Introduction

This publication has two purposes. Its primary purpose is to help brokers and other middlemen identify publicly offered original issue discount (OID) debt instruments they may hold as nominees for the true owners, so they can file Forms 1099-OID or Forms 1099-INT as required. The other purpose of the publication is to help owners of publicly offered OID debt instruments determine how much OID to report on their income tax return.

This publication contains a list of publicly offered OID debt instruments. The information on this list comes from the issuers of the debt instruments and from financial publications and is updated annually. (However, see Debt Instruments Not on the OID List, later.)

Brokers and other middlemen can rely on this list to determine, for information reporting purposes, whether a debt instrument was issued at a discount and the OID to be reported on information returns. However, because the information in the list has generally not been verified by the IRS as correct, the following tax matters are subject to change upon examination by the IRS.

• The OID reported by owners of a debt instrument on their income tax returns.
• The issuer's classification of an instrument as debt for federal income tax purposes.

Instructions for issuers of OID debt instruments. Issuers of the types of publicly offered OID debt instruments listed in this publication must, within 30 days after the issue date, report information about the instruments to the IRS on Form 8281, Information Return for Publicly Offered Original Issue Discount Instruments. See the form instructions for more information.

Issuers should report errors in and omissions from the list in writing at the following address:

OID Publication Project
W:CAR:MP:FP:P Room 5607
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20224

REMIC and CDO information reporting requirements. Brokers and other middlemen must follow special information reporting requirements for real estate mortgage investment (REMIC) regular and collateralized debt obligations (CDO) interests. The rules are explained in Publication 938, Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits (REMICs) Reporting Information.

You can download Publication 938 from our web site at www.irs.gov. Go to the Forms and Publications page and select Forms and Publications by Date or Forms and Publications by Number. Then select Publication 938 from the list.

Holders of interests in REMICs and CDOs should see chapter 1 of Publication 550 for information on REMICs and CDOs.

Comments and suggestions. We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.

You can e-mail us while visiting our web site at www.irs.gov/help/email2.html.

You can write to us at the following address:

Internal Revenue Service
Technical Publications Branch
W:CAR:MP:FP:P
1111 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20224

We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number, including the area code, in your correspondence.

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