Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (2024)

Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (1)

jamesevh Member ✭✭

edited November 2023 in Investing (Mac)

Quicken Deluxe 7.2.3 running on MacOS Monterey 12.7

When short term T bills mature, the interest income is mistakenly shown as capital gains in tax reports. The interest is taxable on Fed, tax exempt on most states. T bills are short term zero coupon purchased at a discount and paid at face vale at maturity. Noticed the problem in 2023 when I started buying T bills.

Jim

  • I have an account with Treasury Direct dealing with T Bills.

    ITransaxtions entered into Quicken manually as follows -

    Enter a Buy Bonds at the discount price.

    At maturity, enter a Sell Bonds at cost (no Cap Gains),

    Enter an Interest Income transaction for the interest earned (face value minus cost)

    The interest category carries Tax Line Item US government interest

    QWin & QMac (Deluxe) Subscription
    Quicken user since 1991

  • Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (3)

    jamesevh Member ✭✭

    I’ve been purchasing T bills through my Fidelity brokerage account. The Quicken transaction is downloaded directly into Quicken from Fidelity, not manually entered. Quicken tax reports show the interest as a capital gain.

  • Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (4)

    J_Mike SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Am curious - how does Fidelity account for the interest earned?

    Does your monthly statement reflect it?

    or. how is it accounted for in the year-end 1099 form?

    QWin & QMac (Deluxe) Subscription
    Quicken user since 1991

  • Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (5)

    jamesevh Member ✭✭

    Fidelity shows the T-bill as interest on the monthly statements. I’m sure it will also show on the annual 1099, but this is the first year I’ve purchased them. Btw, T-bills are purchased in $1,000 increments, so 100 T-bills = $100,000. Quicken accounts for them in Quicken units of $100, or 1,000 units, but the math works out, except it’s miss classified as capital gain.

  • Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (6)

    J_Mike SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Unfortunately QMac is mot able to properly process this transaction from the downloaded information. The FI is doing some manipulations in the background which QMac is not able to do.

    In this situation, I would edit the downloaded Sell and adjust the price to match the Buy. Then add the interest income transaction. Your cash balances out and QMac will properly report the tax related info.

    QWin & QMac (Deluxe) Subscription
    Quicken user since 1991

  • Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (7)

    jamesevh Member ✭✭

    T-bills & zero coupon notes are very common and growing in popularity due to rising interest rates. It would be nice if Quicken could address the problem of reporting interest as capital gain.

    Thanks

  • Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (8)

    jamesevh Member ✭✭

    is Quicken for Mac working on reporting interest being shown as capital gains when zero coupon bills/notes mature?

  • Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (9)

    BillB5150 Member

    Actually, this is more of a Fidelity issue than a Quicken problem. I recently moved my brokerage account from Vanguard to Fidelity. When I was at Vanguard, a TBill sale triggered two downloadable transactions. The first transaction was a "Sold" transaction, and the amount was equal to my PURCHASE price of the TBill, so capital gain = 0. The second transaction was downloadable as a IntInc transaction, for the amount of the interest earned. The sum of the two transactions was equal to the face value of the TBill. With Fidelity, I get only one transaction for the full amount of the TBill redemption, which causes the short term capital gain to occur. Disappointing they do it that way, but unless Fidelity changes things on their end the only way to fix would be to delete the Fidelity sell transaction and enter two manual transactions to replicate the way Vanguard does it.

This discussion has been closed.

Treasury Bills Reported as capital Gain (2024)

FAQs

Do T bills count as capital gains? ›

Conclusion. The interest income earned on Treasury bills is taxable at the federal level, and earnings from Treasury bills sold on the secondary market can be taxed via capital gains taxes.

How are Treasury bills reported? ›

Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to federal income taxes but not state or local taxes. The interest income received in a year is recorded on Form 1099-INT. Investors can opt to have up to 50% of their Treasury bills' interest earnings automatically withheld.

How does the IRS find out about capital gains? ›

Stock sales and other distributions may be reported by brokers on a 1099 Consolidated Statement or Substitute 1099. Use Form 8949 for reporting details of capital gain or loss transactions. Short-term transactions go on Form 8949, page 1. Long-term transactions go on Form 8949, page 2.

How do you calculate the return on a T bill? ›

To calculate yield, subtract the bill's purchase price from its face value and then divide the result by the bill's purchase price. Finally, multiply your answer by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Are gains on Treasury bills taxable? ›

The interest income that you may receive from investing in a treasury bill is exempt from any state or local income taxes, regardless of the state where you file your taxes. However, you will need to report interest income from these investments on your federal tax return.

Are Treasury bonds taxed as capital gains or ordinary income? ›

The income from taxable bond funds is generally taxed at the federal and state level at ordinary income tax rates in the year it was earned. Funds that exclusively hold U.S. Treasury bonds may be exempt from state taxes.

Do Treasury bills have gain or loss? ›

US Treasury Bills

between the price paid and the face value of the bond is interest. There is no gain or loss at maturity. this manner on your 1099 information reporting at year-end. CP2000 notices requesting additional information and possibly tax from you.

What are the rules for Treasury bills? ›

Key Facts:
  • Bills are sold at a discount. ...
  • Bills pay interest only at maturity. ...
  • Bills are sold in increments of $100. ...
  • All bills except 52-week bills and cash management bills are auctioned every week. ...
  • Cash management bills are issued in variable terms.
  • Bills are issued in electronic form.

What are Treasury bills considered? ›

A treasury bill is a short-term financial instrument issued by the government. Because they're backed by a country's own treasury, they're considered a low-risk investment and the investor runs very little chance of losing money.

Will IRS know if I don't report capital gains? ›

If you fail to report the gain, the IRS will become immediately suspicious. While the IRS may simply identify and correct a small loss and ding you for the difference, a larger missing capital gain could set off the alarms.

What happens if you forgot to report capital gains? ›

The IRS has the authority to impose fines and penalties for your negligence, and they often do. If they can demonstrate that the act was intentional, fraudulent, or designed to evade payment of rightful taxes, they can seek criminal prosecution.

Why do I have capital gains if I didn't sell anything? ›

That's because mutual funds must distribute any dividends and net realized capital gains earned on their holdings over the prior 12 months. For investors with taxable accounts, these distributions are taxable income, even if the money is reinvested in additional fund shares and they have not sold any shares.

How much can you make on a 3 month Treasury bill? ›

3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is at 5.25%, compared to 5.25% the previous market day and 5.01% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 4.19%. The 3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is the yield received for investing in a government issued treasury security that has a maturity of 3 months.

Are T-bill returns guaranteed? ›

Because the primary characteristic of T-Bills is that they offer a guaranteed return of principal, they typically function as the safe portion of an investment portfolio.

How much do you make on a 4 week Treasury bill? ›

4 Week Treasury Bill Rate is at 5.29%, compared to 5.29% the previous market day and 3.95% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 1.41%. The 4 Week Treasury Bill Rate is the yield received for investing in a US government issued treasury bill that has a maturity of 4 weeks.

What if I sell a Treasury bill before maturity? ›

Treasury bonds, notes, and bills have no default risk since the U.S. government guarantees them. Investors will receive the bond's face value if they hold it to maturity. However, if sold before maturity, your gain or loss depends on the difference between the initial price and what you sold the Treasury for.

How are gains on Treasury bonds taxed? ›

Interest from Treasuries is generally taxable at the federal level, but not at the state level. Interest from munis is generally exempt from federal taxes, and if you live in the state where the bond was issued, the interest may also be exempt from state taxes.

What can be excluded from capital gains? ›

Could you owe capital gains tax on your home? There's an exclusion on gains from the sale of a primary residence, which generally lets sellers exclude up to $250,000 in gains from their income (or $500,000 for certain married taxpayers filing a joint return and certain surviving spouses).

What excludes you from paying capital gains tax? ›

When does capital gains tax not apply? If you have lived in a home as your primary residence for two out of the five years preceding the home's sale, the IRS lets you exempt $250,000 in profit, or $500,000 if married and filing jointly, from capital gains taxes.

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