Serving jury duty is not just a responsibility – it’s one of the hallmarks of living in a free society. As a result, most employers will pay your normal wages while you are away from work on jury duty. Since you will also be paid a small fee by the court system for your service, many employers require their employees to turn that fee over to the company (which partly offsets the wages you were paid while away from work).

All that is great – but the IRS expects you to report any pay you receive from the court system as income even if you turned that money over to your company. To ensure you don’t pay too much in taxes, you are allowed to deduct the money you turned over to your employer. Add the amount to line 36 on your 1040 tax form, and designate the amount as a “jury pay” deduction. To cover all your bases, ask your employer for a receipt so you can prove you did in fact turn that money over to your employer.