What does it mean if there’s a negative sign in front of your amount of income?

[DanielV01 · Accepted solution]

A negative sign in front of your income represents a loss.  If this is your only "income" of the year, you fall into the category of a Net Operating Loss (NOL), which can have additional impact on other tax years.

If this is your situation, (which can happen when establishing a business), you will want to study up on the subject to see the best strategy for carrying back and/or carrying forward the loss.  It is a complicated subject, but worth the time.  Here is a website that has excellent information to assist you:  https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/netoperatingloss.asp