SGOV, STIP, TIP iShares ETFs: Claim Your State Income Tax Exemption (2024/2025)

As a follow-up to my posts for Vanguard and Fidelity money market funds, iShares ETFs (Blackrock) has also recently released their US GOI percentages for 2024 tax year. US Government Obligation Interest (US GOI) like Treasury bills and bonds are generally exempt from state and local income taxes. However, in order to claim this exemption, you’ll likely have to manually enter it on your tax return after digging up a few extra details.

The tax document has a pretty good summary of the situation for all brokers:

The Form 1099-DIV (or substitute form) you received from your financial advisor or brokerage firm may include income derived from U.S. Government and agency obligations. This income may be excluded from state income tax (although in many states, only the income from Treasury obligations is exempt from personal state income tax). The information below is provided to assist with the completion of shareholder state income tax returns. The amount in Box 1a of 2024 IRS Form 1099-DIV should be multiplied by the applicable percentages below to obtain the dollar amount of income derived from the sources categorized below. Because the qualifications for exclusion vary by state (some states have investment threshold requirements), please consult your tax advisor for details.

It’s notable that even things like the iShares iBonds 20XX Term TIPS ETFs are not 100% US government obligations, so it’s important to reference this document and not assume. For iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP) and iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond ETF (STIP) the USGOI percentage for 2024 was indeed at 100.00%.

For iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV), the USGOI percentage for 2024 was 97.53%. This is pretty good and why SGOV is my default cash position at most brokers. The tax document also confirms that at least 50% of the assets of the fund were invested in Federal Obligations at the end of each quarter of the fiscal year. That means that SGOV met the minimum criteria for the dividend income to be exempt in the states of California, Connecticut, and New York.