Reissuing Inherited Savings Bonds Instead of Cashing Them

Heirs keep an inherited savings bond by reissue, and after February 14, 2014 Treasury reissues paper EE and I bonds only as electronic bonds in the heir's TreasuryDirect account.

Treasury's rules are 31 CFR 353.48(a) and 360.48(a). TreasuryDirect is Treasury's online account system for savings bonds, and reissue means Treasury replaces the bond with one registered to the person who inherits it.

In November 2026, paper EE bonds issued January 1997 to December 2011 and every paper I bond can still be reissued. Series HH bonds, Series E bonds and EE bonds issued before December 1996 can only be cashed.

The forms are free and Treasury charges no fee (TreasuryDirect contact page, as of November 11, 2026). ClaimMyBonds is a private, independent guide, not Treasury or TreasuryDirect.

Can You Transfer Savings Bonds After Death? Reissue Is How Heirs Keep Them

Yes, savings bonds can be transferred after the owner's death, by reissue to the person entitled: a surviving co-owner, a POD beneficiary, or an heir who receives the bond through the estate.

A co-owner is the second person named on a bond with "OR". A POD (payable on death) beneficiary is the person the owner named to receive the bond at death.

A reissue keeps the original series, issue date and face amount (31 CFR 353.2(l)), so the bond keeps earning until its final maturity, the date interest stops, which is 30 years after issue for EE bonds.

The alternative is cashing the bond. Who owns the bond decides the route, and our guide to savings bonds after death explains that ownership step first.

The table below sets out the rules of an inherited reissue.

Source: 31 CFR 353.45, 353.48, 353.70; FS Form 4000 (Revised April 2026); TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026.

What a Reissued Inherited Bond Looks Like: Electronic, in One Name

A reissued inherited EE or I bond is an electronic bond in the heir's TreasuryDirect account, in one name. The paper bond does not come back, and Treasury issues no new paper bond.

FS Form 4000 says: "You cannot add a new coowner, but you can add a secondary owner." A secondary owner or beneficiary is added inside TreasuryDirect after the reissue. The result is one of the electronic savings bonds held in a TreasuryDirect account, managed online like any other.

Which Inherited Savings Bonds Can Still Be Reissued in November 2026

In November 2026, 180 of the 384 paper Series EE issue months can still be reissued: January 1997 to December 2011. The 203 issued January 1980 to November 1996 have stopped earning and can only be cashed, and December 1996 issues reach final maturity on December 1, 2026.

Treasury does not reissue a bond if it receives the request less than one full calendar month before final maturity (31 CFR 353.45(b)).

Every paper I bond still earns, and the first reaches final maturity in September 2028. The table below gives each group's status, with the value of a $100 bond in redemption month November 2026.

Values change on the 1st of each month. Final maturity by series is explained in our guide to when savings bonds mature. Source: Fiscal Data, Savings Bonds Value Files, redemption month November 2026 (updated November 2, 2026), https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/savings-bond-value-files/; 31 CFR 353.45(b).

Bonds issued May 2007 to December 2011 are worth less than face now and step up to face at 20 years, between May 2027 and December 2031 (31 CFR 351.35(f)(1)). A $100 EE bond from December 2011 is worth $54.76 in November 2026. The rule prints no calendar deadline for a named bond.

Inherited Bonds That Can Only Be Cashed

Six kinds of inherited bonds and requests cannot be reissued after the owner's death, so the heir cashes them. They are listed below.

• Series HH: all reached final maturity by August 1, 2024; cash only, at face value, by direct deposit, and banks cannot cash them (Series HH savings bonds).
• Series E: all stopped earning by June 2010 and are not on FS Form 4000 (Series E savings bonds).
• EE past, at or within one full calendar month of final maturity: 31 CFR 353.45(b) and FS Publication 0063 allow cashing only.
• Retirement Plan and Individual Retirement Bonds: FS Form 3565 states "RETIREMENT PLAN AND INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT BONDS MAY NOT BE REISSUED AFTER THE DEATH OF THE REGISTERED OWNER." (U.S. Retirement Plan Bonds).
• Creditor claims: FS Form 1050 (Rev. March 2026) pays a documented debt only, with no reissue.
• Attorney-in-fact requests: an attorney-in-fact, the person named in a power of attorney, cannot reissue paper bonds (FS Form 5188).

Who Asks for the Reissue: Survivor, Estate Heir or Representative

Five kinds of people can ask Treasury to reissue a deceased owner's bond, each with its own paper trail: the surviving co-owner or POD beneficiary, a distributee of an estate settled without administration (FS Form 5336), an heir of an open court estate (FS Form 1455), the persons entitled under a closed estate or state small-estate procedure (FS Form 5394), and a court-appointed representative who keeps the bonds in the estate's name (FS Form 4000). The table below gives each route and its owner page.

Source: 31 CFR 353.70, 353.71; FS Forms 4000, 5336, 1455 (Rev. April 2026) and 5394 (Rev. May 2026); FS Publications 0063 to 0065 (January 2025).

Surviving Co-Owner or POD Beneficiary: Reissue in Your Own Name

A surviving co-owner or POD beneficiary is the bond's sole owner (31 CFR 353.70(b)(1), (c)(1)) and reissues it in his or her own name as the living registrant, with a certified copy of the death certificate. Certified means the registrar's seal is legible, and Treasury does not return it.

You sign FS Form 4000 (Rev. April 2026) in ink before a notary or certifying officer, then mail it to P.O. Box 9150. The FS Form 4000 guide covers the reissue request, item by item.

SmartExchange, TreasuryDirect's online conversion, converts paper E, EE and I bonds of $25 or more to electronic bonds in the survivor's name alone, with the certified death certificate. A bond that has stopped earning, including every Series E bond, is cashed on conversion.

Reissue is optional: the survivor already owns the bond. There is no deadline to cash it (Executive Order 13968), but Treasury does not reissue a bond if it receives the request less than one full calendar month before final maturity (31 CFR 353.45(b)).

Heirs of an Estate: The Estate Form Comes Before the Reissue

An heir of an estate gets a reissue only after the estate form has assigned the bond to that heir. With no named survivor, the bond belongs to the estate (31 CFR 353.70(a)).

An estate settled without administration, $100,000 or less, uses FS Form 5336 Part F; an open court estate uses FS Form 1455, with letters of appointment (the court's proof of authority) dated within one year.

Each distributee, the heir the estate form names, then files FS Form 4000 to keep an EE or I bond, or FS Form 1522 to cash instead. Each bond goes whole to one person.

FS Form 5394 (Rev. May 2026) asks on the form itself for payment or for reissue or transfer of EE and I bonds to a TreasuryDirect account. A court-appointed representative can reissue into the estate's name with FS Form 4000 (FS Publication 0064).

Reissuing an Inherited Bond to a Minor

When the surviving registrant is a minor, Treasury reissues the bond in the minor's name alone (FS Publication 0063, Rev. January 2025). A minor may not sign an EE or I reissue request on FS Form 4000.

A reissue that adversely affects a minor is restricted (31 CFR 353.65), and our guide to a savings bond in a child's name covers minor survivors.

How to Reissue Inherited Savings Bonds: 6 Steps

Reissuing an inherited savings bond takes 6 steps, from checking that the bond still qualifies to mailing the request to Treasury Retail Securities Services. The steps are listed below.

1. Check the series, issue date and final maturity against the November 2026 table.
2. Confirm your route in the who-asks table; for an estate, finish the estate form first.
3. Open your TreasuryDirect account.
4. Get a certified death certificate for every deceased person named on the bond.
5. Sign FS Form 4000 in ink before a notary or certifying officer, or as a survivor convert paper savings bonds to electronic with SmartExchange.
6. Mail the form, bonds and evidence to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150.

The TreasuryDirect Account an Inherited Reissue Needs

A TreasuryDirect account for an individual needs 4 things: a valid Social Security number, age 18 or older and legal competence, a US address of record, and a US bank account that accepts ACH (automatic electronic) payments.

A person entitled who is unable, unwilling or ineligible to open an account is paid instead (31 CFR 363.126, 353.48(a)). An estate's representative opens an account in the estate's name (31 CFR 363.44(a)).

ID.me, a separate identity company, has been the only way to log in since October 28, 2026, and TreasuryDirect states it cannot fix ID.me problems. Our guide for owners locked out of TreasuryDirect covers login problems and account holds.

Keep or Cash an Inherited Bond: What Changes With Each Choice

Keeping an inherited bond leaves it earning until final maturity and defers the tax for a cash-method heir, while cashing ends the interest and makes the unreported interest taxable that year. The choice is the heir's, and the table below compares facts only.

Source: FS Forms 4000 and 1522 (Revised April 2026); IRS Publication 550 (2025); 31 CFR 351.35(f)(1), 353.48; Value Files, November 2026.

A stopped bond gains nothing by being held and cannot be reissued, and bonds never expire (Executive Order 13968, 85 FR 83745). For a bond that reached final maturity in an earlier year, the interest was reportable for that final-maturity year under the default method (26 CFR 1.454-1(a)(1); IRS Publication 550, 2025).

FS Form 4000 states: "THE OBLIGATION TO REPORT THE INTEREST CANNOT BE TRANSFERRED TO SOMEONE ELSE THROUGH A REISSUE TRANSACTION."

Interest earned before the death goes on the final return if the personal representative or surviving spouse elects it, and otherwise it is income in respect of a decedent taxed to the heir (IRS Publication 550, 2025).

When a reissue is a reportable event, Treasury reports the interest earned up to the reissue on a Form 1099-INT in the name of the person removed (FS Form 4000; TreasuryDirect). Our page on taxes on inherited savings bonds covers the final-return election; ask a tax professional about your case.

How Long Reissuing Inherited Savings Bonds Takes

TreasuryDirect publishes no processing time for a reissue by name. Requests for bonds not in your name take five months or longer, conversions nine months or longer and trust requests ten months or longer (contact page, as of November 11, 2026). The table below lists the published times.

No time is published for a reissue by name. Source: TreasuryDirect contact page, as of November 11, 2026.

Reissue and the Other Routes for a Deceased Owner's Bonds

Reissue covers paper EE and I bonds that pass to one individual, and 3 neighboring routes cover electronic bonds, trusts and the death of both co-owners.

Electronic Bonds of a Deceased Owner: Transfer, Not Reissue

Electronic bonds are transferred, not reissued: once Treasury holds the deceased owner's account, a beneficiary or secondary owner sends proof of death and moves the bonds or takes payment (31 CFR 363.20).

The steps are in the guide to a deceased owner's TreasuryDirect account. Distributees use FS Form 5511 (Rev. March 2026, certifying officer only) to move the bonds to the heir.

Reissue to a Personal Trust Instead of an Individual

A person entitled who wants the bond in a personal trust uses FS Form 1851 (Rev. April 2026), not FS Form 4000, and FS Form 5336 cannot distribute to a trust. The rules for savings bonds and trusts cover the reissue to a trustee.

When Both Co-Owners Have Died

When both co-owners have died, the bond belongs to the estate of the co-owner who died last (31 CFR 353.70(b)(2)), so an estate route comes first. The savings bond co-owner rules explain who owns the bond when one owner dies.

Reissuing Inherited Savings Bonds FAQ

Can an Inherited Savings Bond Be Reissued as a New Paper Bond?

No. After February 14, 2014, EE and I reissues are electronic only, and Treasury does not cash paper bonds online.

Can I Add a Co-Owner When an Inherited Bond Is Reissued?

No. You cannot add a new co-owner, but after the reissue you can add a secondary owner or beneficiary in TreasuryDirect.

Is There a Deadline to Reissue or Cash Inherited Savings Bonds?

There is no deadline to cash (Executive Order 13968). Reissue ends once Treasury would receive the request less than one full calendar month before final maturity (31 CFR 353.45(b)).

Can an Attorney-in-Fact Reissue Inherited Savings Bonds?

No. Treasury does not reissue paper bonds at an attorney-in-fact's request (FS Form 5188; FS Publication 0105). Read about cashing savings bonds for someone else.

Can Two Heirs Split One Savings Bond?

No. Each bond goes whole to one person, and Treasury does not reissue only to change denominations (31 CFR 353.48(b)).

How to Cash a Savings Bond of a Deceased Relative?

Cash it at a bank that agrees, as a survivor, or by mail with FS Form 1522, after the estate form where no named person survives. Treasury takes five months or longer (as of November 11, 2026). The steps are in savings bonds after death.

Who Pays Taxes on Inherited EE Savings Bonds?

The heir pays tax on interest after the death and, without the final-return election, on interest before it (income in respect of a decedent); estate tax on that interest is deductible (26 U.S.C. 691(c)). See who pays and when under taxes on inherited savings bonds.

Rules checked November 11, 2026, against the Treasury sources named above; see our methodology.