Keep Telling Yourself that Going Paperless is for Your Convenience

17 months ago I joined thousands of others who opened a Treasury Direct account. We bought I-bonds that paid 9.62% interest for the first six months. If the investor didn't withdraw his funds, the amount is reinvested at prevailing rates, currently 5.27%.

Typically savings bond interest is not reported until the bonds are cashed--this means years of deferred interest can be reported in one year--but I wasn't 100% sure that these bonds operated that way. In the old days I relied on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver all forms 1099 by mid-February, after which I could prepare our tax returns. The WSJ reminds us that times have changed, at least with regard to I-bond interest.

“A form 1099 will NOT be mailed to you,” explains an email from the government’s clunky TreasuryDirect site. For I bonds, you have to log in to the site and navigate to the page where you can download the form.

“Because it’s digital, many people forget, and many of them will end up getting IRS notices,” said Miklos Ringbauer, a certified public accountant in Los Angeles.

After making my way through the "clunky" site, I got the good news (screenshot). I had not taken the funds out; consequently there was no reportable interest for 2023. The lesson, however, is that one can't relax if a form doesn't come in the mail; one has to check each financial account to make sure. And woe is you if you can't remember every account and how to log in.

There was reportable interest on my Apple Savings account, which transmits Form 1099-INT only electronically (one can call a phone number to get a paper copy). From Apple Support:

Download a PDF of your Savings tax documents
On your iPhone, open the Wallet app and tap Apple Card.
Tap Savings account.
Tap the More More button, then tap Documents.
Tap Tax Documents. You may also have to tap the year that you want to download.
Tap the Share button to save, print, or share a copy of your tax documents.

Apple said I had $30 of interest. The rate of over 4% is good but for me not worth the administrative hassle. I'm going to close the account.