What should you do if you misplace a savings bond, or the owner dies? 

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Savings bonds are a popular gift for savvy relatives who want to give loved ones a risk-free investment.

But while those bonds mature, it’s easy to lose track of them. Investors have been holding onto 97 million matured, unredeemed savings bonds as of December 2024. If you’re one of them, know that you can redeem them whenever you like. There’s not much reason to wait, because inflation can erode their value. 

But most people can’t keep their bonds in a vault at Nakatomi Plaza. They get lost, their owners die.  Several readers have written in asking what to do in these situations, and what the tax implications are. Here’s a lost-bond FAQ. 

Listener Kristeen Jordan asks: What can you do if you have misplaced savings bonds that were given to your children?

If you’ve lost your savings bonds, you can fill out a form on the government’s TreasuryDirect website. If you know your bond’s serial number, you can fill out FS Form 1048, which asks for the bond’s issue date, face value, and details like when you last saw your bonds. You’ll need to get it notarized at a financial institution, like a bank, trust company or credit union before you mail it in. 

If you don’t know your bond’s serial number, and it was issued before 1974, you can  still fill out FS Form 1048 as best as you can. If the bond was issued in 1974 or anytime after, head to Treasury Hunt, an online bond search tool run by the government. You can enter the Social Security number listed on the security or the owner’s full name and state. If Treasury Hunt finds your bond, you’ll get to fill out a special version of the 1048 form. 

It’s good practice to keep a savings bond inventory, said Barbara O’Neill, a financial education entrepreneur and author of the book “Flipping a Switch: Your Guide to Happiness and Financial Security in Later Life.” List out the bond serial numbers and date of purchase in a spreadsheet, make some copies and keep them somewhere safe. 

TreasuryDirect has a tool to save your inventory and calculate its value. Instructions on how to save your inventory will depend on what browser you’re using. 

Listener Deborah Pool asks: My granddaughter was given a bond when she was born. She never cashed in and now she is deceased. How can the bond be redeemed?

If there is a co-owner or a beneficiary on a savings bond who’s still alive, the bond belongs to that person. 

But if only the deceased owner is listed, that bond belongs to the person’s estate. The executor or attorney typically sets up a special bank account for all of the deceased person’s assets, O’Neill said. 

“If there’s a will …  all the assets of the deceased will be distributed according to the terms of the will,” O’Neill said. If there’s no will, estate laws will dictate how an estate’s assets get distributed, she explained.

But let’s say only the deceased owner is listed on the bond, and their estate does not have a court-appointed representative. You can fill out a form on TreasuryDirect’s website asking to be the estate’s “voluntary representative,” with some caveats. For example, the deceased person’s securities must be worth less than $100,000. 

To be a voluntary representative, you have to be a surviving spouse, blood relative, legally adopted child or next of kin, and at least 18 years old. A representative can choose to cash the savings bonds, and have the money sent to their bank account, or distribute it to other parties.

Listener Madelyn Turner asks: Does the bank take out the taxes when you cash in the bonds?

No, but you will have to pay taxes on the interest you accrue. 

You can pay those taxes year by year, but it’s more common to pay during the taxable year when the bonds are cashed out, O’Neill said. 

Your bonds are subject to federal income, estate, gift and excise taxes, along with any estate or inheritance taxes that exist in your state. However, they are not subject to state or local income taxes. 

Most people won’t have to worry about some of these taxes. For example, if someone dies in 2025, their estate is only subject to federal estate taxes if it’s worth more than $13.99 million.

You can find your state’s taxes using this table on the Tax Foundation’s website. 

O’Neill said she purchased 12 bonds in the 2000s that will reach final maturity in the 2030s. But she does not want to cash them out all at once because the income would push her into a higher tax bracket. So over the next 12 years, she plans to cash out one bond per year. Luckily, she keeps an inventory of them all.