How to Redeem Treasury Bonds Online or at a Bank

To redeem savings bonds, you use one of two routes depending on how you hold them: electronic Series EE and Series I bonds are cashed inside your TreasuryDirect account, and paper bonds are cashed at a bank that handles them or mailed to the Treasury with FS Form 1522. Either way, you have to have held the bond for at least 12 months, and cashing before five years costs you the last three months of interest.¹²

When You Can Cash a Bond Without Losing Interest

A Series EE or Series I bond cannot be redeemed at all during its first 12 months.¹ After that, you can cash it any time, but if you do so before the five-year mark, the Treasury keeps the most recent three months of interest. Cash a bond at 18 months and you walk away with 15 months of earnings.²

At the other end, both series earn interest for 30 years and then stop.¹ A bond held past that mark is just paper; cash it so the money can go to work.

Cashing Electronic Bonds in TreasuryDirect

If the bonds live in a TreasuryDirect account, the whole thing is done online. Sign in, open ManageDirect, and under “Manage My Securities” choose “Redeem securities.”¹ You pick the bonds and the amount you want from each.

You don’t have to cash a whole bond. Partial redemptions are allowed, but each one has to be at least $25 in redemption value (plus one-cent increments), and at least $25 in value must remain in the bond afterward.³ If a partial would leave less than $25 behind, the system blocks it and you have to redeem the full bond.

Once you confirm, the money generally lands in your linked bank account within two business days. Keep your banking information in TreasuryDirect current so nothing stalls.

Cashing Paper Bonds at a Bank

Many banks and credit unions will cash paper savings bonds for their existing customers. Bring the physical certificate and a valid government-issued photo ID. Policies vary — some banks cap the dollar amount they will cash in one visit, and some won’t cash savings bonds at all — so call the branch before you go.¹

At the counter, the teller checks your ID against the name on the bond and watches you sign it. You walk out with the current redemption value, and the bank is the one that issues your 1099-INT for the interest.⁴

Mailing Paper Bonds to the Treasury

If no bank will cash your bonds, mail them in. Send the signed bonds with a completed FS Form 1522 (Special Form of Request for Payment) to:

Treasury Retail Securities Services
P.O. Box 9150
Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150⁵

FS Form 1522 collects your name, Social Security number, address, and bank account and routing numbers for direct deposit. Leave the bank fields blank and the Treasury mails you a check instead.⁶

Mail-in processing is slow. Bonds in your own name take at least six weeks. Bonds not in your name, such as those from an estate, take at least two months. A search for lost, stolen, or missing bonds takes at least seven months, and heavy volume can push every one of these timelines longer.⁵

Signature Certification Before You Mail

You have to sign the back of each bond in front of an authorized certifying officer. A notary public is not acceptable. In practice this means an officer or authorized employee at a bank, trust company, or credit union, though Federal Reserve Bank officers, certain U.S. court officials, and U.S. diplomatic representatives abroad can also certify.⁷ The officer verifies your identity and stamps or seals the certification on the bond.

If the Paper Bond Is Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed

You can still get paid. Submit FS Form 1048 to the Treasury, which will either issue a replacement bond or authorize payment.⁸ Give them whatever identifying details you have: your Social Security number, the approximate purchase date, and the face value, so they can find the record.

Cashing a Bond You Don’t Own Outright

When the person cashing the bond is not the named owner acting for themselves, the paperwork changes.

A Child’s Bond

A parent can cash a bond registered to a child who is too young to understand the transaction. Three things have to be true: you are the parent, the child lives with you or is in your legal custody, and the child is too young to sign.⁹ You write a short certification on the back of the bond identifying yourself as the parent, giving the child’s age and Social Security number, and sign on the child’s behalf.

A Deceased Owner’s Bond

A surviving beneficiary named on the bond can cash it at a bank with normal ID plus a copy of the death certificate.¹⁰ If the estate is being settled without a court-appointed administrator, use FS Form 5336 (Disposition of Treasury Securities Belonging to a Decedent’s Estate Being Settled Without Administration) and mail it in with the bonds.¹¹ If a court has appointed an executor or administrator, send certified proof of that appointment with FS Form 1522.

Acting Under Power of Attorney

An attorney-in-fact cashing bonds for an incapacitated owner submits either a certified copy of the power of attorney or FS Form 5188 (Durable Power of Attorney for Securities and Savings Bonds Transactions). The power of attorney must have been signed within the past two years or contain a durability clause. The attorney-in-fact then completes FS Form 1522 in front of a certifying officer.¹² Send certified copies, not originals; the Treasury does not return legal documents.

What You’ll Owe in Taxes

Savings bond interest is taxable at the federal level and exempt from state and local income taxes, though state estate and inheritance taxes can still reach it.¹³ When you cash a bond, you get a 1099-INT reporting the interest. Banks issue it when they cash a paper bond at the counter. For bonds you redeem in TreasuryDirect or mail to the Treasury, the 1099-INT shows up in your account or arrives in the mail by January 31 of the following year.⁴

Report Interest Each Year, or Wait Until You Cash

You have two options for timing. By default, you defer all interest reporting until the year the bond is cashed or reaches final maturity. The alternative is to report the yearly increase in redemption value as interest every year.¹⁴ Most people stick with the deferred method, which postpones the tax bill but produces a bigger one in the redemption year.

Switching from deferred to annual does not require IRS permission, but in the year you switch you have to catch up and report all previously unreported interest on every savings bond you own. Once you’re on the annual method, you have to stay on it for all current and future Series EE and Series I bonds unless the IRS lets you switch back.¹⁴

A Catch With Inherited Paper Bonds

For electronic bonds reissued after the owner’s death, the Treasury puts all interest accrued through the transfer on a 1099-INT under the prior owner’s Social Security number, and the new owner is only on the hook for interest earned afterward.¹⁵

Paper bonds work differently. The 1099-INT comes out only when someone actually cashes the bond, and it covers the full life of the bond under the Social Security number of whoever cashed it. Cash an inherited paper bond and the 1099-INT may overstate what you actually owe. You can adjust on your return; IRS Publication 550 explains how to show that part of the interest belonged to the previous owner.¹⁵

The Education Exclusion

You may be able to exclude bond interest from federal tax if the proceeds go toward qualified higher education expenses. The Education Savings Bond Program covers Series EE bonds issued after 1989 and all Series I bonds.¹⁶ Qualified expenses are tuition and fees at an eligible postsecondary institution, plus contributions to a 529 plan or Coverdell account. Room and board don’t count, and you have to reduce your qualified expenses by any tax-free scholarships, grants, veterans’ benefits, or employer educational assistance.¹⁷

The exclusion phases out at higher incomes and disappears above the top of the range (for 2026, that top is $116,800 for single filers and $182,650 for joint filers).¹⁸ The bond owner also has to have been at least 24 when the bond was issued, and married taxpayers have to file jointly. Claim it with IRS Form 8815 attached to your return.

If You Can’t Get Into Your TreasuryDirect Account

Repeated bad logins or stale banking information can lock the account. A standard unlock or banking update takes at least six weeks to process.⁵ A hardlocked (fully deactivated) account has to be revived by mailing in FS Form 5444 (TreasuryDirect Account Authorization).¹⁹ Trust-related and other complex requests can take ten months or more. If you expect to cash bonds soon, test your login now, because a locked account will outlast your timeline.

1
TreasuryDirect. Cash EE or I Savings Bonds
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TreasuryDirect. I Bonds
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eCFR. 31 CFR Part 363 – Regulations Governing Securities Held in TreasuryDirect
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TreasuryDirect. 1099 Tax Statements for Paper Savings Bonds and TreasuryDirect
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TreasuryDirect. Contact Us
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TreasuryDirect. Special Form of Request for Payment of United States Savings and Retirement Securities
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eCFR. 31 CFR 360.55 – Individuals Authorized to Certify
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TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond
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TreasuryDirect. Cashing Paper Bonds for a Young Child
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Federal Reserve Financial Services. Savings Bond Redemptions Frequently Asked Questions
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Reginfo.gov. FS Form 5336 – Disposition of Treasury Securities Belonging to a Decedent’s Estate Being Settled Without Administration
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TreasuryDirect. Power of Attorney United States Savings Bonds and Notes
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 3124 – Exemption From Taxation
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Internal Revenue Service. Publication 550 – Investment Income and Expenses
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TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 8815 – Exclusion of Interest From Series EE and I U.S. Savings Bonds Issued After 1989
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Internal Revenue Service. Publication 970 – Tax Benefits for Education
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Internal Revenue Service. Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-45 – Rev. Proc. 2025-32
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Bureau of the Fiscal Service. TreasuryDirect Account Authorization