Treasury Bills — TreasuryDirect (2024)

FAQs

How much does a $1000 T bill cost? ›

To calculate the price, take 180 days and multiply by 1.5 to get 270. Then, divide by 360 to get 0.75, and subtract 100 minus 0.75. The answer is 99.25. Because you're buying a $1,000 Treasury bill instead of one for $100, multiply 99.25 by 10 to get the final price of $992.50.

3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is at 5.25%, compared to 5.24% the previous market day and 5.07% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 4.19%. The 3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is the yield received for investing in a government issued treasury security that has a maturity of 3 months.

1 Year Treasury Rate is at 5.14%, compared to 5.13% the previous market day and 5.02% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 2.95%. The 1 Year Treasury Rate is the yield received for investing in a US government issued treasury security that has a maturity of 1 year.

TreasuryDirect provides a web-based environment for buying and holding Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds, TIPS, and FRNs, as well as Savings Bonds. You cannot purchase Cash Management Bills in TreasuryDirect.

Differences between investing in CDs and T-bills

The amount you save on taxes will likely result in a higher payout from a T-bill than a CD. Another benefit of T-bills is their liquidity. You can buy and sell them on a secondary market.

Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to federal income taxes but not state or local taxes. The interest income received in a year is recorded on Form 1099-INT. Investors can opt to have up to 50% of their Treasury bills' interest earnings automatically withheld.

You can sell a T-Bill before its maturity date without penalty, although you will be charged a commission. (With CDs, you pay a sizeable penalty for early withdrawals.)

You can only buy T-bills in electronic form, either from a brokerage firm or directly from the government at TreasuryDirect.gov. (You can also buy Series I savings bonds through TreasuryDirect.gov). The most common maturity dates are four weeks, eight weeks, 13 weeks, 26 weeks and 52 weeks.

We sell Treasury Bills (Bills) for terms ranging from four weeks to 52 weeks. Bills are sold at a discount or at par (face value). When the bill matures, you are paid its face value. You can hold a bill until it matures or sell it before it matures.

Upon maturity of the T-bills, when will I receive the principal amount? On maturity, the principal amount will be credited to your respective account by the end of the day, typically after 6pm. For cash applications: The principal amount will be credited to your designated Direct Crediting Service bank account.

How do T-bills work for dummies? ›

Treasury bills, or bills, are typically issued at a discount from the par amount (also called face value). For example, if you buy a $1,000 bill at a price per $100 of $99.986111, then you would pay $999.86 ($1,000 x . 99986111 = $999.86111). * When the bill matures, you would be paid its face value, $1,000.

Buying through a bank, broker, or dealer

Individuals, organizations, fiduciaries, and corporate investors may buy Treasury securities through a bank, broker, or dealer. With a bank, broker, or dealer, you may bid for Treasury marketable securities non-competitively or competitively, but not both, for the same auction.

You can buy (bid for) Treasury marketable securities through: your TreasuryDirect account — non-competitive bids only. a bank, broker, or dealer — competitive and non-competitive bids.

You can hold a bill until it matures or sell it before it matures. In a single auction, a bidder can buy up to $10 million in bills by non-competitive bidding or up to 35% of the initial offering amount by competitive bidding.

$2.50 + GST each for purchase and maturity. There is an additional fee of $2.00 + GST per counter per quarter.

Key Takeaways

Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to federal income taxes but not state or local taxes.