Jury Duty Pay Given to Employer

Jury duty pay is reported as taxable income on Form 1040, line 21 (Other income).

However, some employees continue to receive their regular wages when they serve on jury duty even though they are not at work and their jury pay is turned over to their employers.

In this case, the employee still has to report the entire amount of jury duty pay as taxable income, but may claim the amount of jury duty pay given to the employer as an adjustment to income.

Employees who turn jury duty pay over to their employers can claim the deduction on Form 1040 as an adjustment to income. The amount is shown as a write-in adjustment in the total on line 36. See Form 1040 Instructions for more information.

Question: Why should taxpayers report their jury duty pay as income if it is turned over to their employer?

Answer: Remember that the taxpayer can report the entire amount as an adjustment to income, which will be subtracted from gross income. So taxpayer's AGI will not include the jury duty pay.