In the president’s weekly address last week, he made a big announcement about IRS forms. Starting in 2010, taxpayers will be allowed to purchase U.S savings bonds while filling out their tax return, simply by checking one box next time you fill out an IRS Form 1040. This will allow the IRS to use funds from your refund to order between $50 and $5,000 worth of savings bonds. According to Obama, “We have to revive this economy and rebuild it stronger than before. And making sure that folks have the opportunity and incentive to save. . .is essential to that effort.”
"We are thrilled to see the option to purchase U. S. Savings Bonds with tax refunds returned to the tax form," said Peter Tufano, a Harvard Business School professor and chairman of the not-for-profit Doorway to Dreams (D2D) Fund which has been working to restore the purchase option, removed from Form 1040 in 1968. "Saving is difficult for most people, as evidenced by low U.S. savings rates in the last few decades. Research shows that making it easy for people to save can boost savings, helping people take care of themselves and their families. The Obama administration is giving over 100 million refund recipients a universal, simple, and solid savings option."
"The process of buying a bond at a bank can be time-consuming and unfamiliar. Now the low and moderate-income clients we serve will have an easy way to create savings by checking a box," said Courtney Noble, United Way of King County Tax Campaign Manager and member of the Savings Bond Working Group, who, along with community-based groups nationwide worked with D2D and the Treasury Department on this project. "Moreover, enabling people to save at tax-time -- when refunds often give people the most money they will have all year -- will cultivate savings habits."
