diff --git a/src/compiler/commandLineParser.ts b/src/compiler/commandLineParser.ts
index f050c4a5d16..b7003fbffd9 100644
--- a/src/compiler/commandLineParser.ts
+++ b/src/compiler/commandLineParser.ts
@@ -1138,6 +1138,13 @@ namespace ts {
                     reportInvalidOptionValue(option && option.type !== "number");
                     return Number((<NumericLiteral>valueExpression).text);
 
+                case SyntaxKind.PrefixUnaryExpression:
+                    if ((<PrefixUnaryExpression>valueExpression).operator !== SyntaxKind.MinusToken || (<PrefixUnaryExpression>valueExpression).operand.kind !== SyntaxKind.NumericLiteral) {
+                        break; // not valid JSON syntax
+                    }
+                    reportInvalidOptionValue(option && option.type !== "number");
+                    return -Number((<NumericLiteral>(<PrefixUnaryExpression>valueExpression).operand).text);
+
                 case SyntaxKind.ObjectLiteralExpression:
                     reportInvalidOptionValue(option && option.type !== "object");
                     const objectLiteralExpression = <ObjectLiteralExpression>valueExpression;
diff --git a/src/harness/unittests/convertCompilerOptionsFromJson.ts b/src/harness/unittests/convertCompilerOptionsFromJson.ts
index c55dee26dc4..09659762288 100644
--- a/src/harness/unittests/convertCompilerOptionsFromJson.ts
+++ b/src/harness/unittests/convertCompilerOptionsFromJson.ts
@@ -421,6 +421,24 @@ namespace ts {
             );
         });
 
+        it("Convert negative numbers in tsconfig.json ", () => {
+            assertCompilerOptions(
+                {
+                    "compilerOptions": {
+                        "allowJs": true,
+                        "maxNodeModuleJsDepth": -1
+                    }
+                }, "tsconfig.json",
+                {
+                    compilerOptions: {
+                        allowJs: true,
+                        maxNodeModuleJsDepth: -1
+                    },
+                    errors: []
+                }
+            );
+        });
+
         // jsconfig.json
         it("Convert correctly format jsconfig.json to compiler-options ", () => {
             assertCompilerOptions(