Book Notes for Savings Bond Alert: Nov 2005 Edition

Update: On May 17, 2006, President Bush signed a new tax law that in its fine print raised the age of the kiddie tax to 18 from 14. Please take a pencil to page 127 of this edition and change “14” to “18” in the four places it occurs. For more information, see Tax law change impacts kiddie tax and Roth IRAs. The change is retroactive to January 1, 2006.

Chapter 2 – Today’s choices – Series I and Series EE

• 2-1 – Figure updated monthly: Sales of Series I vs Series EE Savings Bonds.

Chapter 3 – Electronic at TreasuryDirect or paper at your bank?

• 3-1 – The Treasury’s list of banks that offer Savings Bonds online has been discontinued.
• 3-2 – The Treasury’s list of restricted countries.
• 3-3 – Treasury Direct; terms and conditions.
• 3-4 – Treasury Direct; privacy and legal notices.
• 3-5 – Treasury Direct; open a new account.
• 3-6 – Internet Explorer upgrades for Windows | Macintosh
• 3-7 – Firefox (Mozilla) upgrades for Windows | Macintosh | Linux
• 3-8 – Entrust’s list of supported browsers
• 3-9 – Treasury Direct; access your account.
• 3-10 – Savings Bond Gift Certificates.
• 3-11 – Email address of TreasuryDirect.

Chapter 5 – Why Savings Bonds?

• 5-1 – Amazon link to The Coming Generational Storm, by Lawrence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns
• 5-2 – Link to Kotlikoff’s ESPlanner web site
• 5-3 – Figure updated monthly: Growth of a $1 investment
• 5-4 – Today’s interest rate quotes
• 5-5 – Figure updated quarterly: Series EE Yield Curve
• 5-6 – Current Series I Savings Bond rate
• 5-7 – Current open market rates for TIPS at 5-, 7-, and 10-year maturities.
• 5-8 – Open a TreasuryDirect account for marketable Treasury securities.
• 5-9 – Treasury web site for T-Bills, T-Notes, and TIPS.
• 5-10 – Tentative schedule of upcoming Treasury auctions.

Chapter 6 – Savings Bond A, B, Cs

• 6-1 – Direct deposit sign up form – Public Debt Form 5396
• 6-2 – H/HH Internet Services – View your accounts, change your address, get tax information

Chapter 8 – How much are my Savings Bonds worth?

• 8-1 – GBonds – a Savings Bond calculator for GNOME/Linux.
• 8-2 – The Treasury’s Savings Bond Calculator
• 8-3 – Right-click on the following link and select Save Target As from the menu that appears on your screen US Savings Bond Wizard. If you have trouble downloading the file, try a normal click. If that doesn’t work either, the Treasury has additional download tips here.

Chapter 9 – Keeping track of your Savings Bond inventory

• 9-1 – Download Savings Bond Inventory template for Microsoft Excel
  (Don’t Open this file immediately, first Save it on your own computer, then open it.)
• 9-2 – Commercial tracking and valuation services

Chapter 10 – Lost and stolen Savings Bonds

• 10-1 – Treasury Hunt
• 10-2 – Public Debt Form 1048 – Claim for lost, stolen, or destroyed United States Savings Bonds

Chapter 11 – Changing the registration

• 11-1 – Public Debt Form 4000 – [As of Aug 1, 2006, Form 5387 has been discontinued, use Form 4000]
• 11-2 – Public Debt Form 4000 – Request to reissue United States Savings Bonds
• 11-3 – Public Debt Form 4000 – [As of Aug 1, 2006, Form 1938 has been discontinued, use Form 4000]
• 11-4 – IRS Publication 550 – Investment Income and Expenses
• 11-5 – Public Debt Form 1851 – Request to reissue United States Savings Bonds to a personal trust

Chapter 12 – Managing the deferred-tax time bomb

• 12-1 – The most current US Tax Rate table
• 12-2 – IRS Publication 17

Chapter 14 – Basics of Savings Bond redemption

• 14-1 – Public Debt Form 1522 – Special Form for Request of Payment of Unites States Savings and Retirement Securities Where Use of a Detached Request is Authorized
• 14-2 – Public Debt Form 5188 – Durable Power of Attorney for Securities and Savings Bonds Transactions
• 14-3 – Public Debt Form 5396 – Direct Deposit Sign Up Form
• 14-4 – IRS Form 1040-ES – Estimated tax payments
• 14-5 – Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS)

Chapter 15 – How to minimize the income tax bite

• 15-1 – IRS Publication 970 – Tax Benefits for Education.
• 15-2 – IRS Form 8815 – calculates
  the two phase outs for the Savings Bond education deduction; IRS Form 8818 – an optional form for recording the data on the bonds you cashed in.
• 15-3 – IRS Publication 526 – Charitable Contributions.

Chapter 16 – Inheriting and passing on Savings Bonds

• 16-1 – Public Debt Form 1455 – Request by Fiduciary for Reissue or Distribution of United States Savings Bonds
• 16-2 – Public Debt Form 2513 – Application by Voluntary Guardian of Incapacitated Owner of Unites States Bonds or Notes
• 16-3 – Public Debt Form 1522 – Special Form for Request of Payment of Unites States Savings and Retirement Securities Where Use of a Detached Request is Authorized
• 16-4 – Public Debt Form 5394 – Agreement and Request for Disposition of a Decedent’s Treasury Securites
• 16-5 – Public Debt Form 5336 – Disposition of Securities Belonging to a Decedent’s Estate Being Settled without Administration