I-Bond Interest — pay taxes annually?
Where can I find the dates when interest was credited to my I-Bond. This information is critical if I want to do annual declarations of interest for my tax return. I have searched all over the Treasury Direct website, and I can find only the total interest paid but not the date or year. If I go to Manage Direct and then Manage My Taxes, it shows no entries for the last four years. I bought the bond a year ago, by the way. Thank you.
Terry Says
You shouldn’t do annual declarations of interest. It really makes no sense although it is permissible. Wait until you cash in the bond and then pay taxes on all the accrued interest.
But if you insist, below is a cut and paste from TreasuryDirect on how to handle that:
When must I report the interest?
You have a choice. You can
put off (defer) reporting the interest until you file a federal income tax return for the year in which you actually get the interest, or
report the interest each year even though you don’t actually get the interest then
Deferring until you get the interest
Most people put off reporting the interest until they actually get it.
You get a Form 1099-INT for the year in which you get the interest. (INT stands for “interest.” The 1099-INT tells you how much interest the bond earned.)
If a financial institution pays the bond, you get a 1099-INT from that financial institution either soon after you cash your bond or by January 31 of the following year.
If your bonds are in your TreasuryDirect account, your 1099-INT is available early the next year in your account.
Go to your TreasuryDirect account.
Select the ManageDirect tab.
Under “Manage My Taxes”, choose the relevant year.
Near the top of your “Taxable Transaction Summary”, choose the link to view your 1099.
Video
NOTE: Your “Taxable Transaction Summary” is NOT your 1099.
Reporting the interest every year
You may choose to report the interest every year. For example, you may find it advantageous to report interest every year on savings bonds in a child’s name. The child may be paying taxes at a lower rate than will be true years later when the bond matures.
But you will not get a 1099-INT every year. You only get a 1099-INT at the end.
If the savings bonds are in a TreasuryDirect account, you can see the interest earned each year in the account.
If the savings bonds are on paper, our Savings Bond Calculator can help you figure out the interest to report.
When you get the 1099-INT at the end, it will show all the interest the bond earned over the years. For instructions on how to tell the IRS that you already reported some or all of that interest in earlier years, go to IRS Publication 550 and look for the section on U.S. Savings Bonds.
Or go to this spot on TD.
