diff --git a/sw/qa/extras/ooxmlimport/data/tdf170236.docx b/sw/qa/extras/ooxmlimport/data/tdf170236.docx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1d6fdd1e88d2
Binary files /dev/null and b/sw/qa/extras/ooxmlimport/data/tdf170236.docx differ
diff --git a/sw/qa/extras/ooxmlimport/ooxmlimport.cxx b/sw/qa/extras/ooxmlimport/ooxmlimport.cxx
index 7442fdb86677..54349c0896a5 100644
--- a/sw/qa/extras/ooxmlimport/ooxmlimport.cxx
+++ b/sw/qa/extras/ooxmlimport/ooxmlimport.cxx
@@ -1960,6 +1960,31 @@ CPPUNIT_TEST_FIXTURE(Test, testInlineFormulaTextMode)
     testFitsOnOnePage();
 }
 
+CPPUNIT_TEST_FIXTURE(Test, testTdf170236CommentInFormula)
+{
+    // tdf#170236: a w:commentReference inside an m:oMath formula was dropped on import
+    createSwDoc("tdf170236.docx");
+    uno::Reference<text::XTextFieldsSupplier> xTextFieldsSupplier(mxComponent, uno::UNO_QUERY);
+    uno::Reference<container::XEnumerationAccess> xFieldsAccess(xTextFieldsSupplier->getTextFields());
+    uno::Reference<container::XEnumeration> xFields(xFieldsAccess->createEnumeration());
+
+    bool bFoundAnnotation = false;
+    while (xFields->hasMoreElements())
+    {
+        uno::Reference<lang::XServiceInfo> xServiceInfo(xFields->nextElement(), uno::UNO_QUERY);
+        if (xServiceInfo->supportsService(u"com.sun.star.text.textfield.Annotation"_ustr))
+        {
+            bFoundAnnotation = true;
+            uno::Reference<beans::XPropertySet> xPropertySet(xServiceInfo, uno::UNO_QUERY);
+            OUString aContent;
+            xPropertySet->getPropertyValue(u"Content"_ustr) >>= aContent;
+            CPPUNIT_ASSERT_EQUAL(u"Hello World!"_ustr, aContent);
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+    CPPUNIT_ASSERT_MESSAGE("No annotation found in document", bFoundAnnotation);
+}
+
 // tests should only be added to ooxmlIMPORT *if* they fail round-tripping in ooxmlEXPORT
 
 } // end of anonymous namespace
diff --git a/sw/source/writerfilter/ooxml/OOXMLFastContextHandler.cxx b/sw/source/writerfilter/ooxml/OOXMLFastContextHandler.cxx
index a61fcaa2caa5..6c18c4b867e3 100644
--- a/sw/source/writerfilter/ooxml/OOXMLFastContextHandler.cxx
+++ b/sw/source/writerfilter/ooxml/OOXMLFastContextHandler.cxx
@@ -2492,9 +2492,18 @@ void OOXMLFastContextHandlerLinear::lcl_endFastElement(Token_t Element)
 }
 
 uno::Reference< xml::sax::XFastContextHandler >
-OOXMLFastContextHandlerLinear::lcl_createFastChildContext(Token_t,
-    const uno::Reference< xml::sax::XFastAttributeList >&)
+OOXMLFastContextHandlerLinear::lcl_createFastChildContext(Token_t Element,
+    const uno::Reference< xml::sax::XFastAttributeList >& Attribs)
 {
+    // tdf#170236: buffering a w:commentReference would feed it to Starmath, which
+    // drops it; capture the id instead and resolve it after the formula (process()).
+    if (Element == W_TOKEN(commentReference))
+    {
+        if (Attribs && Attribs->hasAttribute(W_TOKEN(id)))
+            m_aCommentIds.push_back(Attribs->getValue(W_TOKEN(id)).toInt32());
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+
     uno::Reference< xml::sax::XFastContextHandler > xContextHandler;
     xContextHandler.set( this );
     return xContextHandler;
@@ -2556,6 +2565,10 @@ void OOXMLFastContextHandlerMath::process()
     else
         pProps->add(NS_ooxml::LN_starmath, pVal, OOXMLProperty::ATTRIBUTE);
     mpStream->props( pProps.get() );
+
+    // tdf#170236: resolve now, so the anchor lands right after the emitted formula
+    for (sal_Int32 nCommentId : m_aCommentIds)
+        resolveComment(nCommentId);
 }
 
 OOXMLFastContextHandlerCommentEx::OOXMLFastContextHandlerCommentEx(
diff --git a/sw/source/writerfilter/ooxml/OOXMLFastContextHandler.hxx b/sw/source/writerfilter/ooxml/OOXMLFastContextHandler.hxx
index 34bd89693c91..7f1976c82ce8 100644
--- a/sw/source/writerfilter/ooxml/OOXMLFastContextHandler.hxx
+++ b/sw/source/writerfilter/ooxml/OOXMLFastContextHandler.hxx
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include <set>
+#include <vector>
 #include <cppuhelper/implbase.hxx>
 #include <com/sun/star/uno/XComponentContext.hpp>
 #include <com/sun/star/xml/sax/XFastContextHandler.hpp>
@@ -596,6 +597,9 @@ protected:
     // should be private, but not much point in making deep copies of it
     oox::formulaimport::XmlStreamBuilder m_buffer;
 
+    // tdf#170236: comment ids referenced inside the formula, resolved in Math::process()
+    std::vector<sal_Int32> m_aCommentIds;
+
 private:
     int m_depthCount;
 };