FS Form 1048: Filing a Claim for Lost or Stolen Savings Bonds

FS Form 1048 is the Treasury claim you file to recover a U.S. savings bond that has been lost, stolen, or destroyed. You complete it with the owner’s information and whatever bond details you have, sign it in front of a notary or an authorized certifying officer, and mail it with any supporting documents to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The Treasury then either pays you the bond’s current value or issues an electronic replacement. There is no filing fee, and the form works for any registered U.S. savings bond regardless of age. Plan on about seven months from mailing to resolution.¹

Which Bonds Qualify

The form covers Series EE, Series I, Series E, Series HH, Series H, and Savings Notes (Freedom Shares).¹ It does not apply to corporate bonds, stocks, mutual funds, or anything else that isn’t a U.S. Treasury security.

A bond that has stopped earning interest still qualifies. All Series E and Series H bonds have reached final maturity, and Series EE bonds stop earning after 30 years.² You can still file to recover the full value including all interest earned through the maturity date.³

What to Gather Before You Start

Two categories of information go on the form: who the bond belonged to, and what the bond was.

For the owner, you need the full legal name, current mailing address, and Social Security Number (or EIN) of everyone named on the bond, including any co-owner or beneficiary.¹

For the bond, you need the serial number, issue date, face amount, and the exact names and address inscribed on it. If the bond was mutilated, package the remaining fragments carefully and send them with the form.

If You Don’t Have Serial Numbers

Most people filing don’t. For bonds issued before 1974, a version of the form is set up for claims without serial numbers; you provide the approximate month and year of purchase, the owner’s full Social Security Number, and the number of bonds you believe are missing so the Bureau can search its records.⁴

For bonds issued in 1974 or later, the Treasury Hunt online search tool was discontinued on September 30, 2025. Inquiries about unclaimed or unredeemed bonds are now routed through your state’s unclaimed property program at unclaimed.org.⁵

Extra Documents for Certain Situations

A basic claim for your own bond needs nothing beyond the form itself. Some circumstances require more:

Deceased owner: a certified copy of the death certificate.
Claims over $5,000 involving theft: a copy of the police report if law enforcement investigated.¹
Mutilated bonds: any physical fragments you still have.

Signing the Form the Right Way

This is where most claims stall. You cannot sign at home and drop it in the mail. Your signature has to be made in the physical presence of a notary public or an authorized certifying officer.⁴ Certifying officers are typically employees at banks, credit unions, or trust companies. Many banks provide this service free to their account holders, so call yours before paying a notary. Notary fees generally run between $2 and $25 per signature depending on the state. If a broker handles it, the broker must use a Medallion Signature Guarantee stamp instead.

By signing, you agree to surrender the original bond if it later turns up and to hold the government harmless against other claims.¹ The Bureau may also require a bond of indemnity as a condition of approval, especially for higher-value claims.⁶

Where to Mail It

Send the completed, certified form and all supporting documents to:

Treasury Retail Securities Services
P.O. Box 9150
Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150¹

The Bureau does not accept the form by fax, email, or TreasuryDirect upload. Photocopy everything before you seal the envelope. The current version (revised November 2025) is available from the TreasuryDirect savings bond forms page.⁷

Filing on Someone Else’s Behalf

Minor Children

If a child is too young to complete the form, the parent the child lives with fills it out and signs it.¹ If the child doesn’t live with either parent, the person providing primary financial support signs. The same signature certification rules apply to the adult signing.

Power of Attorney

A power of attorney holder can file the claim by submitting the completed form together with a legible copy of the power of attorney document and a list of bond serial numbers if known.⁸ If a court issued the power of attorney, the copy must show a legible court seal or stamp.

What Happens After You Mail It

The Bureau searches its records to confirm the bond exists, checks that it hasn’t already been cashed, and validates your identity. It may contact you for additional information along the way.

The form itself states claims require at least seven months because of the search and verification involved.¹ Simple claims with known serial numbers may move faster; complex ones with unknown serial numbers, deceased owners, or competing claims run longer. For status updates, call 844-284-2676 or email savbonds@fiscal.treasury.gov.

Cash Payout or Electronic Replacement

If approved, the Treasury either pays you the bond’s redemption value or issues a replacement. For Series EE and Series I, replacements are issued only electronically inside TreasuryDirect.⁴ The electronic replacement keeps the original issue date, so no accrued interest is lost.⁹

If you want an electronic replacement rather than cash, open a TreasuryDirect account before you fill out the form; the form asks for the account number. Opening an account takes about ten minutes and requires your Social Security Number, email address, and bank information for linking.¹⁰

One restriction to know about: Series I bonds issued in February 2003 or later cannot be cashed until at least one full year after their issue date. If you request payment on a Series I bond that hasn’t reached that mark, the Bureau will issue a substitute electronic bond instead of paying cash.¹

If the Original Bond Turns Up Later

Bonds sometimes surface years after the claim closes. Once relief is granted, the original bond belongs to the U.S. government, and you are obligated to send it back promptly to:

Bureau of the Fiscal Service
Parkersburg, WV 26101⁹

Do not try to cash it. The certification you signed assigned all rights in the original bond to the Treasury the moment relief was granted, and redeeming it after receiving a replacement or payment could create a serious legal problem.

Tax Treatment

Most people defer reporting savings bond interest until the bond is cashed or matures. If that’s you, a cash payout on a lost bond generates a Form 1099-INT for the year you receive the money. If you take an electronic replacement instead, no taxable event occurs at that point because no cash changed hands; interest keeps accruing and you report it when you eventually redeem the replacement or it matures.¹¹

Mistakes That Send Claims Back

After seven months of waiting, a returnable error is painful. The common ones:

Signing without a notary or certifying officer stamp. This is the single most frequent reason claims come back.
Leaving the TreasuryDirect account number blank when you want an electronic replacement for Series EE or I. Open the account before you fill out the form.
Using the wrong mailing address. The claim goes to P.O. Box 9150 in Minneapolis, not the Parkersburg, WV address the form lists for comments and suggestions.¹
Incomplete detail when serial numbers are unknown. The Bureau needs your full Social Security Number, approximate purchase dates, and the number of bonds to search; missing any of these stops the search.
Keeping no copies. Mail gets lost. Photocopy the form, the attachments, and any fragments before the envelope closes.

1
TreasuryDirect. Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds FS Form 1048
2
TreasuryDirect. EE Bonds
3
TreasuryDirect. Cashing Old Bonds From Other Series
4
TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond
5
TreasuryDirect. Treasury Hunt – Searching for Treasury Securities
6
eCFR. 31 CFR 315.25 – General
7
TreasuryDirect. Forms for Savings Bonds
8
TreasuryDirect. Living Estates (Powers of Attorney, Guardians, and Conservators)
9
eCFR. Regulations Governing Definitive United States Savings Bonds, Series EE and HH
10
TreasuryDirect. Open an Account
11
TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds