For US savings bonds, you need to enter the interest on your 2018 tax return as the income becomes taxable when the bond matures even if you have not redeemed it yet. You do not need a 1099-INT from the treasury to do this. Enter a 1099-INT. When you enter the 1099-INT into TurboTax, you have to put a checkmark underneath the payer's name next to '' My form has info in more than just box 1 (this is uncommon)''.
You have a choice on when you report your bond interest. You can:
- report the interest every year or
- put off (defer) reporting the interest until you file a federal income tax return for the year in which the first of these events occurs:
- you redeem (cash in) the bond and receive what the bond is worth, including the interest, or
- you give up ownership of the bond and the bond is reissued, or
- the bonds stops earning interest because it has reached final maturity.
