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sheila_g

Savings bonds 911

Sheila_G
18 years ago

I checked the previous post on savings bonds, but it didn't address my issue, so here goes.

My mother recently gave me and my brother a bunch of Series E US savings bonds that she purchased for us over the years during our childhood and apparently forgot about until she came across them a few months ago (her memory has been fading for some time). They range from 33 to 43 years old and all reached their full maturity between 1997 and 2002. They are co-owned by her and either me or my brother. Since I'd never really dealt with savings bonds, I did some research and realized that the interest income should have been reported either annually or (since they have not been redeemed) in the year they reached maturity. I checked with my mother, who not only did not report any interest income on these bonds, but informs me that she has a boxful of additional fully matured series E bonds! According to my reasearch, the interest income is technically hers as the primary owner, since they were purchased with her funds and the ownership was not transferred to us, but my brother and I are willing to assume any tax liability for the bonds she gave us since we will actually be receiving the interest. The interst on my and my brother's bonds is about $48,000 total and who knows how much on the boxful of bonds I haven't seen yet.

What kind of tax penalties will I incur when I redeem the bonds, since the interest should have been reported 2 to 8 years ago? Will either my mom or I have to restate interest income for the tax years that the bonds matured or can I just claim it for the year I actually redeem the bonds?

Any advice/suggestions will be appreciated.

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