Accrued interest when no interest has been earned

Question

I have a situation pretty similar to this previous question

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/1415/accrued-interest-reporting

I opened a new brokerage account in November 2025, and the only things I've done in that account are purchasing treasury bonds on the secondary market. As a result, I need to report the accrued interest I paid, but I have no coupon payments, interest payments, etc to report.

freetaxusa objects to me entering this 1099-int form, since it has accrued interest paid by me but no interest paid to me. Can this be fixed in the software, so that it doesn't object to my 1099-int form?

kiarab · Answer

Hello Vissertwo,

Accrued interest can be handled by our software, but only when you have received the 1099-INT form reporting the interest you have received from that bond you purchased. If you have only purchased treasury bonds in 2025 but have not received any interest in 2025 from that bond, you wouldn't report your accrued interest on your 2025 tax return.

In the example you provided, it is a little unclear but they do say that "you'll enter this yourself WHEN reporting your Form 1099-INT". You should wait until you get the form reporting the interest/bond that you paid the Accrued interest for, otherwise our software will continue to reject your entries.

vissertwo · Answer

One thing I forgot to mention in the original question - I have other brokerage accounts in addition to the one I mentioned opening in November. My expectation is that entering the accrued interest paid in this one account will tell freetaxusa how much to reduce my interest earnings from treasury securities in my other accounts.