Series I savings bonds mature 30 years from their issue date. That 30-year mark is final maturity: the bond stops earning interest, its value freezes, and every month you keep holding it, inflation quietly eats into what it’s worth. If you want to know when your I bond matures, add 30 years to the issue date printed on the certificate or shown in your TreasuryDirect account, and plan to cash it at or shortly after that date.
How the 30 Years Break Down
An I bond’s life has two phases: a 20-year original maturity period followed by an automatic 10-year extension, for a total of 30 years from issue.1eCFR. 31 CFR 359.5 – What Is the Maturity Period of a Series I Savings Bonds? You don’t have to do anything to trigger the extension. Throughout all 30 years, the bond earns a combination of a fixed rate and a variable inflation rate that adjusts every six months.2TreasuryDirect. I Bonds
Once the 30 years are up, both components stop. There is no further interest, no further inflation adjustment, and no benefit to continued holding. Redeem the bond as soon as it reaches that mark.
How to Find Your Bond’s Maturity Date
Every I bond’s issue date is the first day of the month in which it was purchased, not the exact day you bought it.3eCFR. 31 CFR Part 359 – Offering of United States Savings Bonds, Series I Add 30 years to that date and you have your maturity date. A bond issued in March 2000 reaches final maturity on March 1, 2030.
For a paper bond, the issue date is printed in the upper right-hand corner of the certificate.4TreasuryDirect. Savings Bond Calculator – Detailed Instructions For an electronic bond, log into TreasuryDirect and open Current Holdings, which lists the issue date, current value, and interest rate for each bond.5TreasuryDirect. TreasuryDirect Help – How Do I…?
Can You Cash an I Bond Before 30 Years?
Yes, with two rules to know.
First, you have to hold the bond at least 12 months from the issue date before you can redeem it at all.2TreasuryDirect. I Bonds Before that one-year point, the bond is locked.
Second, if you redeem between one and five years after issue, you forfeit the last three months of interest. Cash out at 18 months and you receive 15 months of interest.6eCFR. 31 CFR 359.7 – If I Redeem a Series I Savings Bonds Before Five Years After the Issue Date, Is There an Interest Penalty? The penalty never cuts into your original purchase price. After five full years, the penalty disappears and you get the full accumulated value.2TreasuryDirect. I Bonds
How to Redeem the Bond
Electronic Bonds
Log into TreasuryDirect, open the ManageDirect tab, and choose “Redeem securities.” Pick the bond and the linked bank account for the deposit. Funds generally arrive within two business days.5TreasuryDirect. TreasuryDirect Help – How Do I…?
Paper Bonds
Start with your bank. Ask whether they cash savings bonds, what identification they need, and how much they will cash at one time. Some banks don’t offer the service.7TreasuryDirect. Cashing EE or I Savings Bonds
If the bank can’t help, mail the bond to Treasury with FS Form 1522. For redemptions over $1,000, your signature on the form has to be certified by a notary or authorized certifying officer. For $1,000 or less, you can skip certification and include a copy of your photo ID instead.8TreasuryDirect. FS Form 1522 – Special Form of Request for Payment of United States Savings and Retirement Securities
Reinvesting Matured Funds
You can roll proceeds into new I bonds, but you’re capped at $10,000 in electronic I bonds per Social Security number per calendar year through TreasuryDirect.2TreasuryDirect. I Bonds Paper I bonds, which used to be available through IRS tax refunds, can no longer be purchased as of January 1, 2025.9TreasuryDirect. Using Your Income Tax Refund to Buy Paper Savings Bonds A matured bond worth more than $10,000 has to be reinvested across multiple years, or placed into something else such as Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.
Taxes at Redemption or Maturity
I bond interest is subject to federal income tax but exempt from state and local income tax.10TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds You pick when to report it:
- Defer until you cash the bond or it reaches 30-year maturity, then report all accumulated interest in that year. You’ll get a Form 1099-INT covering the full lifetime of interest.
- Report interest each year as it accrues. You won’t get an annual 1099-INT, only a final one at redemption or maturity, from which you subtract what you already reported.
Switching from deferral to annual reporting doesn’t require IRS permission, but you have to report all previously unreported interest on every savings bond tied to that Social Security number in the year you switch.10TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds
Deferral is the common choice, but it can mean decades of interest landing on one year’s tax return and pushing you into a higher bracket. If several bonds are maturing around the same time, redeeming them across different tax years spreads the hit.
Education Exclusion
You may be able to exclude I bond interest from federal income tax if you use the proceeds for qualified higher education expenses such as tuition and fees, for yourself, your spouse, or a dependent.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 135 – Income From United States Savings Bonds Used to Pay Higher Education Tuition and Fees The bond must have been issued when the owner was at least 24, and you can’t file as married filing separately.12IRS. Publication 970 – Tax Benefits for Education 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 at $116,800 and $182,650. Thresholds are adjusted for inflation each year.
If the Owner Has Died
What happens to an I bond at the owner’s death depends on registration.
If the bond names a co-owner or beneficiary, it passes directly to that person and does not become part of the estate. The survivor can cash it at a bank with proper ID, or have it reissued in their name as an electronic bond through TreasuryDirect.13TreasuryDirect. Death of a Savings Bond Owner14TreasuryDirect. Inheriting Savings Bonds as a Named Co-Owner or Beneficiary
If the owner was sole with no beneficiary, the bond is part of the estate. When the estate’s total Treasury securities are valued at $100,000 or less at the date of death, a court-appointed representative is generally not required. Above that threshold, a court-appointed representative is typically needed.13TreasuryDirect. Death of a Savings Bond Owner For electronic bonds in a TreasuryDirect account, contact TreasuryDirect quickly to place a hold on the account.
Tracking Down Old Matured Bonds
If you think you or a relative has an uncashed I bond out there, the search route has changed. Treasury Hunt, the online lookup tool that let individuals search for unredeemed securities, was shut down on September 30, 2025, under changes from the SECURE Act 2.0.15TreasuryDirect. Treasury Hunt
Inquiries now go through your state’s unclaimed property program, which has secure access to Treasury’s database of unredeemed and matured securities. Start at unclaimed.org, the site run by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, and pick your state.15TreasuryDirect. Treasury Hunt No deadline has been published for claiming a matured bond, but the longer a bond sits past 30 years, the more real value it loses to inflation.