You have a choice on when you report your bond interest. You can:
To report Bond interest, without form 1099-INT, enter it as if you had a 1099-INT form.
Additional information: Series EE/E Savings Bonds Tax Considerations https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bonds_eetaxconsider.htm
You have a choice on when you report your bond interest. You can:
To report Bond interest, without form 1099-INT, enter it as if you had a 1099-INT form.
Additional information: Series EE/E Savings Bonds Tax Considerations https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bonds_eetaxconsider.htm
So I put the savings bond interest amount in ONLY box 3. NOT box 1 also. Is this correct?
Yes, only in box 3. Box 1 is for savings/checking/Money Market interest.
One more question. I did cash them this week. So when it asked the question if I cashed the bonds, I said no. Because I didn't cash them in 2016. Or do I need to say yes?
Thank you very much! You and Turbotax are awesome! We've used them many years and will continue!
You do not claim the interest on your bonds until you cash in the bond. When you do, the government will send you a 1099.
You have to redeem them before you need to claim the interest. You can wait for years if you wish. When you do redeem them the Treasury will send you a 1099-Int.
ACCORDING TO TREASURYDIRECT.GOV:
You have a choice. You can
1- report the interest every year
2- 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
...so on above question, this means interest should've been reported for tax year 2016 at maturity (which is the earlier of the 2 events), NOT when they were redeemed later.
We marked 1099-int box and entered the int amt manually for 2016 taxes, since we didn't receive the 1099-int form. For 2017 taxes, we deducted that amt from the 2017-int form, since we already claimed in 2016. Thanks!
When I follow these instructions for my none 2099-int on savings bond and place in box 3, I receive an error message when I do my federal check saying I did not enter anything in box 1. That something must be entered there. So, once again, how do I enter interest from cashed savings bonds without a 1099? All info please.. every box that should be entered tell me
Did you ever get this resolved? I do not have a FEIN (because I have not yet cashed the savings bond), but it won't let me submit without one.
This answer is not correct. You must report the interest on Savings Bonds when they mature, even if they have not been cashed. You won't have a 1099 if you haven't cashed them, and Turbotax will not allow you to proceed until you enter an FEIN number from a 1099. Leaving the field blank or entering all zeros does not work to bypass the problem.