Buy Govt Bonds
This page focuses on buying for yourself or a child whose account is linked to yours. If you are planning to give a savings bond as a gift, also see our page on Giving savings bonds as gifts. You can print a certificate announcing your gift. See our selection of announcement cards.
buy govt bonds
In any one calendar year, you may buy up to $10,000 in Series EE electronic savings bonds AND up to $10,000 in Series I electronic savings bonds for yourself as owner of the bonds. That is in addition to the amount you can spend on buying savings bonds for a child or as gifts.
For example: If you want to buy $50 Series I savings bonds and you ask your employer to send $25 from each paycheck to your TreasuryDirect account, we issue a $50 bond for you after every other payday. You don't have to think about it again or do anything else. You keep getting more savings bonds automatically until you change or end your Payroll Savings Plan.
We may issue multiple bonds to fill your order. The bonds may be of different denominations. We use $50, $100, $200, $500, and $1,000 bonds. Again, the amount of your purchase can be any multiple of $50, from $50 to $5,000. You need to tell us only the amount. We determine denominations.
On Form 8888, you also specify who will own the bonds. That means, you can give paper savings bonds to yourself or to anyone else (as a gift). If you have enough money in your refund, you can buy multiple bonds and, if you wish, you can give them multiple registrations.
Series I savings bonds protect you from inflation. With an I bond, you earn both a fixed rate of interest and a rate that changes with inflation. Twice a year, we set the inflation rate for the next 6 months.
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 can request the IRS or your state tax department to deposit your tax return directly into your TreasuryDirect account where you can use the funds to purchase savings bonds or marketable Treasury securities. All you need to do is provide TreasuryDirect's routing number and your TreasuryDirect account number in the refund instructions on your tax return.
Note: The three purchase limits above apply separately. That is, in a single calendar year you could buy $10,000 in electronic Series EE bonds, $10,000 in electronic Series I bonds, and $5,000 in paper Series I bonds.
The most important thing to remember about purchasing marketable bills, notes, bonds, Floating Rate Notes, or TIPS is that the limits are set for each auction, not by year. The limit for noncompetitive purchases is $10 million for each security type and term, for each auction. This limit applies regardless of whether you're buying a bill, note, bond, Floating Rate Note, or TIPS, and regardless of what method you use to make the purchase (TreasuryDirect, broker, or dealer).
The education tax exclusion permits qualified taxpayers to exclude from their gross income all or part of the interest paid upon the redemption of eligible savings bonds, when the bond owner pays qualified higher education expenses at an eligible institution.
To qualify for the exclusion, the bonds must be Series EE or Series I savings bonds issued after 1989 in your name, or, if you are married, they may be issued in your name and your spouse's name. Note: A bond bought by a parent and issued in the name of his or her child under age 24 does not qualify for the exclusion by the parent or the child.
If you only look at the rate your savings bonds are earning, they may not seem like a competitive investment at first. But when you factor in all the tax advantages, your bonds are earning more than you think.
If you want to switch from deferred reporting to annual reporting of interest, you must do it for all your savings bonds. You must also report all interest earned up to the year of the change in reporting procedure. If you later wish to change from annual reporting to deferred reporting, either attach to your tax return a statement asking for this change or submit IRS Form 3115 (the fee for the form is waived in this case). See IRS Publication 550 for details.
It's important to register your bonds correctly. Registrations for Series EE and I Bonds, both electronic and paper bonds, can vary, so it's a good idea to find out how to register each type of bond. View information about registrations for EE and I Savings Bonds.
Savings bonds can be registered to trusts in the name of the trustee of a personal trust estate. Personal trust estates are defined in the governing regulations as trust estates established by natural persons in their own right for the benefit of themselves or other natural persons in whole or in part, and common trust funds comprised in whole or in part of such trust estates.
Savings bonds reissued to a personal trust estate are no longer issued in paper form but, instead, are issued as electronic bonds in TreasuryDirect. See information about trust registrations for electronic bonds.
When Series HH or H bonds are reissued to a trust, the new owner must certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct and must not be subject to backup withholding. Certification is accomplished by completing an IRS Form W-9 or a similar certification statement on FS Form 1851 (reissue application).
When Series HH bonds bearing issue dates of October 1989 and after are reissued to a personal trust, a trustee must complete and sign an SF 1199A providing the appropriate direct deposit information for semiannual interest payments.
When savings bonds are registered in the name of a trust, the trustee(s) requests payment. The bonds should be submitted to Treasury Retail Securities Services, PO Box 214, Minneapolis, MN 55480-0214.
Newly issued Treasuries can be purchased at auctions held by the government, while previously issued bonds can be purchased on the secondary market. Both types of orders can be placed through Fidelity.*
Investors in Treasury notes (which have shorter-term maturities, from 1 to 10 years) and Treasury bonds (which have maturities of up to 30 years) receive interest payments, known as coupons, on their investment. The coupon rate is fixed at the time of issuance and is paid every six months.
Other Treasury securities, such as Treasury bills (which have maturities of one year or less) or zero-coupon bonds, do not pay a regular coupon. Instead, they are sold at a discount to their face (or par) value; investors receive the full face value at maturity. These securities are known as Original Issue Discount (OID) bonds, since the difference between the discounted price at issuance and the face value at maturity represents the total interest paid in one lump sum.
Tax advantagesInterest income from Treasury bonds is exempt from state and local income taxes, but is subject to federal income taxes. Other components of your return, however, may be taxable when the bonds are sold or mature. If you buy a bond for less than face value on the secondary market (known as a market discount) and you either hold it until maturity or sell it at a profit, that gain will be subject to federal and state taxes. Buying a bond at market discount is different than buying a bond at Original Issue Discount (OID). When a bond has OID, the OID is treated as interest income. When a bond is purchased at market discount and held until maturity, the market discount is treated as interest income. When a bond is bought at market discount and sold before maturity, it may be subject to both interest income as well as capital gain or capital loss.
LiquidityLarge volumes of Treasuries are bought and sold throughout the day by a wide range of institutions, foreign governments, and individual investors so they are considered to be highly liquid. Investors considering Treasury securities have opportunities to buy bonds both at regularly scheduled auctions (see Auction Schedule) and in the secondary market, which is one of the world's most actively traded markets. Investors can find Treasury bills, notes, and bonds posted with active bids and offers. Spreads (the difference in price between the bid and offer) are among the most narrow available in the bond market. Investors should, however, be aware that at certain times, such as when important economic data is released, Treasury securities can be at their most volatile.
Credit or default riskInvestors need to be aware that all bonds have the risk of default. Investors should monitor current events, as well as the ratio of national debt to gross domestic product, Treasury yields, credit ratings, and the weaknesses of the dollar for signs that default risk may be rising.
the date on which the principal amount of a fixed income security is scheduled to become due and payable, typically along with any final coupon payment. It is also a list of the maturity dates on which individual bonds issued as part of a new issue municipal bond offering will mature
a bond where no periodic interest payments are made; the investor purchases the bond at a discounted price and receives one payment at maturity that usually includes interest; they have higher price volatility than coupon bonds as a result of interest rate changes
Yes, you can. When you file your tax return, you can tell the IRS you want to save part or all of your refund and have the rest sent to your checking account. You can save part or all of your refund by submitting Form 8888, Allocation of Refund (Including Savings Bond Purchases)PDF when you file your return. Follow the instructions on Form 8888 to tell the IRS to make a direct deposit of the amount you designate to an IRA, to buy U.S. savings bonds, to make a direct deposit to a savings or checking account or other savings vehicles, or to request a paper check.
No, you don't need to open an account in advance with the Treasury Department. Complete and file the Form 8888 with your tax return. The IRS will arrange for your U.S. savings bonds to be mailed to you. 041b061a72