What this line means
The sum of lines 24a through 24z. These are miscellaneous adjustments to income that do not have their own dedicated lines on Schedule 1. Common items include jury duty pay turned over to an employer (line 24a), deductible expenses from personal property rental (line 24b), attorney fees for discrimination claims (line 24h), and the housing deduction from Form 2555 for taxpayers living abroad (line 24j).
Does this apply to you?
- You received jury duty pay and turned it over to your employer because they paid your regular salary during jury service
- You had deductible expenses related to personal property rental income reported on line 8l
- You incurred attorney fees for employment discrimination or whistleblower claims
- You have a housing deduction from Form 2555 for foreign-earned income
Easy to overlook
Jury duty pay adjustment if your employer paid you during service If your employer paid your full salary while you served on a jury but required you to turn over the jury duty pay, you must report the jury pay as income on line 8h and then deduct the same amount on line 24a. 1 Without the line 24a adjustment, you are taxed on both your salary and the jury pay — effectively double-taxed on money you did not keep. Many filers report the jury pay as income but forget the offsetting deduction. General filing pattern — jury duty pay adjustment overlooked
Attorney fees for discrimination and whistleblower awards are deductible If you paid attorney fees in connection with a claim of unlawful discrimination or a whistleblower award from the IRS, those fees are deductible as an adjustment on lines 24h and 24i. 2 This is important because the full award or settlement is taxable income, and without this adjustment, the attorney fees could consume a large portion of the recovery with no tax relief. IRS Schedule 1 Instructions — Line 25
Watch out for this
Including adjustments that belong on other lines of Schedule 1 instead of lines 24a through 24z. HSA deductions go on line 13, not line 24. IRA deductions go on line 20, not line 24. Self-employment tax deductions go on line 15, not line 24. Lines 24a through 24z are only for the specific categories listed on the form that do not have a dedicated main line.
Footnotes
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IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, Jury Duty Pay. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf ↩
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IRS Schedule 1 (Form 1040) Instructions, Lines 24h and 24i. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040s1.pdf ↩