Do I get a tax statement for I bonds?
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
A 1099-INT issued when you cash the I bond will show all interest earned from the date of issue, including interest earned before it was reissued. IRS Publication 550 has instructions for paying tax only on the interest earned after the bond was reissued.
If you invest in TreasuryDirect, your 1099 will be available electronically and you can print the form from your account. 1099 forms are available by January 31 of each tax year.
The Account Statements will be available on the 1st business day of the month no later than 1pm Eastern Time.
Use the Education Exclusion
You can skip paying taxes on interest earned with Series EE and Series I savings bonds if you're using the money to pay for qualified higher education costs. That includes expenses you pay for yourself, your spouse or a qualified dependent.
The interest you earn on corporate bonds is generally always taxable. Most all interest income earned on municipal bonds is exempt from federal income taxes. When you buy muni bonds issued by the state where you file state taxes, the interest you earn is usually also exempt from state income taxes.
Submit IRS Form 8888 with your federal tax return and designate your refund for purchase of a Series I bond. Your security will be mailed to you. An electronic record of your purchases maintained in an online account you can check 24 hours a day. (No paper security is issued.)
In general, you must report the interest in income in the taxable year in which you redeemed the bonds to the extent you did not include the interest in income in a prior taxable year.
TreasuryDirect requires Treasury marketable securities be held for 45 days following original issue before they may be transferred. 4-Week Bills bought at original issue in TreasuryDirect may not be transferred at all because the term of the security is less than 45 days.
The 1099-INT will only come when someone cashes the bond or the bond matures. The interest will be reported under the name and Social Security Number of the person who cashes the bond or who owns it when it matures. The 1099-INT will include all the interest the bond earned over its lifetime.
What happens to a TreasuryDirect account at death?
If the beneficiary has a TreasuryDirect account, the security will be transferred to that account. If the beneficiary does not have an account, he or she may establish an account. Alternatively, a beneficiary named on a savings bond may request redemption.
There are no fees charged when you open an account or buy securities. TreasuryDirect permits accounts for both individuals and various types of entities including trusts, estates, corporations, partnerships, etc. See Learn More about Entity Accounts for full information on the registration types.

Information dealing with the purchase, redemption, replacement, forms, and valuation of Treasury savings bonds and securities is located on the TreasuryDirect.gov website which is managed by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.
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.)
Cons of Buying I Bonds
I bonds are meant for longer-term investors. If you don't hold on to your I bond for a full year, you will not receive any interest. You must create an account at TreasuryDirect to buy I bonds; they cannot be purchased through your custodian, online investment account, or local bank.
2024 is 'a good time to hold bonds'
Investment advisers say now is a fine time for bonds. They are a good investment in 2024, experts say, for the same reasons they felt like a bad investment in 2022.
Another thing to note: Savings bonds don't get a step-up in basis at death the way stocks or other investments do. That means you have to pay tax on the full amount of interest due on the bonds as the inheritor.
If the bond is in TreasuryDirect, look in your account there. If the bond is paper, use the Savings Bond Calculator. Note: For bonds less than 5 years old, values shown in TreasuryDirect and the Calculator don't include the last 3 months of interest.
Certain bond holdings can be a particularly bad idea for taxable accounts. High-yield bond funds, because they tend to generate (relatively) large amounts of current income, are best avoided in taxable accounts.
The interest earned by purchasing and holding savings bonds is subject to federal tax at the time the bonds are redeemed. However, interest earned on savings bonds is not taxable at the state or local level.
What is the tax refund limit on I bonds?
up to $10,000 in electronic I bonds, and. up to $5,000 in paper I bonds (with your tax refund until January 1, 2025)
The 4.28% composite rate for I bonds issued from May 2024 through October 2024 applies for the first six months after the issue date. The composite rate combines a 1.30% fixed rate of return with the 2.96% annualized rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U).
If you have cashed paper savings bonds, you will receive a 1099-INT in the mail.
- Log in to your TreasuryDirect account.
- Click the “Manage Direct” tab.
- Under “Manage My Taxes,” click “Year XXXX”
- Near the top of the “Taxable Transaction(s) Summary” page, click “View your 1099 for tax year XXXX”
Interest income from Treasury securities is subject to federal income tax but exempt from state and local taxes.