Bonds Sold Between
Interest Dates
If you sell a bond between interest payment dates, part of the sales
price represents interest accrued to the date of sale. You must report that part of
the sales price as interest income for the year of sale.
If you buy a bond between interest payment dates, part of the purchase price represents
interest accrued before the date of purchase. When that interest is paid to you, treat it
as a return of your capital investment, rather than interest income, by reducing your
basis in the bond. See Accrued interest on bonds under How To Report Interest
Income, later in this chapter, for information on reporting the payment.
Insurance
Life insurance proceeds paid to you as beneficiary of the insured
person are usually not taxable. But if you receive the proceeds in installments,
you must usually report part of each installment payment as interest income.
For more information about insurance proceeds received in installments, see Publication
525.
Interest option on insurance. If
you leave life insurance proceeds on deposit with an insurance company under an agreement
to pay interest only, the interest paid to you is taxable.
Annuity. If you buy an annuity
with life insurance proceeds, the annuity payments you receive are taxed as pension and
annuity income, not as interest income. See Publication 939, General Rule for
Pensions and Annuities, for information on taxation of pension and annuity income.
State or Local
Government Obligations
Interest you receive on an obligation issued by a state or local
government is generally not taxable. The issuer should be able to tell you whether
the interest is taxable. The issuer should also give you a periodic (or year-end)
statement showing the tax treatment of the obligation. If you invested in the obligation
through a trust, a fund, or other organization, that organization should give you this
information.
 Even if
interest on the obligation is not subject to income tax, you may have to report capital
gain or loss when you sell it. Estate, gift, or generation-skipping tax may apply to other
dispositions of the obligation.
Tax-Exempt Interest
Interest on a bond used to finance government operations generally is
not taxable if the bond is issued by a state, the District of Columbia, a U.S.
possession, or any of their political subdivisions. Political subdivisions include:
- Port authorities,
- Toll road commissions,
- Utility services authorities,
- Community redevelopment agencies, and
- Qualified volunteer fire departments (for certain obligations issued after 1980).
There are other requirements for tax-exempt bonds. Contact the issuing state or local
government agency or see sections 103 and 141 through 150 of the Internal Revenue Code and
the related regulations.
 Obligations
that are not bonds. Interest on a state or local government obligation may be tax
exempt even if the obligation is not a bond. For example, interest on a debt evidenced
only by an ordinary written agreement of purchase and sale may be tax exempt. Also,
interest paid by an insurer on default by the state or political subdivision may be tax
exempt.
Registration requirement. A bond
issued after June 30, 1983, generally must be in registered form for the interest to be
tax exempt.
Indian tribal government. Bonds
issued after 1982 by an Indian tribal government are treated as issued by a state.
Interest on these bonds is generally tax exempt if the bonds are part of an issue of which
substantially all of the proceeds are to be used in the exercise of any essential
government function. However, interest on private activity bonds (other than certain bonds
for tribal manufacturing facilities) is taxable.
Original issue discount. Original
issue discount (OID) on tax-exempt state or local government bonds is treated as
tax-exempt interest.
For information on the treatment of OID when you dispose of a tax-exempt bond, see Tax-exempt
state and local government bonds under Discounted Debt Instruments in
chapter 4.
Stripped bonds or coupons. For special rules that apply to stripped tax-exempt obligations, see Stripped
Bonds and Coupons under Original Issue Discount (OID), later.
Information reporting requirement. If you must file a tax return,
you are required to show any tax-exempt interest you received on your return. This is an
information-reporting requirement only. It does not change tax-exempt interest to taxable
interest. See Reporting tax-exempt interest under How To Report Interest
Income, later in this chapter. That discussion also explains what to do if you
receive a Form 1099-INT for tax-exempt interest.
Taxable Interest
Interest on some state or local obligations is taxable.
Federally guaranteed bonds. Interest
on federally guaranteed state or local obligations issued after 1983 is generally taxable.
This rule does not apply to interest on obligations guaranteed by the
following U.S. Government agencies.
- Bonneville Power Authority (if the guarantee was under the Northwest Power Act as in
effect on July 18, 1984).
- Department of Veterans Affairs.
- Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.
- Federal Housing Administration.
- Federal National Mortgage Association.
- Government National Mortgage Corporation.
- Resolution Funding Corporation.
- Student Loan Marketing Association.
Mortgage revenue bonds. The
proceeds of these bonds are used to finance mortgage loans for homebuyers.
Generally, interest on state or local government home mortgage bonds issued after April
24, 1979, is taxable unless the bonds are qualified mortgage bonds or qualified veterans'
mortgage bonds.
Arbitrage bonds. Interest on
arbitrage bonds issued by state or local governments after October 9, 1969, is taxable.
An arbitrage bond is a bond any portion of the proceeds of which is expected to be used to
buy (or to replace funds used to buy) higher yielding investments. A bond is treated as an
arbitrage bond if the issuer intentionally uses any part of the proceeds of the issue in
this manner.
Private activity bonds. Interest
on a private activity bond that is not a qualified bond (defined below) is taxable.
Generally, a private activity bond is part of a state or local government bond issue that
meets both of the following requirements.
- More than 10% of the proceeds of the issue is to be used for a private business use.
- More than 10% of the payment of the principal or interest is:
- Secured by an interest in property to be used for a private business use (or payments
for this property), or
- Derived from payments for property (or borrowed money) used for a private business use.
Also, a bond is generally considered a private activity bond if the amount of the
proceeds to be used to make or finance loans to persons other than government units is
more than 5% of the proceeds or $5 million (whichever is less).
Qualified bond. Interest on a private activity bond that is
a qualified bond is tax exempt. A qualified bond is an exempt-facility bond (including an
enterprise zone facility bond or New York Liberty bond), qualified student loan bond,
qualified small issue bond (including a tribal manufacturing facility bond), qualified
redevelopment bond, qualified mortgage bond, qualified veterans' mortgage bond, or
qualified 501(c)(3) bond (a bond issued for the benefit of certain tax-exempt
organizations).
Interest that you receive on these tax-exempt bonds (except qualified 501(c)(3) bonds
and New York Liberty bonds), if issued after August 7, 1986, generally is a tax
preference item and may be subject to the alternative minimum tax. See Form 6251 and
its instructions for more information.
Enterprise zone facility bonds. Interest on certain private
activity bonds issued by a state or local government to finance a facility used in an
empowerment zone or enterprise community is tax exempt. For information on these bonds,
see Publication 954.
New York Liberty bonds. New
York Liberty bonds are bonds issued after March 9, 2002, to finance the construction and
rehabilitation of real property in a newly designated Liberty Zone of New
York City. Interest on these bonds is tax exempt.
Market discount. Market discount
on a tax-exempt bond is not tax-exempt. If you bought the bond after April 30,
1993, you can choose to accrue the market discount over the period you own the bond and
include it in your income currently, as taxable interest. See Market Discount Bonds
under Discount on Debt Instruments, later. If you do not make that choice, or if
you bought the bond before May 1, 1993, any gain from market discount is taxable when you
dispose of the bond.
For more information on the treatment of market discount when you dispose of a
tax-exempt bond, see Discounted Debt Instruments under Capital or Ordinary
Gain or Loss in chapter 4.
Discount on
Debt Instruments
- Market discount
- Market discount bond
- Original issue discount (OID)
- Premium
In general, a debt instrument, such as a bond, note, debenture, or other evidence of
indebtedness, that bears no interest or bears interest at a lower than current market rate
will usually be issued at less than its face amount. This discount is, in effect,
additional interest income. The following are some of the types of discounted debt
instruments.
- Corporate bonds.
- Municipal bonds.
- Certificates of deposit.
- Notes between individuals.
- Stripped bonds and coupons.
- Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs).
The discount on these instruments (except municipal bonds) is taxable in most
instances. The discount on municipal bonds generally is not taxable (but see State or
Local Government Obligations, earlier, for exceptions). See also REMICs, FASITs,
and Other CDOs, later, for information about applying the rules discussed in this
section to the regular interest holder of a real estate mortgage investment conduit, a
financial asset securitization investment trust, or other CDO.
Original Issue
Discount (OID)
OID is a form of interest. You generally include OID in your
income as it accrues over the term of the debt instrument, whether or not you receive any
payments from the issuer.
A debt instrument generally has OID when the instrument is issued for a price that is
less than its stated redemption price at maturity. OID is the difference between the
stated redemption price at maturity and the issue price.
All instruments that pay no interest before maturity are presumed to be issued at a
discount. Zero coupon bonds are one example of these instruments.
The OID accrual rules generally do not apply to short-term obligations (those with a
fixed maturity date of 1 year or less from date of issue). See Discount on Short-Term
Obligations, later.
For information about the sale of a debt instrument with OID, see chapter 4.
De minimis OID. You can treat the discount as zero if it is less
than one-fourth of 1% (.0025) of the stated redemption price at maturity multiplied by the
number of full years from the date of original issue to maturity. This small discount is
known as de minimis OID.
Example 1. You bought a 10-year bond with a stated redemption
price at maturity of $1,000, issued at $980 with OID of $20. One-fourth of 1% of $1,000
(stated redemption price) times 10 (the number of full years from the date of original
issue to maturity) equals $25. Because the $20 discount is less than $25, the OID is
treated as zero. (If you hold the bond at maturity, you will recognize $20 ($1,000 - $980)
of capital gain.)
Example 2. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except
that the bond was issued at $950. The OID is $50. Because the $50 discount is more than
the $25 figured in Example 1, you must include the OID in income as it accrues
over the term of the bond.
Debt instrument bought after original issue. If you buy a
debt instrument with de minimis OID at a premium, the discount is not includible in
income. If you buy a debt instrument with de minimis OID at a discount, the discount is
reported under the market discount rules. See Market Discount Bonds, later in
this chapter.
Exceptions to reporting OID. The OID rules discussed here do not
apply to the following debt instruments.
- Tax-exempt obligations. (However, see Stripped tax-exempt obligations, later.)
- U.S. savings bonds.
- Short-term debt instruments (those with a fixed maturity date of not more than 1 year
from the date of issue).
- Obligations issued by an individual before March 2, 1984.
- Loans between individuals, if all the following are true.
- The lender is not in the business of lending money.
- The amount of the loan, plus the amount of any outstanding prior loans between the same
individuals, is $10,000 or less.
- Avoiding any federal tax is not one of the principal purposes of the loan.
Form 1099-OID
The issuer of the debt instrument (or your broker, if you held the
instrument through a broker) should give you Form 1099-OID, Original Issue
Discount, or a similar statement, if the total OID for the calendar year is $10 or
more. Form 1099-OID will show, in box 1, the amount of OID for the part of the year that
you held the bond. It also will show, in box 2, the stated interest that you must include
in your income. A copy of Form 1099-OID will be sent to the IRS. Do not file your copy
with your return. Keep it for your records.
In most cases, you must report the entire amount in boxes 1 and 2 of Form 1099-OID as
interest income. But see Refiguring OID shown on Form 1099-OID, later in this
discussion, and also Original issue discount (OID) adjustment under How To
Report Interest Income, later in this chapter, for more information.
Form 1099-OID not received. If you had OID for the year but did not
receive a Form 1099-OID, see Publication 1212, which lists total OID on certain debt
instruments and has information that will help you figure OID. If your debt instrument is
not listed in Publication 1212, consult the issuer for further information about the
accrued OID for the year.
Nominee. If someone else is the
holder of record (the registered owner) of an OID instrument that belongs to you and
receives a Form 1099-OID on your behalf, that person must give you a Form 1099-OID.
If you receive a Form 1099-OID that includes amounts belonging to another person, see Nominee
distributions under How To Report Interest Income, later.
Refiguring OID shown on Form 1099-OID. You must refigure the OID
shown in box 1 of Form 1099-OID if either of the following apply.
- You bought the debt instrument after its original issue and paid a premium or an
acquisition premium.
- The debt instrument is a stripped bond or a stripped coupon (including certain zero
coupon instruments). See Figuring OID under Stripped Bonds and Coupons, later
in this chapter.
See Original issue discount (OID) adjustment under How To Report Interest
Income, later in this chapter, for information about reporting the correct amount of
OID.
Premium. You bought a debt instrument at a premium if its
adjusted basis immediately after purchase was greater than the total of all amounts
payable on the instrument after the purchase date, other than qualified stated interest.
If you bought an OID debt instrument at a premium, you generally do not have to report
any OID as ordinary income.
Qualified stated interest. In general, this is stated
interest that is unconditionally payable in cash or property (other than debt instruments
of the issuer) at least annually at a fixed rate.
Acquisition premium. You
bought a debt instrument at an acquisition premium if both of the following are true.
- You did not pay a premium.
- The instrument's adjusted basis immediately after purchase (including purchase at
original issue) was greater than its adjusted issue price. This is the issue price plus
the OID previously accrued, minus any payment previously made on the instrument other than
qualified stated interest.
Acquisition premium reduces the amount of OID includible in your income. For
information about figuring the correct amount of OID to include in your income, see Figuring
OID on Long-Term Debt Instruments in Publication 1212.
Refiguring periodic interest shown on Form 1099-OID. If you disposed
of a debt instrument or acquired it from another holder during the year, see Bonds
Sold Between Interest Dates, earlier, for information about the treatment of periodic
interest that may be shown in box 2 of Form 1099-OID for that instrument.
Applying the OID Rules
The rules for reporting OID depend on the date the long-term debt instrument was
issued.
Debt instruments issued after 1954 and before May 28, 1969 (before July 2, 1982, if
a government instrument). For these instruments, you do not report the OID
until the year you sell, exchange, or redeem the instrument. If a gain results and the
instrument is a capital asset, the amount of the gain equal to the OID is ordinary
interest income. The rest of the gain is capital gain. If there is a loss on the sale of
the instrument, the entire loss is a capital loss and no reporting of OID is required.
In general, the amount of gain that is ordinary interest income equals the following
amount:
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months from date |
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of original issue |
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to date of maturity |
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Debt instruments issued after May 27, 1969 (after July 1, 1982, if a government
instrument), and before 1985. If you hold these debt instruments as
capital assets, you must include a part of the discount in your gross income each year
that you own the instruments.
Effect on basis. Your basis in the instrument is increased
by the amount of OID that you include in your gross income.
Debt instruments issued after 1984. For these debt instruments, you
report the total OID that applies each year regardless of whether you hold that debt
instrument as a capital asset.
Effect on basis. Your basis in the instrument is increased
by the amount of OID that you include in your gross income.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs)
If you buy a CD with a maturity of more than 1 year, you must include
in income each year a part of the total interest due and report it in the same
manner as other OID.
This also applies to similar deposit arrangements with banks, building and loan
associations, etc., including:
- Time deposits,
- Bonus plans,
- Savings certificates,
- Deferred income certificates,
- Bonus savings certificates, and
- Growth savings certificates.
Bearer CDs. CDs issued after
1982 generally must be in registered form. Bearer CDs are CDs that are not in
registered form. They are not issued in the depositor's name and are transferable from one
individual to another.
Banks must provide the IRS and the person redeeming a bearer CD with a Form 1099-INT.
Time deposit open account arrangement. This is an arrangement with a
fixed maturity date in which you make deposits on a schedule arranged between you and your
bank. But there is no actual or constructive receipt of interest until the fixed maturity
date is reached. For instance, you and your bank enter into an arrangement under which you
agree to deposit $100 each month for a period of 5 years. Interest will be compounded
twice a year at 7½%, but payable only at the end of the 5-year period. You must include a
part of the interest in your income as OID each year. Each year the bank must give you a
Form 1099-OID to show you the amount you must include in your income for the year.
Redemption before maturity. If, before the maturity date, you redeem
a deferred interest account for less than its stated redemption price at maturity, you can
deduct the amount of OID that you previously included in income but did not receive.
Renewable certificates. If you renew a CD at maturity, it is treated
as a redemption and a purchase of a new certificate. This is true regardless of the terms
of renewal.
Face-Amount Certificates
These certificates are subject to the OID rules. They are a
form of endowment contracts issued by insurance or investment companies for either a
lump-sum payment or periodic payments, with the face amount becoming payable on the
maturity date of the certificate.
In general, the difference between the face amount and the amount you paid for the
contract is OID. You must include a part of the OID in your income over the term of the
certificate.
The issuer must give you a statement on Form 1099-OID indicating the amount you must
include in your income each year.
Inflation-Indexed
Debt Instruments
If you hold an inflation-indexed debt instrument (other than a series I U.S. savings
bond), you must report as OID any increase in the inflation-adjusted principal amount of
the instrument that occurs while you held the instrument during the year. In general, an
inflation-indexed debt instrument is a debt instrument on which the payments are adjusted
for inflation and deflation (such as Treasury Inflation-Indexed Securities). You should
receive Form 1099-OID from the payer showing the amount you must report as OID and any
qualified stated interest paid to you during the year. For more information, see
Publication 1212.
Stripped Bonds and Coupons
If you strip one or more coupons from a bond and sell the bond or the
coupons, the bond and coupons are treated as separate debt instruments issued with
OID.
The holder of a stripped bond has the right to receive the principal (redemption price)
payment. The holder of a stripped coupon has the right to receive interest on the bond.
Stripped bonds and stripped coupons include:
- Zero coupon instruments available through the Department of the Treasury's Separate
Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities (STRIPS) program and
government-sponsored enterprises such as the Resolution Funding Corporation and the
Financing Corporation, and
- Instruments backed by U.S. Treasury securities that represent ownership interests in
those securities, such as obligations backed by U.S. Treasury bonds that are offered
primarily by brokerage firms.
Seller. If you strip coupons from a bond and sell the bond or
coupons, include in income the interest that accrued while you held the bond before the
date of sale to the extent you did not previously include this interest in your income.
For an obligation acquired after October 22, 1986, you must also include the market
discount that accrued before the date of sale of the stripped bond (or coupon) to the
extent you did not previously include this discount in your income.
Add the interest and market discount that you include in income to the basis of the
bond and coupons. Allocate this adjusted basis between the items you keep and the items
you sell, based on the fair market value of the items. The difference between the sale
price of the bond (or coupon) and the allocated basis of the bond (or coupon) is your gain
or loss from the sale.
Treat any item you keep as an OID bond originally issued and bought by you on the sale
date of the other items. If you keep the bond, treat the amount of the redemption price of
the bond that is more than the basis of the bond as the OID. If you keep the coupons,
treat the amount payable on the coupons that is more than the basis of the coupons as the
OID.
Buyer. If you buy a stripped bond or stripped coupon, treat it as if
it were originally issued on the date you buy it. If you buy a stripped bond, treat as OID
any excess of the stated redemption price at maturity over your purchase price. If you buy
a stripped coupon, treat as OID any excess of the amount payable on the due date of the
coupon over your purchase price.
Figuring OID. The rules for figuring OID on stripped bonds and
stripped coupons depend on the date the debt instruments were purchased, not the date
issued.
You must refigure the OID shown on the Form 1099-OID you receive for a stripped bond or
coupon. For information about figuring the correct amount of OID on these instruments to
include in your income, see Figuring OID on Stripped Bonds and Coupons in
Publication 1212. However, owners of stripped bonds and coupons should not rely on the OID
shown in Section II of Publication 1212, because the amounts listed in Section II for
stripped bonds or coupons are figured without reference to the date or price at which you
acquired them.
Stripped inflation-indexed debt instruments. OID on
stripped inflation-indexed debt instruments is figured under the discount bond method. This
method is described in section 1.1275-7(e) of the regulations.
Stripped tax-exempt obligations. You
do not have to pay tax on OID on any stripped tax-exempt bond or coupon that you bought
before June 11, 1987. However, if you acquired it after October 22, 1986, you must
accrue OID on it to determine its basis when you dispose of it. See Original issue
discount (OID) on debt instruments under Stocks and Bonds in chapter 4.
You may have to pay tax on part of the OID on stripped tax-exempt bonds or coupons that
you bought after June 10, 1987. For information on figuring the taxable part, see Tax-Exempt
Bonds and Coupons under Figuring OID on Stripped Bonds and Coupons in
Publication 1212.
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