diff --git a/src/compiler/commandLineParser.ts b/src/compiler/commandLineParser.ts
index 90c4d18289a..825519bfb05 100644
--- a/src/compiler/commandLineParser.ts
+++ b/src/compiler/commandLineParser.ts
@@ -901,7 +901,9 @@ namespace ts {
     function convertCompilerOptionsFromJsonWorker(jsonOptions: any,
         basePath: string, errors: Diagnostic[], configFileName?: string): CompilerOptions {
 
-        const options: CompilerOptions = getBaseFileName(configFileName) === "jsconfig.json" ? { allowJs: true, maxNodeModuleJsDepth: 2 } : {};
+        const options: CompilerOptions = getBaseFileName(configFileName) === "jsconfig.json"
+            ? { allowJs: true, maxNodeModuleJsDepth: 2, allowSyntheticDefaultImports: true }
+            : {};
         convertOptionsFromJson(optionDeclarations, jsonOptions, basePath, options, Diagnostics.Unknown_compiler_option_0, errors);
         return options;
     }
diff --git a/src/harness/unittests/convertCompilerOptionsFromJson.ts b/src/harness/unittests/convertCompilerOptionsFromJson.ts
index 9de18850477..73ee8669adb 100644
--- a/src/harness/unittests/convertCompilerOptionsFromJson.ts
+++ b/src/harness/unittests/convertCompilerOptionsFromJson.ts
@@ -404,6 +404,7 @@ namespace ts {
                     compilerOptions: <CompilerOptions>{
                         allowJs: true,
                         maxNodeModuleJsDepth: 2,
+                        allowSyntheticDefaultImports: true,
                         module: ModuleKind.CommonJS,
                         target: ScriptTarget.ES5,
                         noImplicitAny: false,
@@ -431,6 +432,7 @@ namespace ts {
                     compilerOptions: <CompilerOptions>{
                         allowJs: false,
                         maxNodeModuleJsDepth: 2,
+                        allowSyntheticDefaultImports: true,
                         module: ModuleKind.CommonJS,
                         target: ScriptTarget.ES5,
                         noImplicitAny: false,
@@ -453,7 +455,8 @@ namespace ts {
                     compilerOptions:
                     {
                         allowJs: true,
-                        maxNodeModuleJsDepth: 2
+                        maxNodeModuleJsDepth: 2,
+                        allowSyntheticDefaultImports: true
                     },
                     errors: [{
                         file: undefined,
@@ -473,7 +476,8 @@ namespace ts {
                     compilerOptions:
                     {
                         allowJs: true,
-                        maxNodeModuleJsDepth: 2
+                        maxNodeModuleJsDepth: 2,
+                        allowSyntheticDefaultImports: true
                     },
                     errors: <Diagnostic[]>[]
                 }