diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/tests/__init__.py b/django/contrib/auth/tests/__init__.py
index bf9af5db45..2c308642e5 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/tests/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1 @@
 # The password for the fixture data users is 'password'
-
-# For testing that auth backends can be referenced using a convenience import
-from django.contrib.auth.tests.test_auth_backends import ImportedModelBackend  # NOQA
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/tests/backend_alias.py b/django/contrib/auth/tests/backend_alias.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1f31f7a16a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/tests/backend_alias.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# For testing that auth backends can be referenced using a convenience import
+from django.contrib.auth.tests.test_auth_backends import ImportedModelBackend  # NOQA
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/tests/test_auth_backends.py b/django/contrib/auth/tests/test_auth_backends.py
index 65d9fde8f8..d3b6c5de0c 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/tests/test_auth_backends.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/tests/test_auth_backends.py
@@ -620,7 +620,7 @@ class ImportedBackendTests(TestCase):
     as the one defined in AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS setting.
     """
 
-    backend = 'django.contrib.auth.tests.ImportedModelBackend'
+    backend = 'django.contrib.auth.tests.backend_alias.ImportedModelBackend'
 
     @override_settings(AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS=(backend, ))
     def test_backend_path(self):