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March 8, 2023
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Treasury accrued interest paid limit

  • March 8, 2023
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My situation: I have 2 taxable investment accounts both of which earned interest income. One had $2000 Treasury accrued interest paid on notes that only earned $400 in treasury interest due to the timing of their purchases. The other account earned $6000 interest income (non-Treasury). TurboTax flagged it when I adjusted my Schedule B for accrued interest paid because the $2000 was more than the $400, I assume because I am only able to apply the accrued interest paid reduction up to the amount of Treasury interest I received in the same tax year?

I can find no information on irs.gov or online stating this restriction.

Can I not deduct the entire $2000 off my total interest income from all sources? If not do I carryforward the unused $1600 to next year when I earn the bulk of the treasury interest?

I can force it into TurboTax and it does reflect the entire $2000 as an Accrued Interest reduction on my Schedule B, but it still flags it as an error.

Thanks!

    Best answer by SteamTrain

    @Philosopher7 

     

    OK... you can only declare and subtract the accrued interest for a purchased bond.....after, and for the tax year that you-yourself get the first interest payment on that bond.

     

    Thus, for Treasury bond interest received & reported in box 3 of a 1099-INT, your accrued interest declared, cannot exceed box 3 for 2022.  As a further restriction, you can only enter the accrued interest for the actual bond(s) that that generated the box 3 $$.  Thus, for the remaining accrued interest on the other bonds, that won't send you interest $$ until 2023...those accrued interest $$ will only be declared next year when you file your 2023 taxes.  AND, you need to keep those detailed records/spreadsheet/notes yourself about how much was already declared and what remains for each bond. 

    ____________________

    SO, as an example....for the $400 of Treasury interest you did recieve....if the $400 came from one bond....that you paid the seller (say) $150 of accrued interest...you only declare that $150 as accrued interest for 2022...you can't use the accrued interest from other bonds to negate the $400 total.  So in this example $250 of interest would remain taxable for 2022.

    ________

    Other: whenever you have accrued interest to declare for bond-types you own...always split out, and report them and their accrued interest in their own 1099-INT.  Many times, a broker will issue a 1099-INT with boxes 1,3,&8 on the same form....if you declare your allowed accrued interest on that same 1099-INT form (in the software) the accrued interest will be improperly applied proportionately among the $$ in boxes 1,3&8........Thus, for whatever bond-type has accrued interest to declare, you need to break out that bond-type into its own 1099-INT. 

    (This is a software thing...some day TTX may have the follow-up page split out the accrued interest into three separate lines for each bond-type...but they haven't yet done so)

    _________

    1) For purchased corporate bonds.. all of boxes 1 & 11 would be moved to its own 1099-INT before declaring the "allowed" accrued interest on those bonds.

     

    2) For purchased Treasury bonds.. all of boxes 3 & 12 would be moved to its own 1099-INT before declaring the "allowed" accrued interest on those bonds.

     

    3) For purchased Muni bonds.. all of boxes 8, 9 & 13 would be moved to its own 1099-INT before declaring the "allowed" accrued interest on those bonds.

    _____________________

    4)  IF there is no accrued interest to declare,....then then all of the $$ can be on the same 1099-INT form.

    1 reply

    SteamTrain
    Employee
    March 9, 2023

    @Philosopher7 

     

    OK... you can only declare and subtract the accrued interest for a purchased bond.....after, and for the tax year that you-yourself get the first interest payment on that bond.

     

    Thus, for Treasury bond interest received & reported in box 3 of a 1099-INT, your accrued interest declared, cannot exceed box 3 for 2022.  As a further restriction, you can only enter the accrued interest for the actual bond(s) that that generated the box 3 $$.  Thus, for the remaining accrued interest on the other bonds, that won't send you interest $$ until 2023...those accrued interest $$ will only be declared next year when you file your 2023 taxes.  AND, you need to keep those detailed records/spreadsheet/notes yourself about how much was already declared and what remains for each bond. 

    ____________________

    SO, as an example....for the $400 of Treasury interest you did recieve....if the $400 came from one bond....that you paid the seller (say) $150 of accrued interest...you only declare that $150 as accrued interest for 2022...you can't use the accrued interest from other bonds to negate the $400 total.  So in this example $250 of interest would remain taxable for 2022.

    ________

    Other: whenever you have accrued interest to declare for bond-types you own...always split out, and report them and their accrued interest in their own 1099-INT.  Many times, a broker will issue a 1099-INT with boxes 1,3,&8 on the same form....if you declare your allowed accrued interest on that same 1099-INT form (in the software) the accrued interest will be improperly applied proportionately among the $$ in boxes 1,3&8........Thus, for whatever bond-type has accrued interest to declare, you need to break out that bond-type into its own 1099-INT. 

    (This is a software thing...some day TTX may have the follow-up page split out the accrued interest into three separate lines for each bond-type...but they haven't yet done so)

    _________

    1) For purchased corporate bonds.. all of boxes 1 & 11 would be moved to its own 1099-INT before declaring the "allowed" accrued interest on those bonds.

     

    2) For purchased Treasury bonds.. all of boxes 3 & 12 would be moved to its own 1099-INT before declaring the "allowed" accrued interest on those bonds.

     

    3) For purchased Muni bonds.. all of boxes 8, 9 & 13 would be moved to its own 1099-INT before declaring the "allowed" accrued interest on those bonds.

    _____________________

    4)  IF there is no accrued interest to declare,....then then all of the $$ can be on the same 1099-INT form.

    ____________*Answers are correct to the best of my knowledge when posted, but should not be considered to be legal or official tax advice.*
    March 9, 2023

    Thank you SteamTrain. I was afraid it was going to be the most complicated record keeping outcome. 🙂

    Is there some place I could source that info? I couldn't find anything online.

    SteamTrain
    Employee
    March 9, 2023

    @Philosopher7 

     

    Not sure...I found that reference years ago...and don't have a ref. note on that currently....digging around now I can't find it either...

    But it makes sense...interest can't go negative.

    ____________*Answers are correct to the best of my knowledge when posted, but should not be considered to be legal or official tax advice.*