How to properly report Jury Duty pay on taxes

The way you handle jury duty pay on your taxes depends on a few factors, but it's pretty straightforward in your case. Since your employer doesn't pay you during jury duty (and you used PTO to cover your absence), you simply report the jury duty pay as "Other Income" on your tax return. For 2025 tax filings, this would go on Schedule 1, line 8z, and then transfer to Form 1040. When employers continue to pay your regular salary during jury duty but require you to turn over the jury duty pay to them, you can exclude the jury duty pay from your income (since it's essentially a wash). But that doesn't apply in your situation since your company doesn't pay during jury duty service. The PTO you used is just regular wages, so that's already included in your normal W-2 income - you don't need to do anything special with that part.

I ran into this exact same situation last year and was super confused. I tried googling but got inconsistent answers. Finally I used taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it helped me figure out exactly how to handle jury duty pay. I uploaded the payment statement from the court, and it immediately identified it as jury duty compensation and told me exactly where to report it on my return. Saved me from making a mistake or spending hours researching.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai for my taxes this weekend and it actually was super helpful! I uploaded all my documents (including that jury duty check stub) and it immediately categorized everything correctly. It even caught that I needed to report some bank interest I had completely forgotten about. The explanations were really clear about what goes where, and I feel much more confident filing now. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with various income sources like I was.

If you're trying to verify how the jury duty pay should be reported or have other IRS questions, I highly recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to actually get through to a human at the IRS. I needed clarification on some tax issues including jury duty pay and after weeks of trying to call the IRS directly and getting nowhere, I used Claimyr. They got me connected to an IRS agent in under 20 minutes! You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - totally changed my experience with getting tax questions answered.

I need to apologize for being so skeptical earlier. After struggling for TWO DAYS trying to get through to the IRS about my jury duty reporting question (plus some other issues with my refund), I finally tried Claimyr out of desperation. I was connected to an IRS agent in about 25 minutes. The agent confirmed exactly how to report the jury duty pay and also helped resolve my refund delay issue! I would have spent days more frustrated with busy signals without this. Sometimes you have to admit when you're wrong, and I was definitely wrong about this service.

Something people don't always realize about jury duty pay - depending on your state, you might need to report it on your state income tax return too! I made that mistake a couple years ago and had to file an amended return. Check your specific state's rules on jury duty compensation.

I'm curious, does anyone know if the mileage to and from jury duty is deductible? I drive 35 miles each way to the courthouse and that adds up!

This is a great thread with lots of helpful information! I just want to add one more consideration for anyone dealing with jury duty pay - make sure to keep detailed records of your service dates and payments. Even though the court might not send you a 1099 for small amounts, the IRS could still ask for documentation during an audit. I keep a simple spreadsheet with the dates I served, the type of service (actual jury duty vs. on-call), and the payment amounts. Also save any paperwork the court gives you - even if it's just a check stub or receipt. It's such a small amount of money that it's easy to forget the details by tax time, but having good records makes everything smoother if questions come up later. One more tip: if you're using tax software, most programs have a section for "other income" that will walk you through exactly where to report jury duty pay. It's usually pretty straightforward once you know what you're looking for!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation but with a twist - I served on a grand jury for 6 months (one day per week) and received about $40 per session, so around $960 total. My employer has a policy where they pay full salary during jury duty but require employees to turn over any jury pay to the company. So I'm in the opposite situation from Laura - I did turn over all my jury duty payments to my employer as required. From what I'm reading here, this means I don't need to report the jury duty pay as income since it was essentially a wash (I gave it all to my employer who was already paying my regular salary). Is that correct? Also, does the amount matter? Since mine was close to $1000, I'm wondering if there are any different reporting requirements compared to smaller amounts like the $48 Laura received. Thanks for all the great advice in this thread!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread! As someone who just finished my first jury duty service last week, this has been incredibly educational. I was completely clueless about the tax implications when I received my $64 payment from the court. My situation is similar to Laura's - my employer doesn't pay during jury duty (though they do allow unpaid leave), so I'll be reporting this as other income on Schedule 1, line 8z. I'm grateful for all the detailed explanations about keeping records, state tax implications, and the different scenarios depending on employer policies. One thing I learned from reading through all these comments is how much the employer's policy matters in determining what you need to do tax-wise. It's not just about receiving jury duty pay - it's about whether your employer continues paying you and whether they require you to turn the jury pay over to them. I hadn't realized there were so many different ways companies handle this! Also really appreciate the tips about documentation. I made sure to keep my summons, the payment stub, and even took a photo of my jury service certificate. Better to have too much documentation than not enough when tax time comes around.

This thread has been absolutely invaluable! I'm currently serving on a civil jury trial that's expected to last another two weeks, and I had no idea about any of these tax implications when I started. My employer has a hybrid policy - they pay my full salary for the first 5 days of jury service, but after that I'm on unpaid leave and can keep whatever the court pays me. So far I've received about $180 from the court (we get $40/day here), and since I'm past the 5-day mark, I'll need to report all of it as other income. What I'm wondering is whether I need to report the first 5 days worth of jury pay differently since my employer was paying my salary during that time but didn't require me to turn over the jury pay to them. From reading through all these comments, it sounds like since my employer didn't require me to reimburse them with the jury pay from those first 5 days, I still need to report ALL of the jury duty compensation as income - is that right? The policy seems to be that unless the employer both pays your salary AND requires you to give them the jury pay, you have to report it all. Also, does anyone know if there are any special considerations for longer jury service periods? I'm looking at probably $600+ total by the time this trial is finished. Thanks for all the great information everyone has shared!