- You would lose the last three months of interest if you cash an EE bond before it reaches the age of five years.
- If you don’t redeem your EE bonds before they mature, you’ll get 30 years of interest. As a result, the longer you keep the bond (up to 30 years), the more valuable it becomes.
When is the best time to cash in my EE savings bonds?
In about 30 years, most savings bonds stop earning interest (or achieve maturity). A savings bond can be redeemed as soon as one year after purchase, but it’s normally best to wait at least five years so you don’t miss out on the last three months of interest. If you redeem a bond after 24 months, for example, you will only receive 21 months of interest. It’s usually better to wait until your bond reaches full maturity, depending on the interest rate and your individual financial demands.
Is it necessary to redeem EE bonds when they reach maturity?
Do you have any savings bonds or marketable Treasury securities that have reached the end of their maturity period and are no longer earning interest? If that’s the case, now might be an excellent moment to start.
Cash them in and put the money toward a project or a financial necessity, or put it back to work in a new investment.
Note: Are you unsure whether you have an older bond that has stopped paying interest? Make use of our Treasury.
To see if any bonds are listed in the database, use the Hunt search engine. If that’s the case, you’ll be given instructions on how to claim and cash them, but
You won’t be able to convert them to an electronic format. If you already have your bonds, proceed to the next step. (The Treasure Hunt is updated on a monthly basis.)
Note: While you must take steps to cash any paper securities you may have, the bonds you possess in TreasuryDirect are not subject to this requirement.
On the day they mature, they are automatically cashed and no longer accrue interest. Go to your TreasuryDirect account to check the status of a security.
Account with TreasuryDirect. The following information is aimed for owners of paper securities (those held outside of TreasuryDirect).
When you cash in your savings bonds, do you have to pay taxes?
Taxes can be paid when the bond is cashed in, when the bond matures, or when the bond is relinquished to another owner. They could also pay the taxes annually as interest accumulates. 1 The majority of bond owners choose to postpone paying taxes until the bond is redeemed.
After 30 years, what happens to EE bonds?
Interest is paid on EE bonds until they reach 30 years or you cash them in, whichever comes first. After a year, you can cash them in. However, if you cash them before the 5th year, you will forfeit the final three months’ interest.
What is the best way to avoid paying taxes on EE bonds?
Cashing your EE or I bonds before maturity and using the money to pay for education is one strategy to avoid paying taxes on the bond interest. The interest will not be taxable if you follow these guidelines:
- The bonds must be redeemed to pay for tuition and fees for you, your spouse, or a dependent, such as a kid listed on your tax return, at an undergraduate, graduate, or vocational school. The bonds can also be used to purchase a computer for yourself, a spouse, or a dependent. Room and board costs aren’t eligible, and grandparents can’t use this tax advantage to aid someone who isn’t classified as a dependent, such as a granddaughter.
- The bond profits must be used to pay for educational expenses in the year when the bonds are redeemed.
- High-earners are not eligible. For joint filers with modified adjusted gross incomes of more than $124,800 (more than $83,200 for other taxpayers), the interest exclusion begins to phase out and ceases when modified AGI reaches $154,800 ($98,200 for other filers).
The amount of interest you can omit is lowered proportionally if the profits from all EE and I bonds cashed in during the year exceed the qualified education expenditures paid that year.
What should I do with my savings bonds that have reached maturity?
You’ve waited for three decades and your bond has finally grown. If you wish to cash in your bonds, you must follow specific requirements depending on the type of bond you have (paper or electronic).
- You can cash electronic savings bonds on the TreasuryDirect website, and you’ll get your money in two days.
- Most major financial institutions, such as your local bank, accept paper savings bonds.
If you can’t find your fully matured paper savings bond, you can have it electronically replaced by going to the TreasuryDirect website and filling out the necessary papers.
You’ll need the serial number of the bond, which serves as a unique identity. If this isn’t accessible, you’ll need other information, such as the exact month and year the bond was purchased, the owner’s Social Security number, and the names and addresses of the bond’s owners. Even if you’ve misplaced the bond, it’s possible to find it with a few efforts.
You can keep your bond after it matures, but you will not get any extra interest. On the one hand, because you can’t spend a savings bond without redeeming it, the value of your bonds is considered “secure.” On the other side, if your bond isn’t redeemed, you’ll miss out on additional sources of interest. With current inflation rates, it doesn’t make much sense to hold a bond that pays nothing and is losing money to inflation every day.
Finally, regardless of whether you redeem your bonds or not, you will owe taxes on them when they mature. In the year of maturity, make sure to include all earned and previously unreported interest on your tax return. If you don’t, you may be subject to a tax penalty for underpayment.
What happens when Series EE bonds reach their maturity date?
You might have some Series EE savings bonds that you acquired a long time ago. Maybe you keep them in a filing cabinet or a safe deposit box and just think about them once in a while. You might be curious in how EE bond interest is taxed or when they stop earning interest. If they reach their final maturity date, you may need to take steps to avoid any losses or unexpected tax penalties.
Interest deferral on savings bonds
The interest rate for Series EE Bonds issued after May 2005 is set. A variable market-based rate of return is earned on bonds purchased between May 1997 and April 30, 2005.
Bonds in the Paper Series EE were sold for half their face value. If you possess a $50 savings bond, for example, you paid $25 for it. Until the bond matures, it isn’t worth its face value. (EE bonds are no longer issued in paper form by the US Treasury Department.) Electronic Series EE Bonds are sold at face value and are redeemable for their full face value.
The minimum duration of ownership is one year, however if the bond is redeemed during the first five years, a penalty is levied. The bonds pay interest for a period of 30 years.
How savings bonds are taxed
Currently, Series EE bonds do not pay interest. Instead, the accumulated interest is represented in the bond’s redemption value. Tables of redemption values are published by the US Treasury.
Unless the owner elects to have it taxed annually, interest on EE bonds is not taxed as it accrues. If you make an election, you must disclose any previously accrued but untaxed interest in the election year. The majority of the time, this option is not made, therefore bondholders do not profit from tax deferral.
If the option to report interest annually is selected, it will apply to all future savings bonds. That is to say, the choice cannot be made bond by bond or year by year. There is, however, a method that can be used to cancel the election.
If the election is not made, when the bond is redeemed or otherwise disposed of, all of the accrued interest is finally taxed (unless it was exchanged for a Series HH bond). Even after achieving face value, the bond continues to earn interest, but at “final maturity” (after 30 years), interest ceases accruing and must be recorded.
Note that the interest on EE savings bonds is not taxed by the state. You may be able to avoid paying federal income tax on your interest if you use the money for higher education.
Deferral on savings bonds
One of the most compelling reasons to purchase EE savings bonds is the ability to accumulate interest without having to disclose or pay tax on it. Unfortunately, the law prevents this tax-free accumulation from continuing indefinitely. The bonds stop earning interest when they reach their final maturity date.
After 30 years, the Series EE bonds issued in January 1989 achieved their final maturity in January 2019. Not only have they stopped earning interest, but all of the accrued but untaxed interest will be taxable in 2019.
I’m not sure what to do with my old savings bonds.
If you hold Series E or EE bonds released after 1974, you can use the Treasury Hunt tool to determine if any bonds registered with your Social Security number have stopped paying interest.
If your savings bonds have reached maturity, you should cash them in and invest the proceeds elsewhere. Whether you have paper bonds, check with your bank to see if they cash them (not all banks do, and some will cash in savings bonds only for customers who have had accounts for at least six months). See How to Cash in Savings Bonds for more information.
What is the value of a $100 savings bond dated 1999?
A $100 series I bond issued in July 1999, for example, was worth $201.52 at the time of publishing, 12 years later.