You can buy savings bonds for someone else at TreasuryDirect.gov, the Treasury Department’s online portal, for as little as $25 and in any amount to the penny above that. You’ll need an active TreasuryDirect account of your own, plus the recipient’s full legal name and Social Security Number. The bond lands in a “Gift Box” inside your account, waits at least five business days, and then transfers to the recipient once you have their TreasuryDirect account number. Purchases are capped at $10,000 per bond series per recipient per calendar year.
What You Need Before You Buy
You need your own TreasuryDirect account, which requires a Social Security Number and a linked U.S. bank account for funding.1U.S. Department of the Treasury. About TreasuryDirect.gov Before you start the purchase, collect the recipient’s full legal name and Social Security Number (or Taxpayer Identification Number for entities). Treasury uses those identifiers to register ownership, and that registration is what legally establishes who owns the bond.2eCFR. 31 CFR Part 363 – Regulations Governing Securities Held in TreasuryDirect
Get the name exactly as it appears on the recipient’s government documents. A mismatch between the name on the bond and the name on the recipient’s TreasuryDirect account will create problems when you try to deliver it. An incorrect Social Security Number can delay the transfer and may cause the bond to count against the wrong person’s annual purchase limit.
How to Purchase and Deliver the Gift Bond
Log into your TreasuryDirect account, go to the purchase section, and choose Series EE or Series I. Enter the dollar amount. The minimum is $25, and anything above that works to the penny, so $50, $136.42, or $500 are all valid.3TreasuryDirect. I Bonds – TreasuryDirect Check the box marking the purchase as a gift, then enter the recipient’s name and Social Security Number. Treasury pulls the funds from your bank account by ACH debit, and the bond usually appears in your account within one business day.4U.S. Department of the Treasury. How to Buy Gift Savings Bonds in TreasuryDirect
The bond doesn’t move to the recipient automatically. It sits in a Gift Box inside your TreasuryDirect profile, which is useful if you’re buying weeks ahead of a birthday or holiday. You have to hold the bond for at least five business days before delivering it, which gives Treasury time to verify the payment cleared.5TreasuryDirect. Giving Savings Bonds as Gifts
To deliver, open the Gift Box tab, select the bond, and click “Deliver.” You’ll need the recipient’s TreasuryDirect account number to complete the transfer.4U.S. Department of the Treasury. How to Buy Gift Savings Bonds in TreasuryDirect If the recipient doesn’t have an account yet, the bond stays in your Gift Box earning interest until they open one. Don’t let bonds sit indefinitely. The recipient is the legal owner the moment you buy the bond, and holding undelivered gifts introduces potential complications later.6TreasuryDirect. FAQs About Undelivered Gift Bonds
Buying a Bond for a Child
Children under 18 can’t open their own TreasuryDirect account. A parent, or a person providing chief support for the child, sets up a Minor Linked Account instead. This custodial account attaches to your primary TreasuryDirect profile, and you manage purchases, redemptions, and gift deliveries on the child’s behalf.7TreasuryDirect. TreasuryDirect FAQ – What Is a Minor Account?
To create one, log in, click ManageDirect, and select “Establish a Minor Linked Account.” Enter the child’s name, Social Security Number, and other identifying details. You can label the account with something like “Emma’s College Fund.”8TreasuryDirect. TreasuryDirect Help – How Do I…? When the child turns 18 and opens their own primary account, you can de-link the securities and transfer everything over.
If a grandparent, aunt, or family friend wants to buy a gift bond for a child, the process is the same as any other gift purchase. The buyer enters the child’s name and Social Security Number, then delivers the bond to the Minor Linked Account the parent already set up. The parent’s account number is what the buyer needs to finish delivery.
The $10,000 Annual Limit and How Gifts Fit
Federal regulations cap electronic savings bond purchases at $10,000 per series per Social Security Number per calendar year. One person can buy up to $10,000 in Series EE and another $10,000 in Series I in the same year, for $20,000 total.9eCFR. 31 CFR 363.52 – What Is the Principal Amount of Book-Entry Series EE and Series I Savings Bonds That I May Acquire in One Year?
Gift bonds count against the recipient’s limit, not the buyer’s. While a bond sits in your Gift Box waiting to be delivered, it doesn’t count against anyone’s cap. The moment you deliver it, it hits the recipient’s annual limit for that calendar year. Buy a gift in November and deliver it in January, and it counts toward the recipient’s limit for the new year, not the year you paid.10TreasuryDirect. How Much Can I Spend on Savings Bonds?
That structure means you can buy $10,000 in I bonds for yourself and also buy $10,000 in I bond gifts for someone else in the same year without exceeding any cap on your end. Check with the recipient before making a large gift purchase, though. If they’ve already bought bonds for themselves, your gift could push them over the cap, and Treasury will return the excess.
Series EE or Series I as a Gift
The two series serve different purposes. Series I bonds adjust for inflation. The composite rate has a fixed component set at purchase and a variable inflation component that Treasury resets every six months. For bonds issued November 2025 through April 2026, the composite rate is 4.03%, with a 0.90% fixed rate.11TreasuryDirect. I Bonds Interest Rates I bonds work well when you want the gift to keep pace with the cost of living.
Series EE bonds earn a fixed rate for their first 20 years, currently 2.50% for bonds issued November 2025 through April 2026. Treasury also guarantees an EE bond will double in value at the 20-year mark, adding a one-time adjustment if the stated interest wouldn’t get there. That effective guarantee works out to roughly 3.5% annualized over the full 20 years, which makes EE bonds a common choice for a long-horizon gift to a newborn or young child.12TreasuryDirect. EE Bonds – TreasuryDirect
You can gift both types in the same year. The $10,000 cap applies per series, so $10,000 in EE bonds and $10,000 in I bonds for the same person is allowed, as long as both fit within the recipient’s limits at delivery.
Who Owes Tax on the Interest
Savings bond interest is subject to federal income tax but exempt from state and local income tax.13TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds When you buy a bond as a gift and name someone else as the sole owner, the recipient owes the tax on the interest, not you. Tax liability follows ownership, not who wrote the check.
Gift a bond worth $10,000 that earns $2,000 in interest before the recipient cashes it, and the recipient reports that $2,000 as income on their federal return. The recipient can report interest annually or defer it until cash-in or maturity, and most people defer. Treasury issues a 1099-INT to the person who cashes the bond.13TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds
Savings bond purchases count as gifts for federal gift tax purposes. For 2026, you can give up to $19,000 per recipient without filing a gift tax return.14Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax Since the electronic purchase cap is $10,000 per series, most gift bond purchases sit well below that threshold.
A Trap If You’re Saving for College
The Education Savings Bond Program lets an owner cash EE or I bonds and exclude the interest from federal income tax if the proceeds pay for qualified higher education expenses, including tuition and required fees at an eligible institution or contributions to a 529 plan or Coverdell Education Savings Account. Room and board don’t qualify.15TreasuryDirect. Using Bonds for Higher Education
Here’s where gift-givers get caught: the bond owner must have been at least 24 years old before the bond’s issue date. If you buy a bond and register your 10-year-old child as the owner, that bond will never qualify for the education exclusion, even after the child turns 24, because the owner was under 24 at issuance. To preserve the tax benefit, register yourself (or yourself and your spouse) as the owner and cash the bonds when your child starts college.15TreasuryDirect. Using Bonds for Higher Education
Income limits apply the year you cash the bonds, not the year you buy them. For 2026, the exclusion begins phasing out when modified adjusted gross income exceeds $101,800 ($152,650 for married couples filing jointly) and disappears at $116,800 ($182,650 joint).
Paper Bonds Are No Longer Sold
For years, you could buy paper Series I bonds with your federal tax refund by filing IRS Form 8888. That program ended on January 1, 2025. You can no longer purchase paper savings bonds through your tax refund or route your refund into a TreasuryDirect account for bond purchases.16TreasuryDirect. Using Your Income Tax Refund to Buy Paper Savings Bonds Form 8888 still exists for splitting a refund across multiple bank accounts, but the savings bond option has been removed.17Internal Revenue Service. Form 8888 – Allocation of Refund All gift purchases now run through TreasuryDirect.