diff --git a/framework/src/main/java/org/checkerframework/common/basetype/BaseTypeVisitor.java b/framework/src/main/java/org/checkerframework/common/basetype/BaseTypeVisitor.java
index dde13779d6..31fe4461aa 100644
--- a/framework/src/main/java/org/checkerframework/common/basetype/BaseTypeVisitor.java
+++ b/framework/src/main/java/org/checkerframework/common/basetype/BaseTypeVisitor.java
@@ -1843,7 +1843,10 @@ public Void visitLambdaExpression(LambdaExpressionTree node, Void p) {
             if (ret.getKind() != TypeKind.VOID) {
                 visitorState.setAssignmentContext(Pair.of((Tree) node, ret));
                 commonAssignmentCheck(
-                        ret, (ExpressionTree) node.getBody(), "return.type.incompatible");
+                        ret,
+                        (ExpressionTree) node.getBody(),
+                        "return.type.incompatible",
+                        extraArgForReturnTypeError(node.getBody()));
             }
         }
 
@@ -1908,7 +1911,11 @@ public Void visitReturn(ReturnTree node, Void p) {
             if (ret != null) {
                 visitorState.setAssignmentContext(Pair.of((Tree) node, ret));
 
-                commonAssignmentCheck(ret, node.getExpression(), "return.type.incompatible");
+                commonAssignmentCheck(
+                        ret,
+                        node.getExpression(),
+                        "return.type.incompatible",
+                        extraArgForReturnTypeError(node.getExpression()));
             }
             return super.visitReturn(node, p);
         } finally {
@@ -2790,6 +2797,10 @@ protected final void commonAssignmentCheckEndDiagnostic(
         }
     }
 
+    protected String extraArgForReturnTypeError(Tree returnedExpression) {
+        return "";
+    }
+
     /**
      * Class that creates string representations of {@link AnnotatedTypeMirror}s which are only
      * verbose if required to differentiate the two types.
diff --git a/framework/src/main/java/org/checkerframework/common/basetype/messages.properties b/framework/src/main/java/org/checkerframework/common/basetype/messages.properties
index 314d6cdf3b..2a80cb4469 100644
--- a/framework/src/main/java/org/checkerframework/common/basetype/messages.properties
+++ b/framework/src/main/java/org/checkerframework/common/basetype/messages.properties
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ unary.increment.type.incompatible=increment result incompatible with variable de
 unary.decrement.type.incompatible=decrement result incompatible with variable declared type.%nfound   : %s%nrequired: %s
 enhancedfor.type.incompatible=incompatible types in enhanced for loop.%nfound   : %s%nrequired: %s
 vector.copyinto.type.incompatible=incompatible component type in Vector.copyinto.%nfound   : %s%nrequired: %s
-return.type.incompatible=incompatible types in return.%ntype of expression: %s%nmethod return type: %s
+return.type.incompatible=incompatible types in return.%n%stype of expression: %s%nmethod return type: %s
 annotation.type.incompatible=incompatible types in annotation.%nfound   : %s%nrequired: %s
 conditional.type.incompatible=incompatible types in conditional expression.%nfound   : %s%nrequired: %s
 type.argument.type.incompatible=incompatible type argument for type parameter %s of %s.%nfound   : %s%nrequired: %s