Yes, jury duty pay is taxable. The IRS treats whatever the court paid you for serving as ordinary income, taxed at your regular rate, and you report it on your federal return even if the amount is small and no tax form arrives in the mail.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income It doesn’t matter whether you sat on a federal grand jury, a state criminal trial, or a local civil case. The rule is the same. The good news: if your employer kept paying your salary and made you sign the jury check over to them, a matching deduction cancels the tax out.
Where to Report It on Your Return
Jury duty pay goes on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), Part I, Line 8h, which the form itself labels “Jury duty pay.”2Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 1 (Form 1040) – Additional Income and Adjustments to Income That amount flows into your total income and then into your adjusted gross income on the main 1040.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040 (2025) It is not subject to self-employment tax, because jury service is not a trade or business you operate.
If your jury pay hit $600 or more for the year, the court sends you a Form 1099-MISC and files a copy with the IRS. Most jurors never reach that threshold. But the reporting duty doesn’t depend on getting a 1099. Even $40 for a single day of service is reportable. Keep the voucher or payment stub the court gave you so the number on your return matches your records.
Skipping the entry is a bad bet on any 1099-reported income, because the IRS matches those forms against returns automatically. Underreporting can trigger a 20% accuracy-related penalty on the underpaid tax, plus interest.4Internal Revenue Service. Accuracy-Related Penalty
When You Owe Nothing in the End
Plenty of employers keep paying your regular wages while you serve and require you to hand over the court’s check in exchange. If that happened to you, report the full jury payment as income on Line 8h, then claim an offsetting deduction on Schedule 1, Part II, Line 24a, labeled “Jury duty pay.”1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income2Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 1 (Form 1040) – Additional Income and Adjustments to Income
This is an above-the-line adjustment, so you don’t need to itemize to claim it. It reduces your adjusted gross income dollar for dollar. The economic result matches reality: you’re taxed on your salary, not on money that never really stayed in your pocket. The deduction is capped at what you actually surrendered. If the court paid you $250 and you turned over all $250, deduct $250. You can’t deduct more than you gave back.
Travel and Expense Reimbursements Are Different
If the court paid you separately for mileage, parking, or other travel expenses, those reimbursements generally aren’t taxable. They’re reimbursed costs, not compensation. The catch is that the court has to break them out as a separate line item from your juror attendance fee. If everything was lumped into one payment, the whole amount is treated as taxable.
Federal Employees
If you work for the federal government, you keep your normal salary during jury service under a court leave statute that guarantees no loss of pay, accrued leave, or performance rating.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 6322 – Leave for Jury or Witness Service In exchange, you have to reimburse your agency for the juror attendance fees you received.6U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Court Leave Travel and expense reimbursements from the court don’t have to be returned.
The tax handling is identical to the private-sector surrender case: report the fee on Line 8h, deduct the reimbursed amount on Line 24a. The only difference is that the surrender is required by regulation instead of by your employer’s handbook.
State Tax Treatment
Every state does this differently. Some states with an income tax follow the federal rule and tax jury pay as ordinary income. Others exempt it entirely, and a few exempt it up to a set dollar amount. States without an income tax don’t tax it at all. So you may owe federal tax on your jury check but no state tax, or the other way around. Check your state department of revenue’s guidance to be sure.