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U.S. savers often confuse Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and Series I Savings Bonds when sorting through holdings across TreasuryDirect and taxable brokerage accounts. Both assets are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury and include CPI-U-linked inflation adjustments, so they can look nearly identical at a quick glance. Mislabeling these holdings can lead to unexpected tax liabilities, early redemption penalties, or misaligned cash flow planning. The structured checks below will help you populate a reusable identification table to store with your account records, so you never mix up the two assets.
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Scan asset naming labels across account dashboards to populate the first field of your TIPS vs I Bond identification table
Start by pulling up every account that holds U.S. Treasury assets, including TreasuryDirect logins, taxable brokerage dashboards, retirement account portals, and any inherited account portals you manage. For each inflation-linked holding, note the full displayed asset name, listed coupon rate, maturity date, current quoted price, and CUSIP number if visible. TIPS will always display a fixed coupon rate and a set maturity date (5, 10, or 30 years from original issue), as they are standardized marketable securities. I Bonds will not list a separate fixed coupon alongside the inflation rate, and will display an original issue date rather than a set maturity date, since they earn interest for 30 years but have no predefined sale date. This label check fills the first row of your identification table, catching most obvious mislabels from truncated dashboard text or transferred assets.
Track interest payout patterns to distinguish holdings, as TIPS and I Bonds credit earned interest on distinct schedules that align with identification table criteria
Next, pull 12 months of transaction history for each relevant account, and filter for cash deposits linked to Treasury positions. TIPS make scheduled semiannual interest payments, calculated by applying the bond’s fixed coupon rate to its current inflation-adjusted principal value. These payments are deposited as cash to your linked bank or brokerage core cash position unless you have set up automatic reinvestment, in which case the cash will show as a deposit immediately followed by a new security purchase. Note that TIPS adjust principal value up or down with CPI-U every six months, but those adjustments are not distributed as cash until sale or maturity, so they will not appear as regular interest deposits. I Bonds never make ongoing cash interest payments. All earned value—combining the fixed rate set at purchase and semiannual inflation adjustments—accrues directly to the bond’s redemption value, paid out only when you submit a redemption request or the bond hits 30-year final maturity. If you see regular twice-yearly cash deposits from the holding, it is a TIPS; if you see no cash deposits over a multi-year holding period outside of full redemption, it is an I Bond.
Review tax form reporting fields to cross-verify TIPS or I Bond status, matching document entries to the corresponding row in your identification table
Pull the last three years of tax forms issued for your Treasury holdings, including 1099-INT and 1099-B forms from TreasuryDirect, your brokerage, or your retirement custodian. For taxable account holdings, TIPS generate an annual 1099-INT every year you hold the bond, reporting both cash coupon interest received that year and any inflation adjustment to principal (even though that adjustment is not paid out until sale or maturity). If you sell a TIPS on the secondary market, you will also receive a 1099-B reporting capital gain or loss relative to your adjusted cost basis. I Bonds in taxable accounts do not generate annual 1099-INTs for ongoing accruals. Instead, you will receive a single 1099-INT in the tax year you redeem the bond (or the year it reaches 30-year maturity) reporting all interest earned over the bond’s life. If you hold either asset in a tax-advantaged retirement account, you will not receive annual 1099-INTs for accruals, so cross-reference this check with account statements for those positions. FinanceFortifyHub’s free Treasury holding record tracker aligns directly with these tax form fields to reduce manual cross-referencing at tax time. All content on this site is for general education, not personalized financial, tax, or legal advice; read your official account documents carefully, reach out to your servicer or a licensed professional for position-specific questions, and this page cannot bind any investment, loan, or credit outcome.
Check secondary market eligibility for each listed holding, as tradability rules differ significantly between TIPS and I Bonds and serve as a key identification table check
Navigate to the trade or sell menu in your brokerage or TreasuryDirect account for each inflation-linked holding, and note available options for accessing the asset’s value. TIPS are fully marketable securities, meaning you can sell them at current market price through a brokerage at any time after initial auction settlement, with no mandatory minimum holding period. You can also transfer TIPS between TreasuryDirect and brokerage accounts, or between holders, as part of a market sale or gift. I Bonds are non-marketable securities, with no public secondary market for trading. The only way to access I Bond funds before final maturity is to submit a redemption request directly to the Treasury (via TreasuryDirect for electronic bonds, or a participating bank for older paper bonds), and you must hold the bond for a minimum of 12 months before redemption is allowed. If you redeem an I Bond before holding it for five years, you forfeit the last three months of accrued interest as a penalty. Allowed I Bond transfers are limited to estate settlements, court-ordered divisions, or trust re-registrations; there is no option to list an I Bond for sale to another investor at a market-determined price. If your account displays a real-time market price and sell order entry field for the holding, it is a TIPS, not an I Bond.
Map purchase limit allowances against your transaction history to match holdings to the correct TIPS or I Bond type and complete your identification table
Finally, pull your full purchase history for each inflation-linked holding, dating back to the first transaction for the position, and compare purchase amounts to statutory annual purchase limits for each asset type. There are no annual purchase limits for TIPS, whether bought at Treasury auction, on the secondary market through a brokerage, or inside a tax-advantaged retirement account. TIPS have a $100 minimum purchase per trade, but no upper cap on total annual purchases. I Bonds have strict per-Social Security number annual purchase limits: $10,000 per person per calendar year for electronic I Bonds bought via TreasuryDirect, plus an additional $5,000 per person per calendar year for paper I Bonds purchased with a federal income tax refund. If your transaction history shows more than $15,000 of a single inflation-linked Treasury asset type purchased in one calendar year for the same beneficial owner, any amount above that cap cannot be I Bonds, and must be TIPS. You can also confirm by purchase channel: I Bonds can only be purchased directly from the U.S. Treasury (or via tax refund for paper bonds), so any inflation-linked Treasury position bought via a brokerage trade from another market participant is a TIPS. Once you have collected data for all five check categories, fill in the final column of the table below to confirm each holding’s type:
| Check Category | TIPS Match Criteria | I Bond Match Criteria | Your Holding Match (mark T for TIPS, I for I Bond, U for unclear) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dashboard asset label | Line item includes fixed coupon rate, explicit 5/10/30 year maturity date, CUSIP linked to a market-traded Treasury security | Line item lists issue date only, no separate fixed coupon displayed, no real-time open market price quote visible | |
| Interest payout pattern | Semiannual cash interest payments sent to settlement account; principal adjusted for inflation twice yearly but not distributed until maturity/sale | No ongoing cash payouts; all interest (fixed + inflation) accrues to bond value and is only paid out at redemption/maturity | |
| Tax form reporting (taxable accounts) | Annual 1099-INT issued for coupon payments plus annual inflation principal adjustments; 1099-B issued if sold on secondary market | No annual 1099-INT issued; single 1099-INT for total accrued interest sent only in year of redemption or final 30-year maturity | |
| Secondary market eligibility | Can be sold at market price via brokerage at any time post-settlement, no minimum holding period; transferable between accounts and holders via market sale | Cannot be sold on open market; only redeemable directly via Treasury/issuing servicer after 12-month minimum holding period; transfers limited to estate, trust, or court-ordered re-registration | |
| Purchase limit alignment | No annual purchase caps; can be bought at auction, via secondary market trade, or in tax-advantaged accounts in any amount above $100 minimum | Strict annual per-person purchase caps ($10k electronic via TreasuryDirect, $5k paper via tax refund); no secondary market purchases allowed |
Your next action: Log in to your primary Treasury or brokerage account today and complete the first row of the table for the first inflation-linked holding you see, to start building your verified holding list.