You can recover lost savings bonds in two ways, depending on what you know. If you’re certain bonds exist but can’t put your hands on the paper certificates, you file FS Form 1048 with the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service to claim them. If you only suspect bonds were purchased in your name and want to search, that search now runs through state unclaimed property programs rather than the federal government. Treasury records never go away, so your right to the principal and accrued interest survives even if the certificate was destroyed in a flood, shredded by accident, or stashed in a box no one can find.
Searching When You Don’t Have the Bonds
The Treasury’s “Treasury Hunt” search tool was discontinued on September 30, 2025, under the SECURE Act 2.0, which moved responsibility for reuniting owners with matured unredeemed bonds to the states.1TreasuryDirect. Treasury Hunt – TreasuryDirect
Start at unclaimed.org, the official site of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. Most states feed into the linked MissingMoney.com database, where you can run a free search by name and state. When you contact a state office directly, have your full legal name (or the original purchaser’s name), the state of residence at the time of purchase or last known address, and any supporting documents like a death certificate or proof of relationship if you’re claiming as an heir.1TreasuryDirect. Treasury Hunt – TreasuryDirect If you don’t know which state to search, start with the one where the likely purchaser lived at the time.
This state-level search mainly covers matured bonds that have stopped earning interest. Savings bonds earn interest for 20 to 30 years depending on the series, and bonds held past maturity don’t continue earning, so they quietly lose value to inflation.2U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data. Fiscal Data Explains U.S. Treasury Savings Bonds If you believe you own bonds that haven’t yet matured, skip ahead to the claim process below; it applies whether a state search turned the bonds up or you simply know they exist.
Filing FS Form 1048
FS Form 1048, titled “Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds,” is the Treasury’s recovery tool when you no longer have the certificates. Download it from TreasuryDirect.gov.3TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond The form has two versions: one for when you know the serial numbers and another for when you don’t. With Treasury Hunt gone, people lacking serial numbers for bonds issued in 1974 or later will likely need the no-serial version and should supply as much identifying detail as possible.
The form, most recently revised in November 2025, asks for:4TreasuryDirect. FS Form 1048 – Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds
- A description of the bonds: issue date (exact or a range), face amount, serial number if known, and the full inscription including Social Security numbers, names with middle initials, and addresses as they appeared on the bond.
- Details of the loss: whether the bonds were lost, stolen, or destroyed; for stolen bonds, the date of theft and whether a police report was filed; for destroyed bonds, you should mail any remaining fragments along with the form.
- Your authority to claim: whether you’re named on the bonds, and if not, your legal relationship to the owner.
- What relief you want: a cash payment by direct deposit, or electronic replacement bonds in a TreasuryDirect account.
If you choose direct deposit, provide your bank routing and account numbers. For replacement bonds, you’ll need an active TreasuryDirect account number.
Accuracy matters here more than on most government forms. If the name on your ID differs from the name on the bond because of marriage, divorce, or a court order, attach documentation of the change. If the bond was registered to two people, both may need to sign, depending on whether it was an “or” registration (either acts alone) or an “and” registration (both must agree). These are the details that get claims kicked back, and a rejection can cost you months.
Getting Your Signature Certified
Your signature on FS Form 1048 has to be certified, meaning someone with institutional authority watches you sign and vouches for your identity. The form accepts a notary public or an authorized certifying officer at a bank or credit union.4TreasuryDirect. FS Form 1048 – Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds At a financial institution, the certifying officer generally must have authority to bind the institution and will apply an official seal or signature guarantee stamp. Because the institution takes on liability for a negligent certification, some banks limit the service to existing account holders, and some charge a fee for non-customers.
If a bank won’t help, federal regulations authorize a broader list of officials:5eCFR. 31 CFR 360.55 – Individuals Authorized to Certify
- Any judge, clerk, or deputy clerk of a United States court.
- Any commissioned or warrant officer, for service members, their families, and civilian employees on base.
- U.S. consular representatives, for Americans overseas.
- Officers at Veterans Administration hospitals or homes, for patients and employees.
If none of those are reachable, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service can arrange something for individual cases. For most people, a local bank branch handles the certification in about 15 minutes.
Where to Send It and How Long It Takes
Mail the completed, certified form to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, P.O. Box 7012, Parkersburg, WV 26106-7012.6eCFR. 31 CFR 360.1 – Official Agencies Use certified mail or another trackable service so you have proof of delivery. The Bureau verifies claims manually against its records, and that takes time. TreasuryDirect states that requests to search for lost, stolen, or missing savings bonds take at least seven months to process.7TreasuryDirect. Home Complex claims with missing serial numbers or multiple bonds can run longer.
Once the claim is approved, you’ll receive either a direct deposit to the bank account on the form or electronic replacement bonds in your TreasuryDirect account for securities that haven’t yet matured. Matured bonds pay the original face value plus all interest accrued through the maturity date. Because bonds don’t earn after maturity, there’s no reason to sit on a claim once you know bonds exist.
Claiming Bonds When the Owner Has Died
A large share of unclaimed savings bonds belong to people who have died. How you recover them depends on how the bond was registered and the size of the estate.
Surviving Co-Owner or Beneficiary
If the bond was registered with a co-owner (two names joined by “or”), the surviving co-owner is recognized as the sole and absolute owner. The same applies when the bond named a beneficiary using “payable on death” language. The survivor can request payment or reissue by providing proof of death, with no probate and no estate paperwork.8eCFR. 31 CFR Part 315 Subpart L – Deceased Owner, Coowner or Beneficiary If the physical bond is also missing, file FS Form 1048 as the surviving co-owner or beneficiary.
Sole Owner, No Co-Owner or Beneficiary
If the deceased was the sole owner, the bond becomes part of the estate. For smaller estates where the total redemption value of all Treasury securities is $100,000 or less at the date of death, the Treasury allows a “voluntary representative” to handle the claim without formal probate using FS Form 5336.9TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates To qualify, no person named on the bond can still be living, and the estate must not be in court administration.
The voluntary representative can cash the bonds and distribute the money, or transfer the bonds to those entitled. Federal regulations set an order of priority for who may serve:8eCFR. 31 CFR Part 315 Subpart L – Deceased Owner, Coowner or Beneficiary
- Surviving spouse
- Child of the deceased
- Grandchild or other descendant of a deceased child
- Parent of the deceased
- Sibling of the deceased
- Descendant of a deceased sibling
- Next of kin under the law of the state where the deceased lived
For estates holding more than $100,000 in Treasury securities, or where probate is already open, the executor or administrator named by the court handles the claim and provides Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration along with a certified copy of the death certificate.
Taxes on the Interest You Recover
A recovered savings bond is not all free money. You owe federal income tax on the accumulated interest, and the timing of that bill catches people off guard. In most cases, you report the interest in the tax year you cash the bond or receive payment on the claim, not spread across the years the bond was earning.10Internal Revenue Service. Savings Bonds 1 A 30-year bond that earned $3,000 in interest can generate a $3,000 income hit in a single year.
The Bureau or the paying financial institution issues a Form 1099-INT for the year you receive the money. If the bond lands in a TreasuryDirect account, the 1099-INT becomes available in your account by January 31 of the following year.11TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds If your total interest from all sources exceeds $1,500 for the year, you’ll file Schedule B with your Form 1040.
One potential relief is the education savings bond exclusion. If you use the proceeds to pay qualified higher education expenses for yourself, your spouse, or a dependent, some or all of the interest may be tax-free. The bonds must be Series EE or I issued after 1989, and you must have been at least 24 when they were issued. For 2026, the exclusion begins phasing out at modified adjusted gross income of $101,800 for single filers and $152,650 for joint filers, and disappears entirely at $116,800 and $182,650. Married-filing-separately filers cannot use the exclusion at all. Claim it on IRS Form 8815.12Internal Revenue Service. Exclusion of Interest From Series EE and I U.S. Savings Bonds Issued After 1989
Savings bond interest is exempt from state and local income tax, which helps. Even so, decades of accumulated interest landing in one year can push you into a higher federal bracket, so it’s worth planning the timing of the claim if you have any flexibility.