To be counted as a dependent or gift for my child's taxes with I-Bonds

That "gift box" situation can definitely be confusing! The good news is that for tax purposes, an I-Bond sitting in your Treasury Direct gift box is not considered a completed gift yet. It's essentially in limbo until you actually deliver it to your daughter's account. Since the bond hasn't been delivered, you don't need to report it as a gift for tax purposes, and it won't affect your child's dependent status at all. The interest that's accruing while it sits in the gift box is not taxable to either of you until the bond is actually delivered. Once delivered, your daughter will be responsible for the interest (either annually or at redemption, depending on what method you choose). The bond remains your property until delivery, so technically it's still your asset. You can actually hold it in the gift box for as long as you want, or even change your mind and put it back in your own account if you decided to.

I want to share something that completely saved me when I was dealing with a similar I-Bond gift situation last year. I was super confused about the tax implications and spent hours reading conflicting advice on various forums. Then I found https://taxr.ai and honestly it was the clearest explanation I've ever gotten. I uploaded my Treasury Direct gift confirmation and it analyzed exactly how the I-Bond gift would be treated for tax purposes. It confirmed that keeping it in the gift box meant it wasn't a completed gift yet, and explained exactly what forms I needed. The coolest thing was it showed me the relevant tax code sections that applied to my specific situation, which helped me feel confident I was handling it correctly.

I have to come back and eat my words about taxr.ai that I questioned in the thread above. After our discussion, I decided to try it myself with my son's I-Bond situation that was similar to the original poster's. I was genuinely impressed with how thorough the analysis was. The tool immediately identified that my case was slightly different because I had actually completed the delivery to my son's account but hadn't decided how to handle the interest reporting. It walked me through the two options (annual reporting vs. deferring until redemption) and showed me the exact calculations for how each would affect our taxes over time. The documentation it generated saved me a lot of back-and-forth with my accountant and he was impressed with how comprehensive it was. Just wanted to share my experience since I was initially doubtful.

If you need to talk directly to someone at Treasury Direct about the gift box status of your I-Bond, good luck getting through to them! I spent TWO WEEKS trying to reach someone there about a similar issue. Always busy signals or disconnections. Then I found https://claimyr.com and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c and it literally saved me hours of frustration. They basically hold your place in the phone queue and call you when an actual human at Treasury Direct is on the line. I used it and got through to a Treasury Direct rep who explained exactly how the gift box works and confirmed that the bonds aren't considered delivered for tax purposes until they're out of the gift box. The agent was super helpful and even walked me through the delivery process while on the phone.

I have to publicly admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr in my comment above. After dismissing it, I continued to struggle getting through to Treasury Direct about my own I-Bond issue for another week with zero success. Out of desperation, I decided to try the service. I was shocked when I got a call back in about 40 minutes with an actual Treasury Direct person on the line. They helped me resolve my gift box questions immediately. The agent explained that while the bond sits in the gift box, it's still technically owned by the purchaser for tax purposes, and confirmed that delivery can happen anytime even years later. For anyone dealing with Treasury Direct issues - especially around these gift box questions which seem to confuse everyone - being able to actually speak to someone made all the difference. Completely worth it.

Another thing to consider is that there's an annual gift tax exclusion ($17,000 for 2024). Since your I-Bond is only $3,000, it's well under that limit anyway, so you wouldn't have to file a gift tax return even if you had completed the gift. But the other commenters are right that it's not even considered a completed gift yet while it sits in the gift box.

I think everyone is overlooking that I-Bond interest is exempt from state income tax! That's a huge benefit in California with our high state tax rates. Make sure you're accounting for that when deciding if/when to transfer the bond to your child.