Information Quality Guidelines - Requests for Correction (RFC) and Requests for Reconsideration (RFR) Submitted to Fiscal Service

Requests for Correction (RFC) are listed in order of date received, with most recent requests at the top. Requests for Reconsideration (RFR) are listed with their associated RFC. Click on the tracking number (e.g., RFC 06001) to view the request.

"Fiscal Service Related Correspondence" refers to additional correspondence between the requestor and Fiscal Service.

"Third Party Correspondence" is correspondence that Fiscal Service receives about an RFC or RFR from other interested parties. Fiscal Service's policy is to post such third party correspondence but to keep it separate from the original RFC or RFR . For information about Fiscal Service's handling of this type of correspondence, see the Third Party Correspondence page.

Some of these documents are in Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF). Many computers include the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which allows you to view PDF files. If you do not have the Acrobat Reader, it is free to download and use. Find more help downloading.

***Please note: Personal Identifiable Information (PII) has been removed from these requests and replaced with the letters “PII”.

2010 Requests and Responses

Request #1

From: Russell Sackett, Date Received: 1-15-2010

I am reporting this error so that your website can be corrected.

The Savings Bond Value Files at the below link are not opening correctly. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_savingsbondvalues.htm This webpage offers the Current File and Historical Files in pdf format by following the links on this page. When you click the link, an unusable list of alpha-numerics is displayed. The files should display a pdf files but they are unusable as they are.

Response #1

Date of Response: February 2010

The page you reference contains ASCII files which are meant to be used by computer programmers and read by computer programs, not human beings. I think that the page you want which has the PDF files is http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_redemptiontables.htm and http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_earningsreports.htm.

Lee Burke

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Request #2

From: Cory Kirchert, Date Received: 11-24-2010

In reading your excellent Web site, the date of "1768" appears below what seems to be a United States debt instrument (note?). Is the date supposed to be "1786"?

Response #2

Date of Response: 1-05-2011

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the date of the image on http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/history/history.htm. The date is supposed to be 1798 rather than 1786 or 1768, and we will get it corrected accordingly.

We appreciate your kind comments about our website and also for letting us know about the error which we will definitely get corrected.

Lee Burke

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2009 Requests and Responses

Request #1

From: Bob Glotfelty, Date Received: 9-14-2009

Who Needs to Approve a Registration Change

• For paper bonds in the names of two people as co-owners: if living, both co-owners must sign a reissue request when they want to request major registration changes, such as, removing one co-owner's name.
• For paper bonds in the names of two living people as owner and beneficiary: the beneficiary is required to consent to reissuing Series E bonds but is not required to consent to reissuing EE/E or I bonds.

The owner of a Series EE/E or I bond may request changes to the registration, including changing or removing the beneficiary, without the consent of a beneficiary. Changes to the registration of Series E Savings Bonds that bear the name of a beneficiary require that beneficiary's consent.

COMMENT: First sentence says owner CAN change EE/E or I bond registration, including changing or removing the beneficiary, WITHOUT consent of the beneficiary. Note that "E" bonds therefore do NOT need consent of the beneficiary.

Second sentence says that for "E" bonds the beneficiary must consent.
Appears to be a conflict.
Same results for 2nd bullet - expect in different order - beneficiary IS required to consent to "E", but NOT required (second part) to reissue EE/"E", or I bonds.
Not sure which is correct!

Response #1

Date of Response: 9-15-2009

Hello Bob,

I'm very sorry that the information listed on the website is incorrect. I will request that the page be corrected as soon as possible.

To correct the information, "EE" should be exchanged for each instance of "EE/E."

Simply stated, beneficiaries have no rights in regard to Series EE and Series I bonds until the primary owner dies. Beneficiaries listed on Series E bonds cannot be removed from the registration of the bond without their consent.

Ben Buskirk

Customer Service Specialist

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Request #2

From: Henry Burke, Date Received: 9-19-2009

I believe there is a typographical error in the final date (reads 1/15/2008 but should read 1/15/2009) on the horizontal axis of a chart on the page: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/tips/res_tips_rates.htm

The error is in an example chart for TIPS showing Cumulative Inflation annual interest that appears just below the phase:

"The following chart shows an example of how the principal and interest for a TIPS issued in 1999 increased over time until maturity:"

Response #2

Date of Response: 12-2-2009

Thank you for your e-mail message regarding the typo on our TIPS web page where the date on the horizontal axis of a chart was incorrect. That date was corrected to 1/15/2009 several weeks ago and I meant to e-mail you to thank you for catching that and alerting us to it.

We try to be as accurate as possible on our website, but errors do slip through, so we appreciate your e-mail to let us know about the typo so we have an opportunity to correct it.

Thank you for your interest in Treasury securities.

Lee Burke

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2008 Requests and Responses

Request #1

From: Bo Fisher, Date Received: 6-14-2008

The information at this link says that EE bonds are sold at a $10,000 demonination, though right below it, it reads that a maximum of $5000 can be sold to a person each year. I figured this was just some type of error since the maximum has recently been changed.

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bonds.htm

Response #1

Date of Response: 11-26-2008

Hello Bo,

Thanks for your email regarding our website. The information contained on http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bonds.htm is correct, as paper EE Bonds are sold at half their face value. The purchase price for a $10,000 Series EE bond is $5,000.

Mary Abels

Program Analyst
Retail Securities

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Request #2

From: Paul Hokanson, Date Received: 3-21-2008

4:52 am EDT 03-21-2008
Account number PII

TreasuryDirect Website does not show Series I Savings Bond Tax Data on the Manage Direct tab.

Issue 1.
TreasuryDirect website reflects: Year 2006 (No taxable transactions) In fact, I have a Form 1099 (paper) for Tax Year 2006 which shows PII interest earned from Series I Savings Bond redemptions.

Issue 2.
TreasuryDirect website reflects: Form 1099 for Tax Year 2007 which shows only PII interest earned from Series EE Savings Bond redemptions. In fact, I earned an additional PII interest from Series I Savings Bond redemptions.

Issue 3.
TreasuryDirect website reflects: Form 1099 for Tax Year 2007 showing the wrong account number, PII. In fact, my account number is PII.

Please respond to my e-mail address PII
Thank you.
Paul Hokanson

Response #2

Date of Response: 12-2008

Savbonds@fiscal.treasury.gov wrote:

Hello Paul,
You have a primary TreasuryDirect account PII and a Conversion Linked account PII. The tax information you refer to in your first e-mail is correct. The 1099's are issued separately for the Primary account and Conversion linked accounts.

In reply to your questions below see my answers in blue text:

Issue 1. TreasuryDirect website reflects: Year 2006 (No taxable transactions) In fact, I have a Form 1099 (paper) for Tax Year 2006 which shows PII interest earned from Series I Savings Bond redemptions. A review of your Primary account shows taxable transactions for 2006 and contains a 1099 for 2006 for the redemption of 10 Series I bonds in the amount of PII.

Issue 2. TreasuryDirect website reflects: Form 1099 for Tax Year 2007 which shows only PII interest earned from Series EE Savings Bond redemptions. In fact, I earned an additional PII interest from Series I Savings Bond redemptions. A review of your Primary account shows taxable transactions for 2007 for the redemption of 2 Series I bonds in the amount of PII AND taxable transactions for 2007 in your Conversion account for the redemption of 12 Series EE bonds in the amount of PII.

Issue 3. TreasuryDirect website reflects: Form 1099 for Tax Year 2007 showing the wrong account number, PII. In fact, my account number is PII. The account beginning PII is your Primary account. The account beginning PII is your conversion linked account in which you converted paper bonds to electronic form.

An electronic Form 1099-INT is created in lieu of a paper Form 1099-INT and is available inside your TreasuryDirect account by the end of January. It's only available when you have reportable interest for the tax year in question. The account application includes the agreement to accept Form 1099-INT electronically instead of on paper.

Here's how to retrieve your statement:

Access your TreasuryDirect account and click on the ManageDirect tab. Under the heading Manage My Taxes click the tax year you would like to see. On the Taxable Transactions Summary screen you can view your taxable transactions for the year.

To view and print your Form 1099-INT click on the link for “View your 1099 for tax year 20XX.”

If you have established Custom accounts, Minor Linked Accounts or a Conversion Linked Account, you must access each account individually using the “Manage My Linked Accounts” menu to retrieve statements for those ccounts.

Note: Transfers to another account with the same taxpayer identification number are not displayed because these are not reportable transactions.

You must access both your Primary and Conversion linked account and use the Manage Direct tab within each account to get all 1099's for the tax year in question. The two ›› in front of an account number in the upper right of the page indicate which account you are in and which account the information pertains to.

DeLeah

Customer Service Assistant

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Request #3

From: Dave Weinstein, Date Received: 2-22-2008

To: Bureau of the Fiscal Service
Assistant Commissioner Office
Office of Management Services
200 Third Street, Avery 5th Floor
Parkersburg, WV 26106-5312

To whom it may concern,

As currently presented on-line at the TreasuryDirect website (www.treasurydirect.gov), the Form 1099 format for tax year 2007, is not consistent with IRS Standards, Publication #1179. Specifically, the online Form 1099-INT does not indicate, or otherwise provide to the user, all the required data in the prescribed format. The standard 9 box format should be emulated online, or at least the appropriate figures should be provided and labeled to the corresponding box they belong. For example:

Box 1 - Interest income
Box 2 - Early withdrawal penalty
Box 3 - Interest on US Savings Bonds and Treasury obligations
Box 4 - Federal income tax withheld
Box 5 - Investment expenses
Box 6 - Foreign tax paid
Box 7 - Foreign country or US possession
Box 8 - Tax-exempt interest
Box 9 - Specified private activity bond interest

As intuitive as it may seem to be on the surface regarding interest from Treasury Bills and Notes, the fact is that the amount that may be in Box 3 may not be included in Box 1, (and should not be). But the novice filer may erroneously report that same interest as a Box 1 entry, and thus be over taxed at their state level. Of course, an even better solution would be to provide the ability, like many other financial institutions, to perform a direct download of one's Form 1099 data to third-party tax preparation and personal finance software packages, such as TurboTax and Quicken. Thank you for your consideration of this matter,

Dave Weinstein
PII

Response #3

Date of Response: 12-01-2008

Mr. Weinstein,
In the latter part of calendar year 2007, we extensively revised the 1099 statement for TreasuryDirect to meet the specifications of IRS Publication 1179. We added specific language to address the issue regarding Box 1 and Box 3 on the 1099-INT statement. Since TreasuryDirect customers can only hold United States Treasury Obligations, i.e., savings bonds and Treasury marketable securities, all interest income paid to an account-owner is reported in Box 3. To provide further clarification for account owners, we included a written statement on the form stating, “Box 1 (Interest Income) is not applicable, and no amount ($0.00) is reported on this form.”

Unfortunately, due to complications, we were unable to make this revised form available to account-owners in time for the Tax Year 2007 reporting period. The revised 1099 statement was made available to our account holders in April 2008, and all on-line 1099 statements are now displayed in this new format.

Thank you for your suggestion to add a feature to enable customers to down-load 1099 information to various commercial software applications such as, “Turbo-Tax,” and “Quicken.” This suggestion has been brought to our attention before, unfortunately at this time we are unable to provide this service.

Jane Utt, Manager

TreasuryDirect Design Staff
PII

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