How to Fill Out and Submit FS Form 1851 for a Trust

FS Form 1851 is the Bureau of the Fiscal Service form you use to reissue paper United States savings bonds into a personal trust. It covers paper Series EE, Series I, and Series HH bonds. You fill out five sections, get your signature certified by an authorized officer, and mail the form together with the original bonds to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150. For Series EE and Series I bonds, the replacements come back as electronic bonds in a TreasuryDirect entity account registered to the trust, not as new paper.¹

Before You Start

Three things need to be true before this form is the right one.

First, the bonds must be paper. If your bonds already sit in a TreasuryDirect account in your own name, you don’t use FS Form 1851 at all. You open a separate TreasuryDirect entity account for the trust and use FS Form 5511 to move the electronic bonds over.¹

Second, the trust must be a personal trust. Treasury defines that as a trust established by natural persons for the benefit of themselves or other natural persons. The eligibility rules turn on how the bond is currently registered. A sole owner can reissue to a trust the owner created, or to one naming the owner, a blood relative (including by legal adoption), or a spouse as beneficiary. Co-owned bonds can go into a trust created by either co-owner, or one that names either co-owner as beneficiary, or (for Series EE) names a beneficiary related by blood or marriage to either co-owner. A bond registered with a named beneficiary can be reissued only with that beneficiary’s certified consent or proof of their death.² A person under any legal disability should not complete this form, with a narrow exception for a minor competent enough to sign and understand the transaction.¹

Third, for Series EE and Series I bonds, you need a TreasuryDirect entity trust account before you submit, because Section 3 asks for the account number where the electronic bonds will land. You can open one at TreasuryDirect.gov. One of the trustees serves as the entity account manager and must certify authority to act alone for the trust. If the trust document names co-trustees joined by “and,” so both must act together, you’ll need to mail supporting pages from the trust (name and date page, trustee identification, signature pages, and any amendments) to Treasury Retail Securities Services, PO Box 214, Minneapolis, MN 55480-0214, showing that either trustee can act independently.³

One timing rule: Series EE and Series I bonds within one month of final maturity cannot be reissued.¹

Filling Out the Form Section by Section

Download the current version from the TreasuryDirect forms page. Everything must be printed in ink or typed. Cursive handwriting can get the form returned.¹

Section 1: Description of Bonds

Enter the total face amount of the bonds being reissued, then list each bond individually: serial number, denomination, series, and the current registration as it appears on the bond. Include the full Social Security numbers, full names with middle names or initials, and addresses printed on the bonds. If you have more bonds than the form has room for, attach FS Form 3500 as a continuation sheet.⁴

Section 2: Trust Information

This section identifies the trust. Provide the taxpayer identification number assigned to the trust (an EIN, or in some cases the grantor’s SSN), the grantor’s name (all grantors, if more than one), the trustee’s name (all trustees), the date the trust was created, and, for a “For Benefit Of” trust, the beneficiary names. Treasury uses this information to build the new bond inscription, so accuracy here decides whether the bonds end up registered correctly.¹

Section 3: New Bond Inscription

For Series EE or I bonds, enter the trust’s TreasuryDirect entity account number and the SSN or EIN assigned to the trust. Then write the registration exactly as it should appear on the new bonds: trustee name, grantor name, trust creation date, and beneficiary names for FBO trusts. The form gives sample registrations. A typical one reads: “Paul E. White, trustee under declaration of trust dated 2/1/02 FBO Henry B. Green.” Treasury will inscribe the bonds using exactly what you write here.¹

Sections 4 and 5: Tax Liability

Section 4 is a notice. Read it before you complete Section 5. Reissuing bonds to a trust can trigger a taxable event: you must include previously unreported interest in gross income at the time of reissue, unless the trust qualifies as a grantor trust under the Internal Revenue Code and you are treated as the owner of the portion of the trust holding the bonds.¹

In Section 5, check one box. Box A says you are treated as the owner under the grantor trust rules, so the reissue does not trigger immediate tax on the deferred interest. Box B says you are not the owner under those rules, so the accumulated interest becomes taxable income in the year of reissue. If the bonds were held in co-ownership form and you check Box B, you must also identify the principal co-owner by name and Social Security number.

Most revocable living trusts where you are both grantor and trustee qualify as grantor trusts, which makes Box A the usual choice. If there is any doubt about how your trust is classified, confirm with a tax professional before you sign. Leaving both boxes blank is grounds for rejection.

Getting Your Signature Certified

You cannot sign this form at your kitchen table and mail it. Your signature must be certified: you sign in the physical presence of an authorized certifying individual, who then applies their official seal or stamp. Without proper certification the form is invalid.⁴

Inside the United States, these people can certify:

A notary public, with the notary seal or stamp (the form specifically permits this).
Officers and employees of banks, credit unions, and other depository institutions, using the institution’s official seal, signature guarantee stamp, or paying agent stamp.
Members of Treasury-recognized Medallion Signature Guarantee programs (STAMP, SEMP, or MSP), but only for security transfers.
Commissioned or warrant officers of the U.S. Armed Forces, for military personnel, civilian field employees, and their families.
A judge or clerk of a U.S. court, using the court’s seal.

⁵

Outside the United States, the options narrow. U.S. diplomatic or consular officials can certify using their office seal. Managers of foreign branches of American banks can certify. A foreign notary public can certify only if their authority is itself certified by a U.S. consular official; a foreign notary stamp alone is not enough.⁵

A bank address stamp is not acceptable certification. The institution has to use an official seal, corporate stamp, or signature guarantee stamp.⁶

Mailing the Form and Bonds

Send the completed, certified form along with the original paper bonds to:

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

You are mailing original savings bonds, which carry real monetary value. Use a trackable method: certified mail with a return receipt, or a commercial carrier with tracking, so you have proof of delivery. Treasury does not charge a fee to process the reissue.

There is no electronic submission option. The April 2026 revision of the form contains no secure upload portal, email address, or digital alternative. The physical form and the physical bonds have to go through the mail.

If a bank or trust company will act as trustee and the bonds are being reissued into its common trust fund, include FS Form 1455 with the 1851. FS Form 1455 is available on the TreasuryDirect forms page.¹

Mistakes That Get the Form Sent Back

Every rejection adds weeks. The recurring errors are these:

Submitting FS Form 1851 for electronic bonds. Use FS Form 5511 instead.
Signing the form without a certifying officer’s seal. Probably the single most common mistake.
Missing trust information: an omitted co-trustee, no trust creation date, missing FBO beneficiaries. If there are multiple grantors or trustees, every one has to be listed.
Bonds within one month of final maturity. EE and I bonds this close to maturity cannot be reissued.
Handwritten cursive entries. Print in ink or type.
Leaving both tax boxes in Section 5 unchecked.
No TreasuryDirect entity account number for EE or I bonds. Without it, Treasury has nowhere to deposit the electronic replacements.

What Happens After Treasury Processes It

Once processed, the paper bonds you mailed in are canceled and replaced with electronic bonds in the trust’s TreasuryDirect entity account. The bonds keep their original issue dates and terms. The reissue does not restart the interest clock or change the maturity date. Log into the trust’s TreasuryDirect account to confirm the bonds appear and the registration reads correctly.

If you checked Box B, report the previously deferred interest as income on your return for the year the reissue takes place. Keep a record of purchase prices and redemption values at the time of reissue; the difference is the taxable interest. If you checked Box A, interest continues to defer until the bonds are cashed or reach maturity, the same as when the bonds were in your name.

1
Bureau of the Fiscal Service. FS Form 1851 – Request to Reissue United States Savings Bonds to a Personal Trust
2
eCFR. 31 CFR 315.47
3
TreasuryDirect. User Guide Sections 291 Through 300
4
TreasuryDirect. Forms for Savings Bonds
5
TreasuryDirect. Signature Certification
6
Bureau of the Fiscal Service. TreasuryDirect Account Authorization – FS Form 5444