03 Feb Jury duty pay and your tax return

Q. I served jury duty and was paid a small amount by the court, but I also received my full salary from my job. I had to give the jury duty money to my company. I want to make sure I’m not taxed on it because I didn’t keep it. What can I do?
— Confused

A. You can mark both the income you received and what you paid back to your employer on your tax return.

Jury duty pay you receive must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21 (Other Income), said Bernie Kiely, a certified financial planner and certified public accountant with Kiely Capital Management in Morristown.

“If you gave any of your jury duty pay to your employer because your employer continued to pay you while you served jury duty, include the amount you gave your employer as an income adjustment on Form 1040, line 36 (Add lines 23 through 35) and write the words “Jury Pay returned to employer,” Kiely said

So your jury duty pay would be an addition to income, and then a subtraction as an adjustment, Kiely said, and you will only pay taxes on your W-2 pay.

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This story was first posted in February 2016.