PRINT
EMAIL
COMMENT
BUZZ UP
DIGG THIS- Ask Kim - Convert Now to a Roth IRA?
- Stock Watch - Five Stocks With Super Yields
- Fund Watch - A Disastrous Year for the Kiplinger 25
- Starting Out - 12 Things I'm Thankful For
- Value Added - Oil Stocks Will Bounce Back
- Cash in Hand - It's Time to Buy Bonds
- Money Smart Kids - Open a Low-Risk College Fund
- Drive Time - Should You Buy a Detroit Car?
- On the Job - 13 Hot Jobs in Hard Times
- More
Did you serve on a jury last year? Did your employer keep paying your salary but require you to turn over your jury fees to the company coffers? Well, guess what? You still have to report those jury fees as taxable income.
Sound unfair? Well, it's not as bad as it sounds if you claim a special deduction designed to make sure you're not taxed on money that just passed through your hands. Although you won't see it mentioned anywhere on the tax forms, you can claim a deduction for jury fees you received in 2007 but had to turn over to your employer.
Report your jury fee "income" on your tax return as "other income" on line 21 of the form 1040.
To even things out, claim a deduction for the same amount. Unfortunately, there's no special line for it on the forms, so it's easy to miss. Don't make that mistake. You include the amount of forfeited fees on line 36 of your Form 1040, where you tote up all of your other adjustments to income. On the dotted line next to the figure, write "jury pay" and the amount. You'll subtract it to offset that phantom income you reported on line 21.
Reprint Article
