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Yes, line 31 on Form 1120, which represents the taxable income of a corporation, can indeed be negative. This typically happens when a corporation's deductions and losses for the year exceed its income. This negative amount is often referred to as a Net Operating Loss (NOL). The corporation can carry this NOL forward to offset taxable income in future years, potentially reducing the tax liability for those years.

Actually, Line 31 is the calculated total tax based off of Schedule J Part 1 Line 11. The Schedule includes the calculation of tax and the reduction of that tax based off of applicable corporate tax credits that may be available to the business. Feasibly line 31 could be negative but that is more based upon whether the corresponding tax credits are refundable. Different rules apply to different credits. The AI's response above more closely matches line 30 of form 1120 which is the Taxable Income line of Form 1120.