diff --git a/compiler/cli/cli-common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/arguments/K2JVMCompilerArguments.kt b/compiler/cli/cli-common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/arguments/K2JVMCompilerArguments.kt
index 3b65dd5d8de..b463e9c4bf3 100644
--- a/compiler/cli/cli-common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/arguments/K2JVMCompilerArguments.kt
+++ b/compiler/cli/cli-common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/arguments/K2JVMCompilerArguments.kt
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ class K2JVMCompilerArguments : CommonCompilerArguments() {
     @Argument(value = "-Xuse-ir", description = "Use the IR backend")
     var useIR: Boolean by FreezableVar(false)
 
+    @Argument(value = "-Xno-use-ir", description = "Do not use the IR backend. Useful for a custom-built compiler where IR backend is enabled by default")
+    var noUseIR: Boolean by FreezableVar(false)
+
     @Argument(
         value = "-Xir-check-local-names",
         description = "Check that names of local classes and anonymous objects are the same in the IR backend as in the old backend"
diff --git a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/jvm/jvmArguments.kt b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/jvm/jvmArguments.kt
index 1d28c390189..0fccea89a9a 100644
--- a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/jvm/jvmArguments.kt
+++ b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/jvm/jvmArguments.kt
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ fun CompilerConfiguration.configureAdvancedJvmOptions(arguments: K2JVMCompilerAr
 
     put(JVMConfigurationKeys.PARAMETERS_METADATA, arguments.javaParameters)
 
-    put(JVMConfigurationKeys.IR, arguments.useIR)
+    put(JVMConfigurationKeys.IR, arguments.useIR && !arguments.noUseIR)
     put(JVMConfigurationKeys.DISABLE_CALL_ASSERTIONS, arguments.noCallAssertions)
     put(JVMConfigurationKeys.DISABLE_RECEIVER_ASSERTIONS, arguments.noReceiverAssertions)
     put(JVMConfigurationKeys.DISABLE_PARAM_ASSERTIONS, arguments.noParamAssertions)
diff --git a/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/extraHelp.out b/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/extraHelp.out
index 2ee559c9a9e..6be538617a0 100644
--- a/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/extraHelp.out
+++ b/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/extraHelp.out
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ where advanced options include:
   -Xno-optimize              Disable optimizations
   -Xno-param-assertions      Don't generate not-null assertions on parameters of methods accessible from Java
   -Xno-receiver-assertions   Don't generate not-null assertion for extension receiver arguments of platform types
+  -Xno-use-ir                Do not use the IR backend. Useful for a custom-built compiler where IR backend is enabled by default
   -Xsanitize-parentheses     Transform '(' and ')' in method names to some other character sequence.
                              This mode can BREAK BINARY COMPATIBILITY and is only supposed to be used to workaround
                              problems with parentheses in identifiers on certain platforms