Trying to do my year-end taxes, but the interest income on my

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2015

How did a $200 bond at 1.35% generate over $35 in interest within 12 months? How did a $100 bond generate $20 at 1.42%? Where the fuck is this thing getting its numbers?

>>1064222
what site is this you're using to calculate?

>>1064260

The official US treasure site. treasurydirect-dot-gov.

>>1064261

*treasury, not treasure

>>1064263
ah yeah missed that they were EE's -- its not clear to me why theres so much interest even after reading the terms for the particular years.

seems like only the issue years of 1998 are impacted. does the treasury site have details of interest paid, or just this calculator? i'd reach out to their support to make sure its all good

Your calcualtor is showing total interest, not interest in one year.

Top of the list: 65.16 (2014) 66.08 (2015)
66.08-65.16 = 0.93 total interest earned in 2015.

>>1064294

I don't believe that they offer support or a breakdown of the interest. Just the calculator. Up until now the calc has worked fine, but this year it appears to have gone haywire. I can't make any sense of the values or interest accrued. DOn't want to fuck it up and do my return incorrectly. Wish I'd just gone with the alternate reporting method and just done it all when they were redeemed.

>>1064298

I know this. Some of them worked correctly. However, look at the others.

A $200 bond with a value of $80.92 at the end of 2014 is now at $100.24 12 months later. That's about $20 in interest on a 1.39% bond.

>>1064298
look at all the ones issued in 1998 something isn't right there

>>1064309
>>1064312
So? The interest isn't fixed. You can see that with the two years.

>>1064316

The bond would have had to be earning at like 25% interest to get a return like that. It wouldn't fluctuate that much.

>>1064316
agree the interest isn't fixed -- these are government bonds which had rates of 1.35% in may and 1.39% in november and compound semiannually. still does not add up

>>1064327
nvm we all missed the fine print -- 1998 reached original maturity so are worth at least the face value

Treasury guarantees that an EE Bond (whether paper bought at half of face value or electronic bought at full face value) will be worth at least double its purchase price when the bond reaches original maturity. Original maturity is a point part way into the bond's 30 year life.

For EE Bonds with issue dates from May 1, 1997 through May 1, 2003, original maturity is 17 years after the issue date.

>>1064327
>compound semiannually
No, it says next accrual in January.
All OP did was show interest prior to January and after, so it has two interest periods.

>>1064330
If an EE Bond has not earned enough interest to be worth an amount that is double its purchase price on the date it reaches original maturity, Treasury will make a one-time adjustment on the original maturity date of the bond to make up the difference.

>>1064334
read the treasury site for more details

>>1064338
>read the treasury site for more details
Okay, I didn't see it was mature. Only thing that seems worth it now is the i-bonds.

So I would report interest income of $448 for the year for these?

>>1064347
theres some details on the site "Series EE/E Savings Bonds Tax Considerations"

they should give you a 1099-INT that says explicitly what you report i believe

>>1064357
>they should give you a 1099-INT
They do this only when you redeem the bonds.

Wut do if I've been reporting the YTD interest since I've been filing (but not before I started filing)?

>>1064361
i missed that bit, and it also looks like if you've been reporting interest annually you can't just give up and wait until you cash out

i think the whole bit is reported as interest but really a tax professional should answer it