Understanding Taxes on T-Bills
Key Takeaways
Treasury bills are taxed differently at the federal level and the state level. Learn more about how to report Treasury bill interest income on your taxes.
Article Overview
Quick insights and key information
3 min read
Estimated completion
personal finance
Article classification
July 11, 2025
01:00 AM
NerdWallet
Original publisher
Treasury bills are short-term debt securities issued by the U
Government, sold at a discounted price
When the bill reaches maturity, which can range from four weeks to a year, you’re paid its face value
Currently, Treasury bills are yielding around 4%
How are Treasury bills taxed
The interest you’re paid when your Treasury bill matures is subject to federal income tax, but not state or local taxes
It’s simply added on top of your regular income — W-2 wages earned from your job — and taxed at your ordinary income tax rate
These rates range from 10% to 37%. » See the highest tax rate your income falls intoWhen are taxes due on Treasury bills
You’ll pay taxes on Treasury bill interest the calendar year after you earned the interest, which doesn’t always equate to the year after you bought the security
Here’s how that might play out
Say you bought a 13-week Treasury bill in December of 2024 and were paid interest when it matured in March of 2025
You’d receive a 1099-INT in the mail from the Treasury Department in the early months of 2026 detailing how much interest you were paid
Taxes would be due by the April 2026 filing deadline
How to report Treasury bills on taxesIf you’re using an online tax software gram to file your taxes, entering your 1099-INT income isn’t so different from entering W-2 income
You may be able to snap a picture of the form and have the details automatically filled in for you, or you can key in the information manually
Box 3 of the 1099-INT is specifically for reporting Treasury interest
This differs from interest you may earn from, say, a high-yield savings account, which is reported in Box 1 of the 1099-INT and is subject to state and local taxes
The good news is that quality tax software will understand all of this and calculate your taxes correctly for you behind the scenes. 🤓Nerdy TipIf you purchased Treasury bills through TreasuryDirect
Gov and need to reference a previous year’s 1099, you can view or a copy through your online account. » See NerdWallet’s picks for the best tax softwareTax withholding on Treasury billsUn W-2 income, taxes are generally not withheld on Treasury bill interest income
That being said, if you bought the bills through TreasuryDirect, you can opt to have taxes withheld on your Treasury bill interest, which would lower how much you owe at tax time
To do this, you can either log in to your TreasuryDirect account, or call or write to the Treasury Department and tell them how much to withhold
The Treasury Department allows you to withhold up to 50% of the interest you earn, but you won’t need to withhold this much
Has a gressive tax system, meaning different of your income are taxed at different rates
The highest rate you pay is called your marginal tax rate
Withholding your marginal tax rate on your Treasury bill interest is ly a safe bet to cover the taxes you’ll owe
Choose your next stepHow to buy a Treasury billTreasury bill return calculator the authorBella AvilaBella Avila is a content management specialist on the and taxes team at NerdWallet
Related Articles
More insights from FinancialBooklet