95.14% for tax year 2025. That is the share of SGOV's income that came from US government obligations, which is the portion most states let you exclude from state tax. It is not 100%, it has moved between 92.61% and 100% over the past five years, and the 96.45% figure you will see quoted in forum threads is the 2023 number. Use the figure for the year you are filing.
Search this question and you will get a number without a year attached to it, usually copied from a forum post. The number is real but it is an annual figure, and using last year's costs you money or creates an error on your return. Here is every year iShares has published, taken from the documents themselves.
SGOV's government-source percentage, by tax year
| Tax year | Government-source income | Met the 50% asset test |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 95.14% | Yes |
| 2024 | 97.53% | Yes |
| 2023 | 96.45% | Yes |
| 2022 | 92.61% | Yes |
| 2021 | 100.00% | Yes |
Each figure comes from the iShares US Government Source Income Information document for that year. The 2025 edition is published here, and prior years sit in the same tax documents library.
Two things are worth noticing in that table. The spread is 7.4 percentage points between the best year and the worst, which is not trivial on a large cash position. And 96.45%, the number that circulates most widely, is the 2023 figure. It was accurate for returns filed in early 2024 and has been wrong ever since.
Why it is not 100%
SGOV holds US Treasury bills maturing in zero to three months, so the intuitive answer is that all of its income should be Treasury interest. In practice a fund earns small amounts from other places: cash balances held between settlements, and income that arrives in a form the Treasury exemption does not cover.
That residue is usually a few percent, and it varies with how much cash the fund happened to be carrying and what short-term rates did that year. 2021 came in at a clean 100.00%, which tells you the residue can round away entirely in the right conditions. 2022, when rates moved sharply, came in at 92.61%.
None of this is a flaw in the fund. It is the ordinary consequence of a fund having an operational layer between you and the Treasury, and it is exactly why the figure is published annually instead of being stated once in the prospectus.
Whether you can use the percentage at all
Knowing the number is half of it. Most states also apply a test to the fund itself before letting you exclude anything, and the test is not the same everywhere.
| State | What the fund must do | Does SGOV qualify? |
|---|---|---|
| California | Hold at least 50% of assets in US obligations | Yes, attested annually |
| New York | Same 50% test, at the close of each quarter | Yes, attested annually |
| Connecticut | Same 50% test, at the close of each quarter | Yes, attested annually |
| New Jersey | 80% or more, plus Form IF-1 | Not addressed by that attestation |
| Most other states | No fund-level threshold | Apply the percentage directly |
In the 50% states, iShares marks SGOV with a double asterisk in the same document, and the legend defines it as “At least 50% of the assets of the fund were invested in Federal Obligations at the end of each quarter of the fiscal year.” SGOV has carried that marker in every year above.
New Jersey is the exception worth knowing about, because its rule is stricter and the attestation everyone cites does not speak to it. That is covered separately.
How to apply the percentage
- Take box 1a of your 1099-DIV, the total ordinary dividends from SGOV.
- Multiply by the figure for that tax year, not the one you saw quoted somewhere.
- Enter the result as a state subtraction for US government interest, on whichever line your state uses.
- Keep the iShares document as support for the number.
On $10,000 of 2025 SGOV dividends, $9,514 is excludable and $486 is not. What that saves depends entirely on your state's rate, and in the nine states with no income tax it saves nothing at all, because there was nothing to exclude it from.
Your broker does not do this for you. Box 1a shows the whole distribution, and most 1099s do not break out the government-source portion. Tax software usually asks for the amount and leaves the field blank, so an unanswered question means you paid state tax on income your state was never allowed to tax.
SGOV's state-exempt percentage
- 95.14% for tax year 2025, per the iShares US Government Source Income document.
- It changes annually: 100.00%, 92.61%, 96.45%, 97.53% and 95.14% across 2021 to 2025.
- The widely quoted 96.45% is the 2023 figure and has been out of date since early 2024.
- It is not 100% because a fund earns small amounts outside Treasury interest, mostly on cash held between settlements.
- California, New York and Connecticut require the fund to hold 50% of assets in US obligations, which SGOV has met every year. New Jersey sets its bar at 80% and that is a separate question.
- Nothing on your 1099 applies the exclusion for you.
Common questions
95.14% for tax year 2025. That is the share of the fund's income derived from US government obligations, as reported by iShares in its annual US Government Source Income Information document. The figure changes each year: it was 100.00% for 2021, 92.61% for 2022, 96.45% for 2023 and 97.53% for 2024. Use the figure for the year you are filing rather than one quoted without a year attached. This is general information, not tax advice.
Not usually. It was 100.00% for tax year 2021, but in every year since the figure has been between 92.61% and 97.53%. A fund earns small amounts of income outside Treasury interest, mostly on cash balances held between settlements, and that portion remains taxable by your state. The exempt share is published annually rather than fixed.
Because 96.45% was the figure for tax year 2023, and it spread through forum threads and summary articles without the year attached. It was correct for returns filed in early 2024. For tax year 2025 the figure is 95.14%. The number is republished every year, so any source quoting it without naming a tax year should be checked against the current document.
BlackRock publishes it annually in the iShares US Government Source Income Information document, which lists every iShares fund with the share of its income derived from US government and agency obligations. The same document marks which funds held at least 50% of assets in federal obligations at the end of each quarter, which several states require before allowing the exclusion. Prior years remain available in the iShares tax documents library.
The percentage itself is the same everywhere, but whether you may use it is not. California, New York and Connecticut require the fund to hold at least 50% of its assets in qualifying US obligations, a test SGOV has met every year. New Jersey requires 80% or more plus a certification form, which the standard iShares attestation does not address. The nine states with no income tax have nothing to exclude the income from.