Changes in the U.S. Treasury Department's TreasuryDirect account system mean
that virtually all employers can now allow employees to purchase U.S. Savings
Bonds through payroll deduction. Savings bonds have been offered by thousands
of employers through payroll savings plans since the 1930s.
However, until now, employees of most small businesses, and even many larger
ones, have not had the ability to purchase savings bonds through payroll deductions
from their pay. The new feature means that if companies' payroll systems
allow voluntary deductions, their employees can opt to have a portion of their
pay transferred into their TreasuryDirect accounts to purchase electronic savings
bonds like Series I or EE.
"This new payroll feature within TreasuryDirect makes it possible for
most employees to allot money toward the purchase of savings bonds," says
Van Zeck, Commissioner of the Public Debt, "even those whose employers
have been unable to offer such a deduction previously."
To purchase savings bonds by payroll deduction, employees can open a TreasuryDirect
account online at www.treasurydirect.gov.
They need to present their payroll department with a request for a payroll deduction,
and the payroll department sets it up.
Amounts can be as small as $25 or as large as $30,000. In between, employees
can purchase any amount, down to the penny.
