diff --git a/lib/internal/test_runner/runner.js b/lib/internal/test_runner/runner.js
index 3f9e855f755212..53e426561148cd 100644
--- a/lib/internal/test_runner/runner.js
+++ b/lib/internal/test_runner/runner.js
@@ -851,7 +851,10 @@ function run(options = kEmptyObject) {
             );
             if (topLevelTestCount === root.subtests.length) {
               // This file had no tests in it. Add the placeholder test.
-              const subtest = root.createSubtest(Test, testFile);
+              const subtest = root.createSubtest(Test, testFile, kEmptyObject, undefined, {
+                __proto__: null,
+                loc: [1, 1, resolve(testFile)],
+              });
               if (threw) {
                 subtest.fail(importError);
               }
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-runner/syntax-error-test.mjs b/test/fixtures/test-runner/syntax-error-test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..536821087677cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/test-runner/syntax-error-test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import { test } from 'node:test';
+
+test('a test!', () => {
+    if true {
+        // syntax error
+    }
+});
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-runner-enqueue-file-syntax-error.js b/test/parallel/test-runner-enqueue-file-syntax-error.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..d45f31a0cbdcde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-runner-enqueue-file-syntax-error.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+'use strict';
+require('../common');
+const assert = require('node:assert');
+const { spawnSync } = require('node:child_process');
+const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
+
+const testFile = fixtures.path('test-runner', 'syntax-error-test.mjs');
+const child = spawnSync(process.execPath, [
+  '--no-warnings',
+  '--test',
+  '--test-reporter=tap',
+  '--test-isolation=none',
+  testFile,
+], { encoding: 'utf8' });
+
+assert.match(child.stdout, /error:.*"Unexpected token 'true'"\n/);
+assert.match(child.stdout, /SyntaxError/);
+assert.strictEqual(child.status, 1);