Do I need to report $40 from jury duty on my tax return?
Title: Do I need to report $40 from jury duty on my tax return? 1 My sister just completed jury duty a few months back and received a small payment of $45. She's only 16 and has never filed taxes before, so this is all new territory for us. My parents filed our family taxes back in March (before the extension deadline), but we totally forgot about her jury duty payment until yesterday when she found the check stub. Now we're stressing out wondering if we need to amend our parents' tax return just to report this $45? It's literally the only income she received all year - no job, no other sources of money whatsoever. Would the IRS even care about such a small amount? More importantly, what kind of trouble could she get in if we don't report it? Could there be penalties or something serious for failing to report such a tiny amount of income? Would really appreciate some guidance on how to handle this situation!
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Isla Fischer
6 There's good news for your sister! Generally, a dependent who only earned $45 for the entire year is well below the filing threshold and wouldn't need to file a tax return at all. The IRS has minimum income requirements before someone needs to file, and for a dependent with only earned income (like jury duty pay), they typically don't need to file unless they earned at least $12,950 (for 2025). For such a small amount, there's virtually no tax liability, and the IRS isn't going to come after someone for potentially a few cents or dollars in taxes on $45. This falls into what many tax professionals consider "de minimis" income - amounts so small that the IRS generally doesn't concern themselves with them.
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Isla Fischer
•14 Thanks for the info! So just to be completely clear, we don't need to amend my parents' return to include her jury duty pay? And she doesn't need to file her own return either?
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Isla Fischer
•6 You're welcome! You don't need to amend your parents' return to include her jury duty pay, and your sister doesn't need to file her own return either. The $45 is so far below the filing threshold that it's essentially a non-issue from the IRS perspective. They focus their resources on much larger discrepancies than this.
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Isla Fischer
9 Hey there! I totally get your concern - tax stuff is confusing even for adults! I was in a similar situation last year with some small freelance income and was freaking out about getting everything right. I ended up using https://taxr.ai which helped me figure out exactly what I needed to report and what was below the threshold. It analyzed my various income sources (including a tiny jury duty payment!) and explained that small amounts like what your sister earned generally don't require filing. The tool saved me so much stress because it clearly explained the filing requirements based on my specific situation rather than me trying to interpret all the tax jargon myself.
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Isla Fischer
•11 Does it work for dependents too? My daughter (17) made about $200 doing some occasional babysitting last year and I'm never sure if I should include that on my return or if she needs her own.
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Isla Fischer
•20 How do you know this service isn't just trying to get your personal info? Seems sketchy to share tax details with some random website...
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Isla Fischer
•9 Yes, it absolutely works for dependents too! For your daughter's babysitting income, the tool would help determine if it needs to be reported and how. It's especially useful for these edge cases where the income is so small. Regarding security concerns, I totally understand being cautious. I was hesitant at first too, but they use bank-level encryption and don't store your sensitive information. You can even use it just to check requirements without entering actual personal details. It's more about understanding the rules that apply to your situation than filing your actual return.
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Isla Fischer
11 Just wanted to follow up about taxr.ai - I tried it out for my daughter's babysitting income situation! It confirmed that since she made under $400 in self-employment income AND well under the standard filing threshold, we don't need to report it. The tool had a specific section about dependent income that broke everything down based on earned vs. unearned income. Super helpful and saved me from unnecessarily complicating our tax situation!
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Isla Fischer
17 If you're still worried about potential issues with the IRS, I had a related experience that might help. Last year I accidentally left off some small income and got a notice from the IRS. Trying to reach them was IMPOSSIBLE - literally spent hours on hold multiple times. I finally found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in less than 15 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent I spoke with actually told me that for very small amounts like $45 jury duty pay for a dependent, they wouldn't even bother pursuing it since it's well below their enforcement threshold. Gave me total peace of mind instead of stressing about it for months!
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Isla Fischer
•3 Wait how does this even work? The IRS phone system is notoriously terrible. Are you saying this somehow gets you to the front of the queue? That seems impossible.
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Isla Fischer
•10 Sounds like a scam. Nobody can magically get through to the IRS faster than anyone else. They probably just connect you to some fake "agent" who will steal your info.
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Isla Fischer
•17 It works by using their callback system in a more optimized way than individuals can. It's not about "cutting the line" - it's about navigating their phone system efficiently. The service places calls strategically and when they secure a spot in the callback queue, they connect that call to you. No, it's definitely not a scam. They don't pretend to be IRS agents themselves - they literally connect you directly to the actual IRS phone system once they've secured a spot in the queue. You're talking to real IRS representatives. They just handle the frustrating hold time part so you don't have to waste hours of your day. It's basically like having someone wait on hold for you.
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Isla Fischer
10 I need to apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. After my last comment, I was still dealing with an unresolved IRS issue from 2023 that was driving me crazy, so I figured I had nothing to lose and tried it. I was completely shocked when I got connected to an actual IRS agent in about 12 minutes! The agent resolved my issue in one call that I'd been trying to handle for months. I've never been able to get through on my own despite trying at different times of day and waiting for hours. For anyone actually dealing with IRS issues (though the original poster probably doesn't need to), this service is legitimately helpful.
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Isla Fischer
8 Just to add something that hasn't been mentioned yet - jury duty pay sometimes comes with a 1099-MISC form, but only if it's over a certain amount (usually $600). Since your sister only got $45, she probably won't even receive any tax documentation for it, which further indicates it's not something the IRS is tracking or expecting to be reported at that amount.
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Isla Fischer
•2 Do you know if this varies by state at all? I did jury duty in California last year and got about $50 but they never sent me any tax forms. Just wondering if I missed something!
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Isla Fischer
•8 This doesn't typically vary by state for federal tax purposes, though states might have their own reporting requirements. For federal taxes, the $600 threshold for 1099-MISC issuance is pretty standard nationwide. At $50 for jury duty in California, you're well under that threshold, so not receiving any tax forms is completely normal and expected. The absence of a form doesn't necessarily mean the income is non-taxable, but it does typically mean it's too small for the IRS to track through documentation requirements. In practical terms, for amounts this small, most tax professionals would consider it negligible.
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Isla Fischer
22 My cousin actually works for the IRS (not giving tax advice, just sharing what she's told me). She said they have internal thresholds for what they bother to pursue, and it's WAY higher than $45. They're looking for significant underreporting, not pocket change. Focus on bigger tax planning issues as your sister gets older and starts earning more substantial income!
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Isla Fischer
•15 This makes me feel better! I've been paranoid about every little thing on my taxes since my friend got audited, but he had failed to report like $20k from crypto trading. Very different than forgetting a tiny jury duty payment.
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