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Publication 550
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Interest Income
This section discusses the tax treatment of different types of interest income. In general, any interest that you receive or that is credited to your account and can be withdrawn is taxable income. (It does not have to be entered in your passbook.) Exceptions to this rule are discussed later. Form 1099-INT. Interest income is generally reported to you on Form 1099-INT, or a similar statement, by banks, savings and loans, and other payers of interest. This form shows you the interest you received during the year. Keep this form for your records. You do not have to attach it to your tax return. Report on your tax return the total amount of interest income that you receive for the tax year. This includes amounts reported to you on Form 1099-INT and amounts for which you did not receive a Form 1099-INT. Nominees. Generally, if someone receives interest as a nominee for you, that person will give you a Form 1099-INT showing the interest received on your behalf. If you receive a Form 1099-INT that includes amounts belonging to another person, see the discussion on nominee distributions, later, under How To Report Interest Income. Incorrect amount. If you receive a Form 1099-INT that shows an incorrect amount (or other incorrect information), you should ask the issuer for a corrected form. The new Form 1099-INT you receive will be marked Corrected. Form 1099-OID. Reportable interest income may also be shown on Form 1099-OID, Original Issue Discount. For more information about amounts shown on this form, see Original Issue Discount (OID), later in this chapter. Exempt-interest dividends. Exempt-interest dividends you receive from a regulated investment company (mutual fund) are not included in your taxable income. (However, see Information-reporting requirement, next.) You will receive a notice from the mutual fund telling you the amount of the exempt-interest dividends that you received. Exempt-interest dividends are not shown on Form 1099-DIV or Form 1099-INT. Information-reporting requirement. Although exempt-interest dividends are not taxable, you must show them on your tax return if you have to file. This is an information-reporting requirement and does not change the exempt-interest dividends to taxable income. See How To Report Interest Income, later. Note. Exempt-interest dividends paid from specified private activity bonds may be subject to the alternative minimum tax. See Form 6251 and its instructions for more information about this tax. (Private activity bonds are discussed later under State or Local Government Obligations.) Interest on VA dividends. Interest on insurance dividends that you leave on deposit with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is not taxable. This includes interest paid on dividends on converted United States Government Life Insurance policies and on National Service Life Insurance policies. Individual retirement arrangements (IRAs). Interest on a Roth IRA generally is not taxable. Interest on a traditional IRA is tax deferred. You generally do not include it in your income until you make withdrawals from the IRA. See Publication 590 for more information. Taxable Interest - GeneralTaxable interest includes interest you receive from bank accounts, loans you make to others, and other sources. The following are some sources of taxable interest. Dividends that are actually interest. Certain distributions commonly called dividends are actually interest. You must report as interest so-called dividends on deposits or on share accounts in:
Money market funds. Generally, amounts you receive from money market funds should be reported as dividends, not as interest. Money market certificates, savings certificates, and other deferred interest accounts. If you open any of these accounts, interest may be paid at fixed intervals of 1 year or less during the term of the account. You generally must include this interest in your income when you actually receive it or are entitled to receive it without paying a substantial penalty. The same is true for accounts that mature in 1 year or less and pay interest in a single payment at maturity. If interest is deferred for more than 1 year, see Original Issue Discount (OID), later. Interest subject to penalty for early withdrawal. If you withdraw funds from a deferred interest account before maturity, you may have to pay a penalty. You must report the total amount of interest paid or credited to your account during the year, without subtracting the penalty. See Penalty on early withdrawal of savings under How To Report Interest Income, later, for more information on how to report the interest and deduct the penalty. Money borrowed to invest in money market certificate. The interest you pay on money borrowed from a bank or savings institution to meet the minimum deposit required for a money market certificate from the institution and the interest you earn on the certificate are two separate items. You must report the total interest you earn on the certificate in your income. If you itemize deductions, you can deduct the interest you pay as investment interest, up to the amount of your net investment income. See Interest Expenses in chapter 3. Example. You deposited $5,000 with a bank and borrowed $5,000 from the bank to make up the $10,000 minimum deposit required to buy a 6-month money market certificate. The certificate earned $575 at maturity in 2002, but you received only $265, which represented the $575 you earned minus $310 interest charged on your $5,000 loan. The bank gives you a Form 1099-INT for 2002 showing the $575 interest you earned. The bank also gives you a statement showing that you paid $310 interest for 2002. You must include the $575 in your income. If you itemize your deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040), you can deduct $310, subject to the net investment income limit. Gift for opening account. If you receive noncash gifts or services for making deposits or for opening an account in a savings institution, you may have to report the value as interest. For deposits of less than $5,000, gifts or services valued at more than $10 must be reported as interest. For deposits of $5,000 or more, gifts or services valued at more than $20 must be reported as interest. The value is determined by the cost to the financial institution. Example. You open a savings account at your local bank and deposit $800. The account earns $20 interest. You also receive a $15 calculator. If no other interest is credited to your account during the year, the Form 1099-INT you receive will show $35 interest for the year. You must report $35 interest income on your tax return. Interest on insurance dividends. Interest on insurance dividends left on deposit with an insurance company that can be withdrawn annually is taxable to you in the year it is credited to your account. However, if you can withdraw it only on the anniversary date of the policy (or other specified date), the interest is taxable in the year that date occurs. Prepaid insurance premiums. Any increase in the value of prepaid insurance premiums, advance premiums, or premium deposit funds is interest if it is applied to the payment of premiums due on insurance policies or made available for you to withdraw. U.S. obligations. Interest on U.S. obligations, such as U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds, issued by any agency or instrumentality of the United States is taxable for federal income tax purposes. Interest on tax refunds. Interest you receive on tax refunds is taxable income. Interest on condemnation award. If the condemning authority pays you interest to compensate you for a delay in payment of an award, the interest is taxable. Installment sale payments. If a contract for the sale or exchange of property provides for deferred payments, it also usually provides for interest payable with the deferred payments. That interest is taxable when you receive it. If little or no interest is provided for in a deferred payment contract, part of each payment may be treated as interest. See Unstated Interest and Original Issue Discount in Publication 537. Interest on annuity contract. Accumulated interest on an annuity contract you sell before its maturity date is taxable. Usurious interest. Usurious interest is interest charged at an illegal rate. This is taxable as interest unless state law automatically changes it to a payment on the principal. Interest income on frozen deposits. Exclude from your gross income interest on frozen deposits. A deposit is frozen if, at the end of the year, you cannot withdraw any part of the deposit because:
The amount of interest you must exclude is the interest that was credited on the frozen deposits minus the sum of:
If you receive a Form 1099-INT for interest income on deposits that were frozen at the end of 2002, see Frozen deposits under How To Report Interest Income for information about reporting this interest income exclusion on your tax return. The interest you exclude is treated as credited to your account in the following year. You must include it in income in the year you can withdraw it. Example. $100 of interest was credited on your frozen deposit during the year. You withdrew $80 but could not withdraw any more as of the end of the year. You must include $80 in your income for the year. You must exclude $20. Bonds traded flat. If you buy a bond at a discount when interest has been defaulted or when the interest has accrued but has not been paid, that interest is not income and is not taxable as interest if paid later. When you receive a payment of that interest, it is a return of capital that reduces the remaining cost basis. Interest that accrues after the date of purchase, however, is taxable interest income for the year received or accrued. See Bonds Sold Between Interest Dates, later in this chapter. Below-Market LoansIf you make a below-market gift or demand loan, you must report as interest income any forgone interest (defined later) from that loan. The below-market loan rules and exceptions are described in this section. For more information, see section 7872 of the Internal Revenue Code and its regulations. If you receive a below-market loan, you may be able to deduct the forgone interest as well as any interest that you actually paid, but not if it is personal interest. Loans subject to the rules. The rules for below-market loans apply to:
A pay-related loan is any below-market loan between an employer and an employee or between an independent contractor and a person for whom the contractor provides services. A tax avoidance loan is any below-market loan where the avoidance of federal tax is one of the main purposes of the interest arrangement. Forgone interest. For any period, forgone interest is:
Applicable federal rate. Applicable federal rates are published by the IRS each month in the Internal Revenue Bulletin. You can also contact the IRS to get these rates. See chapter 5 for ways to get this information. Rules for below-market loans. The rules that apply to a below-market loan depend on whether the loan is a gift loan, demand loan, or term loan. Gift and demand loans. A gift loan is any below-market loan where the forgone interest is in the nature of a gift. A demand loan is a loan payable in full at any time upon demand by the lender. A demand loan is a below-market loan if no interest is charged or if interest is charged at a rate below the applicable federal rate. A demand loan or gift loan that is a below-market loan is generally treated as an arm's-length transaction in which the lender is treated as having made:
The borrower is generally treated as transferring the additional payment back to the lender as interest. The lender must report that amount as interest income. The lender's additional payment to the borrower is treated as a gift, dividend, contribution to capital, pay for services, or other payment, depending on the substance of the transaction. The borrower may have to report this payment as taxable income, depending on its classification. These transfers are considered to occur annually, generally on December 31. Term loans. A term loan is any loan that is not a demand loan. A term loan is a below-market loan if the amount of the loan is more than the present value of all payments due under the loan. A lender who makes a below-market term loan other than a gift loan is treated as transferring an additional lump-sum cash payment to the borrower (as a dividend, contribution to capital, etc.) on the date the loan is made. The amount of this payment is the amount of the loan minus the present value, at the applicable federal rate, of all payments due under the loan. An equal amount is treated as original issue discount (OID). The lender must report the annual part of the OID as interest income. The borrower may be able to deduct the OID as interest expense. See Original Issue Discount (OID), later. Exceptions to the below-market loan rules. Exceptions to the below-market loan rules are discussed here. Exception for loans of $10,000 or less. The rules for below-market loans do not apply to any day on which the total outstanding amount of loans between the borrower and lender is $10,000 or less. This exception applies only to:
This exception does not apply to a term loan described in (2) above that previously has been subject to the below-market loan rules. Those rules will continue to apply even if the outstanding balance is reduced to $10,000 or less. Exception for loans to continuing care facilities. Loans to qualified continuing care facilities under continuing care contracts are not subject to the rules for below-market loans for the calendar year if the lender or the lender's spouse is 65 or older at the end of the year. For 2002, this exception applies only to the part of the total outstanding loan balance that is $148,800 or less. Exception for loans without significant tax effect. Loans are excluded from the below-market loan rules if their interest arrangements do not have a significant effect on the federal tax liability of the borrower or the lender. These loans include:
For a loan described in (6) above, all the facts and circumstances are used to determine if the interest arrangement has a significant effect on the federal tax liability of the lender or borrower. Some factors to be considered are:
If you structure a transaction to meet this exception, and one of the principal purposes of structuring the transaction in that way is the avoidance of federal tax, the loan will be considered a tax-avoidance loan and this exception will not apply. Limit on forgone interest for gift loans of $100,000 or less. For gift loans between individuals, if the outstanding loans between the lender and borrower total $100,000 or less, the forgone interest to be included in income by the lender and deducted by the borrower is limited to the amount of the borrower's net investment income for the year. If the borrower's net investment income is $1,000 or less, it is treated as zero. This limit does not apply to a loan if the avoidance of federal tax is one of the main purposes of the interest arrangement. Effective dates. These rules apply to term loans made after June 6, 1984, and to demand loans outstanding after that date. U.S. Savings BondsThis section provides tax information on U.S. savings bonds. It explains how to report the interest income on these bonds and how to treat transfers of these bonds.
Accrual method taxpayers. If you use an accrual method of accounting, you must report interest on U.S. savings bonds each year as it accrues. You cannot postpone reporting interest until you receive it or until the bonds mature. Cash method taxpayers. If you use the cash method of accounting, as most individual taxpayers do, you generally report the interest on U.S. savings bonds when you receive it. But see the discussion of Series EE and series I bonds, below. Series HH bonds. These bonds are issued at face value. Interest is paid twice a year by direct deposit to your bank account. If you are a cash method taxpayer, you must report interest on these bonds as income in the year you receive it. Series HH bonds were first offered in 1980. Before 1980, series H bonds were issued. Series H bonds are treated the same as series HH bonds. If you are a cash method taxpayer, you must report the interest when you receive it. Series H bonds have a maturity period of 30 years. Series HH bonds mature in 20 years. Series EE and series I bonds. Interest on these bonds is payable when you redeem the bonds. The difference between the purchase price and the redemption value is taxable interest. Series EE bonds were first offered in July 1980. They have a maturity period of 30 years. Before July 1980, series E bonds were issued. The original 10-year maturity period of series E bonds has been extended to 40 years for bonds issued before December 1965 and 30 years for bonds issued after November 1965. Series EE and series E bonds are issued at a discount. The face value is payable to you at maturity. Series I bonds were first offered in 1998. These are inflation-indexed bonds issued at their face amount with a maturity period of 30 years. The face value plus accrued interest is payable to you at maturity. If you use the cash method of reporting income, you can report the interest on series EE, series E, and series I bonds in either of the following ways.
You must use the same method for all series EE, series E, and series I bonds you own. If you do not choose method 2 by reporting the increase in redemption value as interest each year, you must use method 1.
Change from method 1. If you want to change your method of reporting the interest from method 1 to method 2, you can do so without permission from the IRS. In the year of change you must report all interest accrued to date and not previously reported for all your bonds. Once you choose to report the interest each year, you must continue to do so for all series EE, series E, and series I bonds you own and for any you get later, unless you request permission to change, as explained next. Change from method 2. To change from method 2 to method 1, you must request permission from the IRS. Permission for the change is automatically granted if you send the IRS a statement that meets all the following requirements.
You must attach this statement to your tax return for the year of change, which you must file by the due date (including extensions). You can have an automatic extension of 6 months from the due date of your return (including extensions) to file the statement with an amended return. To get this extension, you must have filed your original return by the due date (including extensions). At the top of the statement, write Filed pursuant to section 301.9100-2.
If you use a private delivery service, send the copy to the Internal Revenue Service, Attention: CC:PA:T, Room 6561, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20224. Instead of filing this statement, you can request permission to change from method 2 to method 1 by filing Form 3115. In that case, follow the form instructions for an automatic change. No user fee is required. Co-owners. If a U.S. savings bond is issued in the names of co-owners, such as you and your child or you and your spouse, interest on the bond is generally taxable to the co-owner who bought the bond. One co-owner's funds used. If you used your funds to buy the bond, you must pay the tax on the interest. This is true even if you let the other co-owner redeem the bond and keep all the proceeds. Under these circumstances, since the other co-owner will receive a Form 1099-INT at the time of redemption, the other co-owner must provide you with another Form 1099-INT showing the amount of interest from the bond that is taxable to you. The co-owner who redeemed the bond is a nominee. See Nominee distributions under How To Report Interest Income, later, for more information about how a person who is a nominee reports interest income belonging to another person. Both co-owners' funds used. If you and the other co-owner each contribute part of the bond's purchase price, the interest is generally taxable to each of you, in proportion to the amount each of you paid. Community property. If you and your spouse live in a community property state and hold bonds as community property, one-half of the interest is considered received by each of you. If you file separate returns, each of you generally must report one-half of the bond interest. For more information about community property, see Publication 555, Community Property. Table 1-2. These rules are also shown in Table 1-2. Child as only owner. Interest on U.S. savings bonds bought for and registered only in the name of your child is income to your child, even if you paid for the bonds and are named as beneficiary. If the bonds are series EE, series E, or series I bonds, the interest on the bonds is income to your child in the earlier of the year the bonds are cashed or disposed of or the year the bonds mature, unless your child chooses to report the interest income each year. Choice to report interest each year. The choice to report the accrued interest each year can be made either by your child or by you for your child. This choice is made by filing an income tax return that shows all the interest earned to date, and by stating on the return that your child chooses to report the interest each year. Either you or your child should keep a copy of this return. Unless your child is otherwise required to file a tax return for any year after making this choice, your child does not have to file a return only to report the annual accrual of U.S. savings bond interest under this choice. However, see Tax on investment income of a child under age 14, earlier, under General Information. Neither you nor your child can change the way you report the interest unless you request permission from the IRS, as discussed earlier under Change from method 2. Ownership transferred. If you bought series E, series EE, or series I bonds entirely with your own funds and had them reissued in your co-owner's name or beneficiary's name alone, you must include in your gross income for the year of reissue all interest that you earned on these bonds and have not previously reported. But, if the bonds were reissued in your name alone, you do not have to report the interest accrued at that time. This same rule applies when bonds (other than bonds held as community property) are transferred between spouses or incident to divorce. Example. You bought series EE bonds entirely with your own funds. You did not choose to report the accrued interest each year. Later, you transfer the bonds to your former spouse under a divorce agreement. You must include the deferred accrued interest, from the date of the original issue of the bonds to the date of transfer, in your income in the year of transfer. Your former spouse includes in income the interest on the bonds from the date of transfer to the date of redemption. Table 1-2. Who Pays the Tax on U.S. Savings Bond Interest
Purchased jointly. If you and a co-owner each contributed funds to buy series E, series EE, or series I bonds jointly and later have the bonds reissued in the co-owner's name alone, you must include in your gross income for the year of reissue your share of all the interest earned on the bonds that you have not previously reported. At the time of reissue, the former co-owner does not have to include in gross income his or her share of the interest earned that was not reported before the transfer. This interest, however, as well as all interest earned after the reissue, is income to the former co-owner. This income-reporting rule also applies when the bonds are reissued in the name of your former co-owner and a new co-owner. But the new co-owner will report only his or her share of the interest earned after the transfer. If bonds that you and a co-owner bought jointly are reissued to each of you separately in the same proportion as your contribution to the purchase price, neither you nor your co-owner has to report at that time the interest earned before the bonds were reissued. Example 1. You and your spouse each spent an equal amount to buy a $1,000 series EE savings bond. The bond was issued to you and your spouse as co-owners. You both postpone reporting interest on the bond. You later have the bond reissued as two $500 bonds, one in your name and one in your spouse's name. At that time neither you nor your spouse has to report the interest earned to the date of reissue. Example 2. You bought a $1,000 series EE savings bond entirely with your own funds. The bond was issued to you and your spouse as co-owners. You both postponed reporting interest on the bond. You later have the bond reissued as two $500 bonds, one in your name and one in your spouse's name. You must report half the interest earned to the date of reissue. - Continue - |
For other
information on U.S. savings bonds, write to: 
Or, on the
Internet, visit: 
If you plan to
cash your bonds in the same year that you will pay for higher educational expenses, you
may want to use method 1 because you may be able to exclude the interest from your income.
To learn how, see Education Savings Bond Program, later.