An I bond matures 30 years after its issue date, and on that date it stops earning interest. The issue date is the first day of the month you bought it, so a bond bought on 18 March reaches the end of its life on 1 March, thirty years on. The first I bonds were issued in September 1998, so none has got there yet: the earliest arrive on 1 September 2028.
Do they expire? Not in the way people fear. The money stays yours, and Treasury says even a paper bond far past its maturity date can still be cashed. What ends is the interest, and with it the tax deferral. Electronic bonds carry one trap. A matured bond is not paid to your bank; it is cashed automatically into a certificate inside TreasuryDirect that pays no interest, and it sits there until you move it.
This page covers those dates, the two cashing rules that come before them, and what maturity does to your tax return. It prints no interest rate. How the rate is built is on the I bond interest rate page, and the current figure is on TreasuryDirect's I bond page.
Thirty years from the issue date
TreasuryDirect says I bonds earn interest until "the first of these events: You cash in the bond or the bond reaches 30 years old." Its FAQ says the same of both savings bond series ("EE and I Bonds reach maturity 30 years after issuance"), and the IRS describes Series I bonds as having "a maturity period of 30 years".
The issue date is the first of the month. Treasury defines it as "the first day of the month in which the Treasury receives funds for the purchase". Buy on 10 July and the bond is dated 1 July. Every date in the bond's life, rate resets included, counts from that day. An order at the very end of a month can slip into the next, depending on when the funds arrive. One placed on 30 June 2025 whose funds land in July is dated 1 July 2025 and matures on 1 July 2055, not 1 June 2055.
Twenty years is not the end. The regulation gives I bonds "a total maturity period of 30 years from the issue date, consisting of an original maturity period of 20 years and an extension period of 10 years". TreasuryDirect describes a single 30-year earning life. An I bond is not paid out, and does not stop earning, at 20.
Final maturity by issue month (illustrative)
Same month, 30 years later, on the first. The rows are illustrative issue dates spread across the programme's life; for your own bond, take its issue date and add 30 years.
| Issue date | Stops earning (final maturity) | Latest tax year for deferred interest (Pub 550, Method 1) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 September 1998 (the first I bonds) | 1 September 2028 | 2028 |
| 1 June 2004 | 1 June 2034 | 2034 |
| 1 May 2010 | 1 May 2040 | 2040 |
| 1 November 2016 | 1 November 2046 | 2046 |
| 1 April 2022 | 1 April 2052 | 2052 |
| 1 October 2026 | 1 October 2056 | 2056 |
The Series I offering took effect on 1 September 1998, so no I bond can reach 30 years before 1 September 2028. As of October 2026, none has stopped earning because of its age.
When you can cash an I bond before then
Maturity is the latest date. Two rules set the earliest, and both count from the issue date.
The first 12 months: not at all
"You can cash in (redeem) your I bond after 12 months." Before that the answer is no, penalty or not: the FAQ says EE and I bonds "must be held for 12 months from their issue date before they can be redeemed". The regulation applies that rule to bonds issued from 1 February 2003; earlier I bonds could be cashed after six months.
The exceptions are narrow. Owners in an area with an official disaster declaration can cash bonds "even if they are less than a year old". The FAQ also says Treasury "will allow early redemption in some cases" of financial hardship, and it gives no criteria for that. A year with no access at all is why the emergency-fund page keeps I bonds out of the first layer of savings.
Years one to five: the last three months of interest
Cash after 12 months but before five years and "you lose the last 3 months of interest". Treasury's example: cash after 18 months and "you get the first 15 months of interest". The regulation adds a floor: the penalty never takes the value "below the issue price", so you cannot get back less than you paid. For bonds under five years old, the values TreasuryDirect shows already leave out those three months.
The forfeit is interest, never what you paid in. That is the difference from a bank CD's early-withdrawal penalty, which at some banks is taken from interest first and then from the deposit itself. What that costs in dollars depends on the bond's rate, so this page gives dates, not a price.
After five years: no penalty
From the fifth anniversary of the issue date the penalty "does not apply". That leaves 25 of an I bond's 30 years in which cashing carries no penalty.
One bond's dates, worked through (illustrative)
A bond bought on an illustrative 18 March 2024:
| Date | What it means for this bond |
|---|---|
| 18 March 2024 | Bought; the issue date is 1 March 2024 |
| 1 March 2024 to 28 February 2025 | Cannot be cashed, disaster and hardship cases aside |
| 1 March 2025 | 12 months: can be cashed, losing the last three months of interest |
| 1 September 2025 | 18 months: cashing now pays the first 15 months of interest, the value reached by 1 June 2025 |
| 1 March 2029 | Five years: the three-month penalty no longer applies |
| 1 March 2054 | 30 years: final maturity, and the interest stops |
The issue month also sets the rate calendar. This bond's rate changes each March and September, every six months from its own issue date, not on the 1 May and 1 November announcement dates. How that six-month schedule works is on the rate page.
What happens at 30 years
The bond stops earning. Treasury does not roll it into a new one, and what happens next depends on whether it is electronic or paper.
Electronic bonds: cashed into a certificate that pays nothing
TreasuryDirect's FAQ: "The bond will automatically be redeemed and the proceeds will be used to purchase a Zero-Percent C of I in your Primary account on the next business day." C of I stands for Certificate of Indebtedness, and the regulation says the same. Three things follow.
- The money does not go to your bank. It moves to the C of I inside your TreasuryDirect account, whatever bank account is linked.
- It earns nothing there. The C of I "is a Treasury security that does not earn any interest", intended as "a source of funds for purchasing eligible interest-bearing securities". A year left there earns nothing.
- Moving it is up to you. You redeem the C of I to your bank, and TreasuryDirect says the payment destination "should be credited within two business days of the redemption date".
Some TreasuryDirect pages say only "We pay automatically when the bond matures". Read with the FAQ and the regulation, "pay" means into the zero-interest certificate, not to your bank. A paper bond converted to electronic keeps "the same maturity date" and follows this electronic route.
Where the money goes next is a separate decision. HYSA vs CD vs T-bills compares three common homes for cash after tax, and this page takes no view.
Paper bonds: nothing happens until you act
"Paper I bonds: You must submit the paper bond to cash it." TreasuryDirect's page on old bonds covers "paper savings bonds that have reached their term limit (matured) and, thus, have stopped earning interest". Such a bond sits wherever it is kept, earning nothing, but it does not lapse. The Savings Bond FAQ asks "Can a paper savings bond be too old to be cashed?" and answers: "No. Even if far beyond its maturity date, a savings bond can be cashed."
Paper I bonds are still around, even though new I bonds are electronic only. TreasuryDirect says you may own paper I bonds issued before 2012 that were bought at a bank or through payroll savings. Paper I bonds were also sold with tax refunds from 2010 until that option ended on 1 January 2025.
Converting to electronic is optional ("You can cash paper bonds just as they are"). Converting a bond that has already matured restarts nothing: TreasuryDirect "automatically redeems the bond and purchases a Zero-Percent Certificate of Indebtedness" with the proceeds. Cashing a paper bond, at a bank that agrees to or by mail to Treasury, is a process with its own forms. This page stops at when.
So do I bonds expire?
No, in the sense that matters most: the money does not disappear. An electronic bond becomes a balance in your TreasuryDirect account, and a paper bond stays cashable however old it is. Two things do end at 30 years:
- The interest. Nothing accrues after final maturity, whether the money sits in the C of I or a paper bond sits in a drawer.
- The tax deferral. Under the IRS's Method 1, reporting can be postponed only until the year the bond matures, if it is not cashed sooner, as the next section sets out.
Tax: maturity ends the deferral
I bond interest is subject to federal income tax but not to state or local income tax. Federal estate, gift and excise taxes and state estate or inheritance taxes still apply.
IRS Publication 550 gives cash-method taxpayers two ways to report savings bond interest. Under Method 1 you "postpone reporting the interest until the earlier of the year you cash or dispose of the bonds or the year in which they mature". Under Method 2 you "report the increase in redemption value as interest each year". One method applies to all your EE and I bonds, and if you never chose Method 2 you are on Method 1.
For a Method 1 holder, then, the year the bond matures is the latest year to which reporting can be postponed. Publication 550 sets that rule without drawing any line between paper and electronic bonds.
For bonds in TreasuryDirect, the 1099-INT "is available in your account by January 31 of the following year". The FAQ says matured bonds are "automatically redeemed and the interest earned is reported for federal income tax purposes". The interest goes in box 3 of Form 1099-INT, "Interest on U.S. Savings Bonds and Treasury Obligations". If you reported yearly under Method 2, Publication 550 notes that the form "may show more interest than you have to include on your income tax return".
TreasuryDirect words the deferral two ways. Its Savings Bond FAQ says you can choose not to pay federal income tax on EE and I bonds "until you cash them or they mature, whichever is first", which matches Publication 550. Its tax page says you can defer reporting "until you file a federal income tax return for the year in which you actually get the interest", and that for a paper bond "this happens when you cash the bond". Publication 550 is the IRS's own statement of the reporting rule, and for a paper bond at or past 30 years it is the one to read.
Bond interest is income that does not come from a job, and how that kind of income meets withholding, estimated tax and the safe harbour rules is on the withholding page.
Lost track of a bond? Treasury Hunt is gone
Treasury Hunt, Treasury's old search tool for uncashed bonds, has been retired: "As of September 30, 2025, the Treasury Hunt® tool is no longer available." Some TreasuryDirect pages still mention it, but the tool's own page is the one to believe.
- Electronic bonds live in the owner's TreasuryDirect account, so there is nothing to search for.
- Lost, stolen or destroyed paper bonds are claimed on FS Form 1048. Treasury will replace an EE or I bond, as an electronic bond in TreasuryDirect, or cash it. The details are on TreasuryDirect's lost-bonds page.
- Expect a wait. As posted on 14 October 2026, TreasuryDirect says requests to locate lost, stolen or missing savings bonds "require eleven months or longer for processing".
A paper bond that turns up decades late can still be cashed. It simply stopped growing at 30.
EE bonds: double at 20, stop at 30
EE bonds share the 30-year life, the 12-month lock and the five-year penalty rule. What they add is a date in the middle.
Twenty years. TreasuryDirect: "For EE bonds you buy now, we guarantee that the bond will double in value in 20 years, even if we have to add money at 20 years to make that happen." The top-up is "a one-time adjustment, if necessary", made only at 20 years, so an EE bond cashed earlier is worth what its rate has earned and no more. TreasuryDirect says the guarantee covers EE bonds bought as far back as June 2003, and the regulation matches: EE bonds issued from 1 June 2003 reach original maturity at 20 years, when an electronic bond is worth at least "double the purchase price". EE bonds from before May 2005 may earn a variable rate rather than a fixed one. For bonds bought since May 2005, Treasury may change the terms for the last 10 years but must do so before year 20; otherwise the original fixed rate continues.
Thirty years. The regulation reads: "Bonds reach final maturity at 30 years after the issue date. Bonds cease to earn interest at final maturity." Electronic EE bonds go to the same zero-interest certificate as I bonds. The IRS says they were first offered in 2003, so the earliest reach 30 years in 2033.
Paper EE bonds are older, and many have stopped. Treasury's May 2026 rate release said EE bonds issued from January 1980 through May 1996 "are no longer earning interest", and that those issued from June to October 1996 "will stop earning interest during the next six months". Every EE bond stops 30 years after its issue date, so the last of that group, issued in October 1996, stopped on 1 October 2026. Every Series E bond, the series sold before 1980, has matured.
Whether an EE bond or an I bond suits a given holding period is a separate comparison, with its own arithmetic.
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