How to track Treasury bills (t-bills)

Unknown

I just started buying 13 week t-bills and trying to figure out how to track them in Mac version. Do I create a generic brokerage or checking / savings account? If it is an brokerage account, how do I enter the buy and sell transactions? T-bills pay a discount and it is tracked as an interest payment when it comes due. Any insights will be much appreciated. 

J_Mike

I deal with 4 & 13 week TBills regularly.

Suggest you use a regular Brokerage account for this activity.
I have two securities set up in the Security List; US T Bill [4 wk] & US T Bill [13 wk].
Create a category for the interest income; e.g., "Interest Gov Securities" and assign tax line item "Schedule B:US government interest" to this category.

For the buy, use the Buy Bonds transaction.
On maturity, use the Sell Bonds transaction.
Enter the sell at the same price as the original buy; i.e., zero cap gains.
Following the sell, enter the interest income (difference between face value and purchase/sale price) using the above interest category.

I use the Memo field to record Treasury Directs ID code and the maturity date; e.g., "1AAEI 2018 11 08"; i.e., 1AAEI matures 11/08/2018.

Unknown

JM said:

I deal with 4 & 13 week TBills regularly.

Suggest you use a regular Brokerage account for this activity.
I have two securities set up in the Security List; US T Bill [4 wk] & US T Bill [13 wk].
Create a category for the interest income; e.g., "Interest Gov Securities" and assign tax line item "Schedule B:US government interest" to this category.

For the buy, use the Buy Bonds transaction.
On maturity, use the Sell Bonds transaction.
Enter the sell at the same price as the original buy; i.e., zero cap gains.
Following the sell, enter the interest income (difference between face value and purchase/sale price) using the above interest category.

I use the Memo field to record Treasury Directs ID code and the maturity date; e.g., "1AAEI 2018 11 08"; i.e., 1AAEI matures 11/08/2018.

Awesome and thanks for the details. So you added your own security to the list? 

J_Mike

JM said:

I deal with 4 & 13 week TBills regularly.

Suggest you use a regular Brokerage account for this activity.
I have two securities set up in the Security List; US T Bill [4 wk] & US T Bill [13 wk].
Create a category for the interest income; e.g., "Interest Gov Securities" and assign tax line item "Schedule B:US government interest" to this category.

For the buy, use the Buy Bonds transaction.
On maturity, use the Sell Bonds transaction.
Enter the sell at the same price as the original buy; i.e., zero cap gains.
Following the sell, enter the interest income (difference between face value and purchase/sale price) using the above interest category.

I use the Memo field to record Treasury Directs ID code and the maturity date; e.g., "1AAEI 2018 11 08"; i.e., 1AAEI matures 11/08/2018.

Yes - added one for the 4 week and one for the 13 week T Bills - since I deal in both at the present time.

Unknown

JM said:

I deal with 4 & 13 week TBills regularly.

Suggest you use a regular Brokerage account for this activity.
I have two securities set up in the Security List; US T Bill [4 wk] & US T Bill [13 wk].
Create a category for the interest income; e.g., "Interest Gov Securities" and assign tax line item "Schedule B:US government interest" to this category.

For the buy, use the Buy Bonds transaction.
On maturity, use the Sell Bonds transaction.
Enter the sell at the same price as the original buy; i.e., zero cap gains.
Following the sell, enter the interest income (difference between face value and purchase/sale price) using the above interest category.

I use the Memo field to record Treasury Directs ID code and the maturity date; e.g., "1AAEI 2018 11 08"; i.e., 1AAEI matures 11/08/2018.

Thank you for your help, you are far more helpful than Quicken support who basically said, we don't support t-bills, end of story. 

Unknown

JM said:

I deal with 4 & 13 week TBills regularly.

Suggest you use a regular Brokerage account for this activity.
I have two securities set up in the Security List; US T Bill [4 wk] & US T Bill [13 wk].
Create a category for the interest income; e.g., "Interest Gov Securities" and assign tax line item "Schedule B:US government interest" to this category.

For the buy, use the Buy Bonds transaction.
On maturity, use the Sell Bonds transaction.
Enter the sell at the same price as the original buy; i.e., zero cap gains.
Following the sell, enter the interest income (difference between face value and purchase/sale price) using the above interest category.

I use the Memo field to record Treasury Directs ID code and the maturity date; e.g., "1AAEI 2018 11 08"; i.e., 1AAEI matures 11/08/2018.

So I am on the Mac version and when I buy bonds, there is no option to select a security, is there on your end?