If you’re holding paper Series E savings bonds, here’s the short version of how to cash in Series E savings bonds: confirm the value on the Treasury’s online calculator, then either walk into a bank that redeems paper bonds or mail the certificates to the Treasury with a signature-certified FS Form 1522. Every Series E bond has already reached final maturity — the last ones stopped earning interest in June 2010 — so any bond still sitting in a drawer is worth exactly what it was worth on its maturity date and nothing more.1TreasuryDirect. Savings Securities Maturity Chart
Check What Your Bond Is Worth First
Before you go anywhere, find out what the bond will pay. Use the Savings Bond Calculator at TreasuryDirect.gov. Select “Series E” from the series dropdown, enter the face value (printed in the upper-left corner of the certificate), and type in the issue date shown on the bond.2TreasuryDirect. Savings Bond Calculator – Detailed Instructions The tool returns the final redemption value, including all accumulated interest through the maturity date.
Since these bonds have all matured, the number the calculator shows today is the number you’ll get. It won’t grow. A $25 bond that was bought for $18.75 in 1970 is worth substantially more than its $25 face value after 30 years of compounding interest, but whatever that figure is, it froze on the maturity date.
Cashing at a Bank or Credit Union
The fastest option is over the counter at a bank or credit union that handles paper savings bonds. If your bank does, you’ll typically walk out with the funds the same day.3TreasuryDirect. For Financial Institutions – Cashing Savings Bonds Bring the paper bond, a valid government-issued ID, and be ready to show that your name matches the registration on the certificate.
Not every branch offers the service, and those that do often cap the dollar amount they’ll redeem in a single visit. Some won’t help non-customers at all. Call ahead and ask two things: whether they cash paper savings bonds, and how much they’ll cash for someone who isn’t already an account holder.4TreasuryDirect. Cashing EE or I Savings Bonds
Mailing Bonds to the Treasury
When the bank route isn’t available — because your name isn’t on the certificate, the amount exceeds a bank’s cap, or no local institution will handle it — you mail the bonds to the Treasury. There’s no dollar limit on what the Treasury will redeem in one transaction.4TreasuryDirect. Cashing EE or I Savings Bonds
Download FS Form 1522 from TreasuryDirect.gov. Fill in your Social Security number, your bank’s routing and account numbers for direct deposit, and your contact information. Do not sign it at home. You have to sign the form in front of a certifying officer at a bank, credit union, or notary public, who will verify your identity and apply an official seal or stamp such as a Medallion Signature Guarantee, an institutional endorsement stamp, or a notary seal.5TreasuryDirect. FS Form 1522 – Special Form of Request for Payment of United States Savings and Retirement Securities Most banks provide the certification free to their own customers.
Mail the signed form and the original bonds to:
Treasury Retail Securities Services
P.O. Box 9150
Minneapolis, MN 55480-91506TreasuryDirect. Contact Us
Use registered or certified mail with tracking. Paper bonds are original documents, and if they vanish in transit you’ll be stuck filing a lost-bond claim instead of collecting a check. Once the Treasury has your package, plan on at least six weeks for bonds registered in your name, and at least two months for bonds involving deceased owners or other complications.7TreasuryDirect. Home – TreasuryDirect Payment lands in the bank account listed on FS Form 1522.
If the Bonds Are Lost, Damaged, or the Owner Has Died
Missing bonds aren’t lost money. The Treasury has records of every bond issued and can pay you without the certificate. File FS Form 1048, the claim for lost, stolen, or destroyed bonds.8TreasuryDirect. Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds Include serial numbers if you have them; if you don’t, the Treasury can search using your name, Social Security number, and approximate purchase dates. For stolen bonds, attach any police report. For destroyed bonds, send whatever fragments remain. If the total exceeds $5,000 and law enforcement was involved, include that report too. Sign FS Form 1048 in front of a certifying officer, and mail it to the Minneapolis address. Lost-bond searches currently take at least seven months.7TreasuryDirect. Home – TreasuryDirect
Damaged certificates can still be redeemed. Send all fragments, even small ones, with FS Form 1048 and an explanation of what happened. If the serial number is unreadable, include your name and Social Security number at the time of purchase, approximate issue dates, and denominations so the Treasury can match its records.9eCFR. 31 CFR Part 353 – Regulations Governing Definitive United States Savings Bonds, Series EE and HH
If you suspect bonds exist but have no paperwork, the Treasury’s Treasury Hunt search tool was retired on September 30, 2025 under the SECURE 2.0 Act. Each state now has direct access to the Treasury’s database of unredeemed matured securities, so start at unclaimed.org, run by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.10TreasuryDirect. Treasury Hunt – Searching for Treasury Securities
When the registered owner has died, a surviving co-owner or named POD (payable-on-death) beneficiary can cash the bond at a bank with a certified death certificate and ID, or mail FS Form 1522 the same way any owner would. If there’s no surviving co-owner or beneficiary, the bonds belong to the estate. Small estates that skip formal probate can use FS Form 5336, mailed with a certified death certificate and the unsigned bonds in one package.11TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates Formal court-appointed administration is required when the redemption value of the decedent’s Treasury securities exceeds $100,000 as of the date of death.12eCFR. 31 CFR 363.44 – What Happens When a TreasuryDirect Account Owner Dies and the Estate Is Entitled to Securities
What You’ll Owe in Taxes
The gap between what the bond cost and what the Treasury pays you is taxable interest, not a capital gain. Federal regulations treat it as ordinary interest income.13eCFR. 31 CFR Part 316 – Offering of United States Savings Bonds, Series E – Section 316.9 Taxation Buy a $25 bond for $18.75, cash it for $76, and you have $57.25 in taxable interest.
After you redeem, the Treasury sends you and the IRS a Form 1099-INT. Savings bond interest appears in Box 3, which is specific to interest on U.S. savings bonds and Treasury obligations.14Internal Revenue Service. Form 1099-INT Report that amount on your federal return for the year of payment.
One useful piece: Series E interest is exempt from all state and local income taxes. Federal law bars states and their subdivisions from taxing obligations of the U.S. government, with narrow exceptions for certain franchise taxes and estate or inheritance taxes.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 3124 – Exemption From Taxation If your state taxes investment income, this doesn’t count.
The Timing Problem With Long-Held Bonds
Under IRS rules, cash-method taxpayers who never reported interest annually were supposed to report all accumulated interest in the year the bond reached final maturity, not the year they eventually cashed it.16Internal Revenue Service. Publication 550 (2025), Investment Income and Expenses A bond that matured in 2005 was supposed to appear on the 2005 return. A bond that matured in June 2010 belonged on the 2010 return.
In reality, most holders never reported anything, and no 1099-INT was issued because no redemption happened. When you cash the bond now, the Treasury issues a 1099-INT for that year with the full interest, and the IRS expects it on that year’s return. For most people, reporting the interest in the year of redemption is the practical path, since the IRS already has the matching 1099-INT. If the amounts are large, talk to a tax professional about whether to file amended returns for the maturity year, particularly if late-reporting penalties are a concern.
A smaller number of bondholders used the accrual method and reported interest annually as it grew. If that describes you or a relative whose bonds you inherited, only the portion earned since the last annual report is still owed. Keep the old returns, because the 1099-INT at redemption shows the full accumulated interest, not just the unreported slice.