Matured savings bonds: the bonds that no longer earn interest
A savings bond stops earning on its final maturity date and keeps its last value with no time limit; what changes on that date is the tax year, not the money.
What your bond is worth
$1,036.80
Final value from the Treasury redemption table of May 2023; it no longer grows.
| Issue price (half of face value) | $250.00 |
| Interest earned | $786.80 |
| Interest stopped | July 2022 |
Worked out by Radif Partners · How we calculate · rates read on treasurydirect.gov and fiscaldata.treasury.gov · not personal financial advice
On October 1, 2026, every EE bond issued in October 1996 or earlier has passed its 30-year final maturity and earns nothing more. So have all Series E bonds (the last stopped in June 2010), all savings notes and all HH bonds, which ended in August 2024. No I bond has matured yet: the first ones, from September 1998, stop in September 2028. A matured bond does not lose value and has no cashing deadline, but holding it brings no more interest. The tax point is the one owners miss: under IRS Publication 550, interest deferred on an EE, E or I bond is reportable in the year of final maturity even if the bond stays in a drawer. A $500 paper EE bond of July 1992, for example, stopped in July 2022 at $1,036.80, of which $786.80 is interest belonging to that tax year. Electronic bonds are paid out automatically at maturity; paper bonds have to be presented to a bank or mailed to the Treasury.
Which series have stopped, on October 1, 2026
Every savings bond has a final maturity, the date interest stops. For EE and I bonds it falls 30 years after the issue month, for HH bonds after 20 years, and for the E series after 40 or 30 years depending on the issue date. The table puts the series side by side as of this month (TreasuryDirect).
| Series | Sold | Earned for | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K | 1935 to 1979 | 10 to 30 years | all stopped; paid at face value |
| E | May 1941 to June 1980 | 40 or 30 years | stopped by June 2010 |
| Savings notes | May 1967 to October 1970 | 30 years | stopped by October 2000 |
| HH | 1980 to August 2004 | 20 years | all stopped in August 2024 |
| EE | January 1980 to April 1995 | 30 years | all stopped by April 2025 |
| EE | May 1995 on | 30 years | stopped if issued in October 1996 or earlier |
| I | September 1998 on | 30 years | first ones stop in September 2028 |
The only bonds still earning are EE bonds issued after October 1996 and all I bonds. Everything else in a box of old bonds is at its final value. The Series E table gives the final amount of each E bond by year, and the calculator above handles EE, E, I and savings notes.
The next EE bonds to stop
A month passes, and one more issue month of EE bonds reaches 30 years. The twelve below are the next ones in line. The value is what a $100 paper bond is worth this month; the rate is the one it earns until it stops. Bonds of May 1995 to April 1997 credit interest only every six months, so for them the last credit before the stop date is the one that counts.
| Issued | Stops earning | Value now, $100 face | Rate now |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 1996 | November 2026 | $126.60 | 3.20 % |
| December 1996 | December 2026 | $126.60 | 3.20 % |
| January 1997 | January 2027 | $126.60 | 3.20 % |
| February 1997 | February 2027 | $126.60 | 3.20 % |
| March 1997 | March 2027 | $126.60 | 3.20 % |
| April 1997 | April 2027 | $126.60 | 3.20 % |
| May 1997 | May 2027 | $129.48 | 3.39 % |
| June 1997 | June 2027 | $129.12 | 3.39 % |
| July 1997 | July 2027 | $128.76 | 3.39 % |
| August 1997 | August 2027 | $128.40 | 3.39 % |
| September 1997 | September 2027 | $128.04 | 3.39 % |
| October 1997 | October 2027 | $127.68 | 3.39 % |
I bonds have more time. The very first ones, issued in September 1998, stop in September 2028, about 2 years from now, and they still earn 6.80 % in their current period, carried by a fixed rate of 3.40 %.
Has this EE bond stopped earning?
What your bond is worth
$207.36
| Issue price (half of face value) | $50.00 |
| Interest earned | $157.36 |
| Interest stopped | March 2019 |
The tax year is the year of maturity
Most owners never report savings bond interest until the money arrives. IRS Publication 550 calls that method 1 and sets its limit: the interest is reported for the year the bond is cashed, disposed of or reaches final maturity, whichever is earliest (IRS Publication 550). Final maturity is therefore a taxable moment even for a bond nobody touches. The $500 paper EE bond of July 1992 that the calculator starts on reached 30 years in July 2022; its $786.80 of interest belonged on the return for 2022.
The paperwork does not always follow. When a paper bond is cashed later, the bank or the Treasury issues a 1099-INT for the year of cashing, which may not be the year the interest was due. HH bonds had their own version of the problem: deferred interest printed on an HH bond that matured in August 2024 was reportable for 2024 whether or not the bond was redeemed (TreasuryDirect). Interest on all of these bonds is exempt from state and local income tax.
Federal tax on the interest of a matured bond
Federal income tax on this interest
$94
| Federal marginal rate | 12 % |
| Share of the interest | 12.0 % |
| State tax a bank CD would have cost (New York) | $42 |
With $48,000 of other taxable income, a single filer would owe about $94 of federal tax on that $786.80, at 2026 brackets. Savings bond taxes goes through the two reporting methods and what to do when the 1099-INT and the maturity year disagree.
Collecting a matured bond
Electronic bonds take care of themselves: on the maturity date TreasuryDirect pays the value into the account's Certificate of Indebtedness, from which it can be moved to a bank account or used for new purchases. Paper bonds must be presented. A bank that cashes savings bonds will ask for identification and set its own limit per visit; the Treasury takes any amount by mail with FS Form 1522 (the form), with a certified signature above $1,000. Bonds of the older series A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J and K follow a different path: TreasuryDirect asks for them to be mailed with FS Form 1522 and pays their face value by direct deposit, keeping any legal evidence sent with them. Cashing savings bonds covers the EE and I routes step by step.
A matured paper bond can also be converted in TreasuryDirect; it is cashed on arrival and the money lands in the Certificate of Indebtedness, which pays no interest. Waiting has no penalty and no deadline. It simply earns nothing.
Bonds nobody has claimed
Bonds bought as gifts decades ago, or registered to a child who has since grown up, are easy to lose track of, and a matured bond that sits forgotten still holds its full final value. TreasuryDirect points owners to Treasury Hunt, its page on searching for savings bonds you may have forgotten (TreasuryDirect). For a specific paper bond, the owner can ask Treasury Retail Securities Services by letter, with the serial number, whether it has been cashed; the bond itself should not be mailed for that question. Bonds found after a death pass under the rules for inherited bonds, and the interest question shifts to the heir and the estate.