How to Fill Out the Back of a Savings Bond to Cash It

To fill out the back of a paper savings bond, print your Social Security number and current mailing address inside the boxed “Request for Payment” area and sign on the signature line. If the total redemption value of the bonds you are cashing is more than $1,000, do not sign yet: your signature has to be certified by a bank officer, notary, or other authorized official who watches you sign. For $1,000 or less, your signature plus a photo ID is enough.

What Goes in the Request for Payment Box

The back of every Series EE and Series I paper bond has a boxed area labeled “Request for Payment.” Inside it, you provide two pieces of information and one signature:

Your Social Security number (or taxpayer identification number), so the Treasury and your bank can report the interest to the IRS.
Your current mailing address, so any check or tax form reaches you.
Your signature on the line provided.¹

Use blue or black ink and print in block letters. Keep every character inside the printed borders. If the Treasury or the bank cannot read what you wrote, payment can be delayed.

Who Is Allowed to Sign

Who signs depends on how the bond is registered on the front:

A single-owner bond is paid to that sole owner, who signs.
A co-owner bond can be cashed by either co-owner. Whoever signs and cashes it takes the full value; the other co-owner then has no further interest in that bond.
A bond with a named beneficiary is paid to the owner during the owner’s lifetime. The beneficiary can only sign and cash after the owner dies, with proof of death.²

Do Not Sign Until You’re in Front of Someone

If you plan to cash the bond at a bank, wait to sign until you are standing at the counter. A paying agent that receives a pre-signed bond is allowed to make you sign it again in front of them before releasing payment.¹ Signing at the kitchen table does not void the bond, but it wastes the signature and leaves a signed instrument in your pocket on the way to the bank.

The $1,000 Certification Rule

The size of the transaction decides whether your signature has to be certified:

$1,000 or less in total redemption value: sign yourself and show a driver’s license, passport, state ID, or military ID.
More than $1,000 in total redemption value: sign in the physical presence of a notary public or other authorized certifying officer, who then applies an official stamp or seal.³

The threshold applies to the combined value of every bond in the single transaction, not per bond.

Who Can Certify Your Signature

Bank officers at authorized paying agents are the most common choice, and they are usually free. Federal regulations also allow:

Any judge, clerk, or deputy clerk of a United States court.
Any commissioned or warrant officer of the U.S. armed forces, but only for service members, their families, and civilian employees on military installations.
U.S. diplomatic or consular representatives, useful if you are abroad.
Notaries public, accepted on FS Form 1522 and available in most communities.⁴

The certifying officer must add their official signature, title, seal or paying agent stamp, address, and the date to complete the certification.² Notary fees run from a few dollars up to about $25 per signature depending on your state. If none of these officers is reachable, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service can make special arrangements.⁴

Signing a Bond Registered to a Young Child

If the bond is in a child’s name and the child is too young to understand what cashing it means, a parent can sign instead. Three things must all be true: you are the child’s parent, the child lives with you or you have legal custody, and the child is not old enough to understand the request for payment.⁵

Instead of the ordinary request for payment, write this statement on the back, filling in the blanks:

I certify that I am the parent of [child’s name]. [Child’s name] resides with me (or: I have been granted legal custody of [child’s name]). [He/She] is ___ years old and is not of sufficient understanding to make this request. [Child’s name] has the Social Security Number ___-__-____.

Then sign with your own name followed by “on behalf of [child’s name], a minor.”⁵

Signing a Bond After the Owner Has Died

The registration on the front tells you who signs the back. A surviving co-owner signs and provides proof of death of the other co-owner. A named beneficiary signs after providing proof of the owner’s death.² If the bond names no co-owner or beneficiary, it belongs to the estate, and the person signing needs authority from the estate. For a small estate without formal probate, a voluntary representative uses FS Form 5336, and anyone who ends up with a bond and wants cash also files FS Form 1522.⁶

Cashing at a Bank

The quickest route is a bank where you already have an account. Call first: banks vary on whether they cash savings bonds at all and on their per-transaction dollar limits.⁷ Bring the unsigned bond and a government-issued photo ID. You sign the back in front of the teller, who verifies your identity, certifies the signature if the amount requires it, and pays out the current redemption value at no charge. You cannot cash part of a paper bond; each one has to be redeemed for its full value.

Mailing the Bond to the Treasury

If no bank will cash your bond, you send it to the Treasury with FS Form 1522, downloadable from TreasuryDirect.gov. The form asks for the same core information you would put on the back of the bond, plus routing and account numbers if you want direct deposit.⁷ The $1,000 certification rule applies to the form’s signature the same way it applies to the back of the bond: sign yourself for $1,000 or less with a copy of your ID, or sign in front of a notary or certifying officer if the total is more.³

Send the form and the bonds to:

Treasury Retail Securities Services
P.O. Box 9150
Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150⁸

Use certified or registered mail so the package has a tracking number. Processing takes at least six weeks, longer if the bonds are not in your name or the situation is unusual.

Timing Before You Sign

A savings bond cannot be cashed until you have owned it for at least one year. Redeem it before five years and you forfeit the last three months of interest; after five years there is no penalty.⁷ Interest accrues on the first day of each month, and the redemption value does not change again until the next first of the month.⁹ Cashing on the 15th pays the same as cashing on the 2nd, so if you are close to a month-end, wait until the first to capture the new month’s interest.

The Tax Form That Follows Your Signature

Interest on Series EE and Series I bonds is subject to federal income tax and exempt from state and local income tax.¹⁰ When you cash a bond, you receive a Form 1099-INT reporting the total interest earned over the bond’s entire life, not just the last year. A bank sends the 1099-INT at the transaction or by the following January 31; if you mailed the bonds in, the Treasury sends it the following January.⁷ The interest is reported under the Social Security number of the person who signed and cashed the bond, which is why the number you write on the back matters.

1
eCFR. 31 CFR 353.39 – Surrender for Payment
2
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 353 – Regulations Governing Definitive United States Savings Bonds, Series EE and HH
3
TreasuryDirect. FS Form 1522 – Special Form of Request for Payment
4
eCFR. 31 CFR 353.55 – Individuals Authorized to Certify
5
TreasuryDirect. Cashing Paper Bonds for a Young Child
6
TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates
7
TreasuryDirect. Cashing EE or I Savings Bonds
8
TreasuryDirect. Contact Us
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eCFR. 31 CFR 359.16 – When Does Interest Accrue on Series I Savings Bonds
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TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds