@golfinvestor , Since all earnings from federal obligations, even those bought below par are considered interest on federal bonds as long as they're held to maturity, my current plan to is to make the for 1f.
However, I'm confused by how etrade treated the Treasury Zero redemptions. All of them were bought below par and had no interest payments, yet the entire gain from these were included in box 3 and not 1f. Fortunately this was the vast majority of my bond redemptions were Treasury Zeros....assuming etrade treated them correctly, otherwise I would have expected most of the treasury redemptions to go into box 1f instead of 3.
Still, for this tiny amount, it's about a $5000 difference in taxes depending on how it's treated so probably still worth it for me to consult with a paid tax expert.
I'm also confused that for the amount in 1f, why etrade includes par minus purchase price rather than OID minus purchase price since the amount gained from par minus OID is clearly paid directly by the fed vs OID minus paid which is paid by the seller by deducting that amount from what the seller gets from the buyer.
