If an employee receives regular wages while serving on jury duty, do they still need to report jury duty pay as taxable income?

When an employee receives jury duty pay while also earning their regular wages, they must report the jury duty pay as taxable income. This is because the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) classifies jury duty fees as taxable income, similar to other forms of compensation received by an employee.

Even if the employer continues to pay the employee their regular salary during the time they serve on a jury, the employee must still report the income received from the jury duty as taxable income. This holds true regardless of whether the jury pay exceeds their normal earnings or is less than what they usually earn.

Employers may require employees to submit the jury duty compensation to them (if they provide paid leave for jury duty), and thus the employee is not able to keep both their regular wages and the jury pay without making an appropriate declaration of the income. This ensures tax compliance and proper reporting of all income streams during the tax year.