diff --git a/docs/source/kinds_of_types.rst b/docs/source/kinds_of_types.rst
index 1efc2b30c328..f691bc899339 100644
--- a/docs/source/kinds_of_types.rst
+++ b/docs/source/kinds_of_types.rst
@@ -566,6 +566,29 @@ Python 3.6 introduced an alternative, class-based syntax for named tuples with t
 
     p = Point(x=1, y='x')  # Argument has incompatible type "str"; expected "int"
 
+.. note::
+
+  You can use raw ``NamedTuple`` pseudo-class to annotate type
+  where any ``NamedTuple`` is expected.
+
+  For example, it can be useful for deserialization:
+
+  .. code-block:: python
+
+    def deserialize_named_tuple(arg: NamedTuple) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        return arg._asdict()
+
+    Point = namedtuple('Point', ['x', 'y'])
+    Person = NamedTuple('Person', [('name', str), ('age', int)])
+
+    deserialize_named_tuple(Point(x=1, y=2))  # ok
+    deserialize_named_tuple(Person(name='Nikita', age=18))  # ok
+
+    deserialize_named_tuple((1, 2))  # Argument 1 to "deserialize_named_tuple" has incompatible type "Tuple[int, int]"; expected "NamedTuple"
+
+  Note, that behavior is highly experimental, non-standard,
+  and can be not supported by other type checkers.
+
 .. _type-of-class:
 
 The type of class objects
diff --git a/mypy/subtypes.py b/mypy/subtypes.py
index 63cebc8aa483..e10a7bba4e5f 100644
--- a/mypy/subtypes.py
+++ b/mypy/subtypes.py
@@ -263,8 +263,13 @@ def visit_instance(self, left: Instance) -> bool:
             rname = right.type.fullname
             # Always try a nominal check if possible,
             # there might be errors that a user wants to silence *once*.
-            if ((left.type.has_base(rname) or rname == 'builtins.object') and
-                    not self.ignore_declared_variance):
+            # NamedTuples are a special case, because `NamedTuple` is not listed
+            # in `TypeInfo.mro`, so when `(a: NamedTuple) -> None` is used,
+            # we need to check for `is_named_tuple` property
+            if ((left.type.has_base(rname) or rname == 'builtins.object'
+                    or (rname == 'typing.NamedTuple'
+                        and any(l.is_named_tuple for l in left.type.mro)))
+                    and not self.ignore_declared_variance):
                 # Map left type to corresponding right instances.
                 t = map_instance_to_supertype(left, right.type)
                 nominal = all(self.check_type_parameter(lefta, righta, tvar.variance)
diff --git a/test-data/unit/check-namedtuple.test b/test-data/unit/check-namedtuple.test
index d47b069ea45e..fdb0f841cff6 100644
--- a/test-data/unit/check-namedtuple.test
+++ b/test-data/unit/check-namedtuple.test
@@ -973,3 +973,90 @@ B = namedtuple('X', ['a'])         # E: First argument to namedtuple() should be
 C = NamedTuple('X', [('a', 'Y')])  # E: First argument to namedtuple() should be "C", not "X"
 class Y: ...
 [builtins fixtures/tuple.pyi]
+
+[case testNamedTupleTypeIsASuperTypeOfOtherNamedTuples]
+from typing import Tuple, NamedTuple
+
+class Bar(NamedTuple):
+    name: str = "Bar"
+
+class Baz(NamedTuple):
+    a: str
+    b: str
+
+class Biz(Baz): ...
+class Other: ...
+class Both1(Bar, Other): ...
+class Both2(Other, Bar): ...
+class Both3(Biz, Other): ...
+
+def print_namedtuple(obj: NamedTuple) -> None:
+    reveal_type(obj.name)  # N: Revealed type is "builtins.str"
+
+b1: Bar
+b2: Baz
+b3: Biz
+b4: Both1
+b5: Both2
+b6: Both3
+print_namedtuple(b1)  # ok
+print_namedtuple(b2)  # ok
+print_namedtuple(b3)  # ok
+print_namedtuple(b4)  # ok
+print_namedtuple(b5)  # ok
+print_namedtuple(b6)  # ok
+
+print_namedtuple(1)  # E: Argument 1 to "print_namedtuple" has incompatible type "int"; expected "NamedTuple"
+print_namedtuple(('bar',))  # E: Argument 1 to "print_namedtuple" has incompatible type "Tuple[str]"; expected "NamedTuple"
+print_namedtuple((1, 2))  # E: Argument 1 to "print_namedtuple" has incompatible type "Tuple[int, int]"; expected "NamedTuple"
+print_namedtuple((b1,))  # E: Argument 1 to "print_namedtuple" has incompatible type "Tuple[Bar]"; expected "NamedTuple"
+t: Tuple[str, ...]
+print_namedtuple(t)  # E: Argument 1 to "print_namedtuple" has incompatible type "Tuple[str, ...]"; expected "NamedTuple"
+
+[builtins fixtures/tuple.pyi]
+[typing fixtures/typing-namedtuple.pyi]
+
+[case testNamedTupleTypeIsASuperTypeOfOtherNamedTuplesReturns]
+from typing import Tuple, NamedTuple
+
+class Bar(NamedTuple):
+    n: int
+
+class Baz(NamedTuple):
+    a: str
+    b: str
+
+class Biz(Bar): ...
+class Other: ...
+class Both1(Bar, Other): ...
+class Both2(Other, Bar): ...
+class Both3(Biz, Other): ...
+
+def good1() -> NamedTuple:
+    b: Bar
+    return b
+def good2() -> NamedTuple:
+    b: Baz
+    return b
+def good3() -> NamedTuple:
+    b: Biz
+    return b
+def good4() -> NamedTuple:
+    b: Both1
+    return b
+def good5() -> NamedTuple:
+    b: Both2
+    return b
+def good6() -> NamedTuple:
+    b: Both3
+    return b
+
+def bad1() -> NamedTuple:
+    return 1  # E: Incompatible return value type (got "int", expected "NamedTuple")
+def bad2() -> NamedTuple:
+    return ()  # E: Incompatible return value type (got "Tuple[]", expected "NamedTuple")
+def bad3() -> NamedTuple:
+    return (1, 2)  # E: Incompatible return value type (got "Tuple[int, int]", expected "NamedTuple")
+
+[builtins fixtures/tuple.pyi]
+[typing fixtures/typing-namedtuple.pyi]
diff --git a/test-data/unit/fixtures/typing-namedtuple.pyi b/test-data/unit/fixtures/typing-namedtuple.pyi
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..13b6c4cf9441
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test-data/unit/fixtures/typing-namedtuple.pyi
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+TypeVar = 0
+Generic = 0
+Any = 0
+overload = 0
+Type = 0
+
+T_co = TypeVar('T_co', covariant=True)
+KT = TypeVar('KT')
+
+class Iterable(Generic[T_co]): pass
+class Iterator(Iterable[T_co]): pass
+class Sequence(Iterable[T_co]): pass
+class Mapping(Iterable[KT], Generic[KT, T_co]): pass
+
+class Tuple(Sequence): pass
+class NamedTuple(Tuple):
+    name: str
diff --git a/test-data/unit/pythoneval.test b/test-data/unit/pythoneval.test
index 8a7b39756867..c15c898db46e 100644
--- a/test-data/unit/pythoneval.test
+++ b/test-data/unit/pythoneval.test
@@ -1390,6 +1390,32 @@ x = X(a=1, b='s')
 [out]
 _testNamedTupleNew.py:12: note: Revealed type is "Tuple[builtins.int, fallback=_testNamedTupleNew.Child]"
 
+[case testNamedTupleTypeInheritanceSpecialCase]
+from typing import NamedTuple, Tuple
+from collections import namedtuple
+
+A = NamedTuple('A', [('param', int)])
+B = namedtuple('B', ['param'])
+
+def accepts_named_tuple(arg: NamedTuple):
+    reveal_type(arg._asdict())
+    reveal_type(arg._fields)
+    reveal_type(arg._field_defaults)
+
+a = A(1)
+b = B(1)
+
+accepts_named_tuple(a)
+accepts_named_tuple(b)
+accepts_named_tuple(1)
+accepts_named_tuple((1, 2))
+[out]
+_testNamedTupleTypeInheritanceSpecialCase.py:8: note: Revealed type is "collections.OrderedDict[builtins.str, Any]"
+_testNamedTupleTypeInheritanceSpecialCase.py:9: note: Revealed type is "builtins.tuple[builtins.str]"
+_testNamedTupleTypeInheritanceSpecialCase.py:10: note: Revealed type is "builtins.dict[builtins.str, Any]"
+_testNamedTupleTypeInheritanceSpecialCase.py:17: error: Argument 1 to "accepts_named_tuple" has incompatible type "int"; expected "NamedTuple"
+_testNamedTupleTypeInheritanceSpecialCase.py:18: error: Argument 1 to "accepts_named_tuple" has incompatible type "Tuple[int, int]"; expected "NamedTuple"
+
 [case testNewAnalyzerBasicTypeshed_newsemanal]
 from typing import Dict, List, Tuple