Yes, jury duty pay is taxable. The IRS treats what the court pays you for serving as ordinary income, no matter how small the check, and you report it on Schedule 1 of your Form 1040. What has changed for 2026 is not the tax, but the paperwork: a higher 1099 reporting threshold means most jurors will not receive any form from the court, even though the income is still fully reportable.
What Part of the Payment Is Actually Taxed
The taxable piece is the daily attendance fee. Federal courts pay $50 per day.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1871 – Fees State courts set their own rates, and those vary widely. Federal regulations list jury fees alongside wages and salaries as compensation for services, which is why the fee is treated as gross income.2eCFR. 26 CFR 1.61-2 – Compensation for Services, Including Fees, Commissions, and Similar Items
Reimbursements are a different matter. Federal law also provides jurors with a mileage allowance, reimbursement for tolls and ferries, and a subsistence allowance for meals and lodging when an overnight stay is required.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1871 – Fees Many state courts offer similar payments. When the money is a direct reimbursement for a cost you actually incurred, such as parking or mileage, it stays out of your taxable income. Only the attendance fee itself goes on your return.
One boundary worth naming: jury pay is not subject to Social Security or Medicare tax, and courts do not withhold those from your check. It is income tax only.
Will the Court Send You a 1099?
Probably not, starting with 2026. For tax years beginning after 2025, the minimum payment that triggers a 1099 rose from $600 to $2,000.3Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Publication 1099 General Instructions for Certain Information Returns At the federal rate of $50 per day, you would need 40 days on a jury before the court had to file a form with the IRS. Most jury service runs a few days to a couple of weeks, so the vast majority of jurors will not receive any form at all.
The threshold does not change what you owe. It only changes what the court is required to send. Every dollar of jury pay is still taxable, and you are still expected to report it. If a form does arrive, it should come as a 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC; the IRS instructions for Form 1099-G specifically exclude jury fees from that form, though some courts have historically sent one anyway.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-G – Specific Instructions Whatever the form, keep your payment stubs from the court so you can back up the amount you report.
Where It Goes on Your Return
Jury duty pay is reported on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), Line 8h, which is labeled for exactly this purpose.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income6Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 1 (Form 1040) – Additional Income and Adjustments to Income The total from Schedule 1 flows into Line 8 of your Form 1040 and becomes part of your total income.
For a short stint with a small check, that’s the whole job. Enter the amount, file the return, done.
If You Handed the Money to Your Employer
Many employers keep paying your regular salary while you serve on a jury and, in exchange, require you to sign the jury check over to them. That creates a problem: the jury pay is your income for tax purposes, but you never actually kept it. Without an adjustment, you would be taxed on money you gave away.
The fix is built into Schedule 1. You report the full amount of jury pay on Line 8h as income, then deduct the exact amount you turned over to your employer on Line 24a, which is designated for this specific situation.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income6Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 1 (Form 1040) – Additional Income and Adjustments to Income The deduction is above-the-line, so you do not have to itemize to claim it. The income and the deduction wash out, and you end up taxed only on your regular salary.
Keep a receipt or copy of the check you gave your employer. If the IRS ever asks why your return shows jury income on one line and a matching deduction on another, one piece of paper resolves it.
What Happens If You Skip It
On $100 or $200 of jury pay, the tax owed might be $15 or $25, and it’s tempting to leave it off. The IRS lists failing to include income shown on an information return as an example of negligence, which carries an accuracy-related penalty of 20% of the underpayment.7Internal Revenue Service. Accuracy-Related Penalty On small amounts, the penalty itself is minor, but the notice, the correspondence, and the time to sort it out are not proportional to the dollars. With the higher 1099 threshold, fewer courts will be filing forms with the IRS, so automated matching notices on small jury payments should drop. Reporting the income on Line 8h is still the cleaner path.