(expression);
+        if (currentExprSymbol instanceof TypeSymbol
+            || (currentExprSymbol instanceof MethodSymbol && target instanceof IdentifierTree)) {
+          // The `JCExpression` by itself does not represent a valid Java expression.
+          return Choice.none();
+        }
         unifier.putBinding(key(), expression);
+
         return Choice.of(unifier);
       } else if (currentBinding.toString().equals(expression.toString())) {
         // TODO(lowasser): try checking types here in a way that doesn't reject
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/TemplateIntegrationTest.java b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/TemplateIntegrationTest.java
index e9000acc4be..20c389c62ad 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/TemplateIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/TemplateIntegrationTest.java
@@ -374,4 +374,9 @@ public void suppressWarnings() throws IOException {
   public void typeArgumentsMethodInvocation() throws IOException {
     runTest("TypeArgumentsMethodInvocationTemplate");
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void onlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplate() throws IOException {
+    runTest("OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplate");
+  }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/input/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplateExample.java b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/input/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplateExample.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dd1d984a8e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/input/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplateExample.java
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2022 The Error Prone Authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.errorprone.refaster.testdata;
+
+/** Test data for {@code OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplate}. */
+public class OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplateExample {
+  public String foo(String s) {
+    return s;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/output/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplateExample.java b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/output/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplateExample.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0c2e323c824
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/output/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplateExample.java
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2022 The Error Prone Authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.errorprone.refaster.testdata;
+
+/** Test data for {@code OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplate}. */
+public class OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplateExample {
+  public String foo(String s) {
+    return /* match found */ s;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/template/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplate.java b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/template/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplate.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5bfc9694f04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/refaster/testdata/template/OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplate.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2022 The Error Prone Authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.errorprone.refaster.testdata.template;
+
+import com.google.errorprone.refaster.annotation.BeforeTemplate;
+
+/**
+ * Template that flags all string-typed expressions, irrespective of the syntactic context in which
+ * they occur.
+ */
+public class OnlyBeforeSimpleReturnTemplate {
+  @BeforeTemplate
+  String before(String s) {
+    return s;
+  }
+}